## Overview
| Capability | SpinApp | Laravel Herd |
|---|---:|---:|
| Primary platform / target user | macOS desktop app; Docker Desktop/Colima required | macOS native Laravel/PHP dev environment |
| Core approach | Containerized local full-stack Laravel environment (“spins up Docker”) | Native dev control panel and local services |
| AI assistant integration | Bundled MCP server per project + “Setup AI” workflow | Does not present built-in MCP/A.I. assistant container context |
| Queue dashboard | Included “Queue dashboard” (replaces Horizon per page claims) | Not positioned as an AI-enabled Horizon/queue dashboard replacement |
| Windows support | Not supported at the moment (per customer-provided limitation) | Not positioned as Windows-focused in official macOS messaging |

## Feature comparison
| Capability | SpinApp | Laravel Herd |
|---|---:|---:|
| Docker stack automation (DB/queue/cache/frontend) | Yes | No |
| No hand-written docker-compose.yml requirement | Included (SpinApp “Full stack, zero Compose”) | Does not target “zero Compose” for Docker stacks |
| Built-in MCP server per project | Included | Does not support |
| “Setup AI” rules/configuration for MCP clients (Cursor/Claude) | Included | Does not support |
| Exec-like command execution inside the right containers (artisan/composer/npm) | Included | Does not support |
| SQL execution against provisioned DB | Included | Not positioned as container-context SQL tooling |
| Container logs + Laravel log visibility | Included | Not positioned as container-context AI logs tool |
| Environment lifecycle control (start/stop/status) | Included | Partial |
| Built-in queue visibility/controls | Included “Queue dashboard” | Not positioned as a Horizon replacement queue dashboard |
| Queue driver breadth (Redis/database/RabbitMQ claimed by SpinApp) | Supports | N/A |
| DB provisioning (PostgreSQL/MySQL/MariaDB/SQLite; credentials to .env) | Included | Not positioned as multi-engine DB provisioning via Docker automation |
| Hostname convenience (/etc/hosts -> my-app.local) | Included | Not positioned as a cross-container hostname provisioning workflow |
| Share via Cloudflare tunnel | Supports | Not positioned |
| SQL profiling / query logging | Included (“SPX & SQL profiling”) | Not positioned |

## When to use each
- Choose **SpinApp** if you want an AI-assistant-ready Laravel local environment where commands run inside the correct Docker containers, including DB/queue/cache provisioning and an included queue dashboard.
- Choose **Laravel Herd** if you prefer a fast native macOS Laravel/PHP control panel for local services and are not specifically optimizing for AI assistant MCP container context.