Local Developmentlink

Set Your Local URLlink

To preview your site locally, you'll first need to create a .env file and specify your local URL in the APP_URL variable:

APP_URL=http://your_url_here

Using Docaralink

Docara includes a serve command that makes your site available at http://localhost:8000. You can use this URL directly in your .env file:

APP_URL=http://localhost:8000

Once configured, start the local server by running vendor/bin/jigsaw serve.

Using Valetlink

Alternatively, you can use Laravel Valet to run your site locally with a .test domain. From your project root, execute this command:

valet link my-site

This will host your site at http://my-site.test, which you can then use in your .env file:

APP_URL=http://my-site.test

Preview Your Sitelink

To preview your site after setting up your URL, run the dev command from your project root (default scaffold uses Laravel Mix + BrowserSync):

npm run dev

This builds to /build_local, serves it at http://localhost:3000, and reloads the page when the build output changes. Static HTML lands in /build_local; edits to Markdown/Blade trigger a rebuild, and BrowserSync reloads after the build finishes. Assets are compiled from:

source/_core/_assets/js/main.js

source/_core/_assets/css/main.scss

If you prefer Vite with HMR, follow the Vite setup in Compiling Assets; the scaffold ships with Mix by default, so npm run dev runs webpack (Mix) until you switch.

If you do not compile assets at all, you can preview via Jigsaw's serve command or Valet; in that case you'll need to run vendor/bin/jigsaw build local yourself after edits because there's no watcher.

BrowserSync (webpack.mix.js)link

To avoid early reloads, watch only the built output (not source files) in webpack.mix.js:

mix.docara()
    .js("source/_core/_assets/js/main.js", "js")
    .js("source/_core/_assets/js/turbo.js", "js")
    .options({ processCssUrls: false })
    .browserSync({
        server: "build_local",
        files: ["build_local/**/*"], // watch only built files
        open: false,
    })
    .version();

Key idea: keep files scoped to build_local/**/* so BrowserSync reloads only after the build is written. Add reloadDelay or switch to proxy/port if needed, but avoid adding source/** back into files, or you'll bring back early reloads.