Projects / ToolsOpen source · MIT

keel

A web development studio for any stack. Pick a language, a framework and an architecture, and keel builds the whole project the way the framework itself intends: the real installers, the services and your .env, wired together.

keel on GitHub All tools

keel studio

Build a stack, step by step

LanguagePHP, Python or Node
FrameworkLaravel, Magento, Symfony, WooCommerce, Django, FastAPI, Next.js
ServicesThe database, cache and search it needs, wired into .env

Read the source

Install

One line, then keel new

keel planning a Laravel stack in the terminal

curl -fsSL …/install.sh | sh

Framework

Services

.env

Tests

What it can wire together

AI-generated

One vocabulary across every stack

The same commands run a Laravel app, a Django API or a Next.js site. keel works out what each one means for the framework in front of it.

Frameworks: 22
Recipes, all data: 282

keel newScaffold a whole project, interactively or in one line, or add --dry-run to see every step without running any
keel rundev, test, lint, typecheck and build, one command whatever the framework calls them
keel db and keel secretsMigrations and seeds through your environment, and a .env with generated keys and a check for committed secrets
keel proxyEvery running project served at its own name.localhost address
keel commerceMake a store readable by AI shopping agents: JSON-LD, a product feed and an agents manifest
keel mcpRun keel as an MCP server, so an AI coding agent drives the real installers instead of guessing

What it is and isn’t

It builds the ground, not your app

What it covers

Runs each framework’s own documented installers, in the right order: composer create-project, artisan, npm, uv, django-admin, ddev
Node, Python and PHP: Next.js, Nuxt, SvelteKit, Astro, NestJS and more; Django, FastAPI, Flask; Laravel, Symfony, Magento, Mage-OS and WooCommerce
Local environments with DDEV, Docker, Sail or native tools, installed the right way for macOS, Linux and WSL
Databases, caches, queues and search, from PostgreSQL and Redis to RabbitMQ and OpenSearch, wired into your .env

What it does not

It doesn’t write your application code: it gives you the project the framework would, set up properly
It doesn’t host or deploy anything for you
It collects no telemetry at all

Questions about keel

How do I install keel?
Why not just run the framework’s own installer?
Is it free?
Does it work with an existing project?
Can AI coding agents use it?
Is there a visual version?

How do I install keel?

One line: curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/coullworks/keel/main/install.sh | sh. With Go 1.25 or later you can use go install github.com/coullworks/keel/cmd/keel@latest instead. Then run keel doctor to check your machine has what the stacks need, and keel self-update to stay current.

Why not just run the framework’s own installer?

You still do: keel runs it. What keel adds is the join. It knows what the framework needs around it, which services, in which order, and what goes in the .env, and it does that part the same way every time instead of from memory.

Is it free?

Yes. keel is open source under the MIT licence, so you can use it on client work and change it. Its recipes are plain data, so anyone can add a stack without writing Go.

Does it work with an existing project?

Yes. keel track detects the stack of a project you already have, and keel adopt writes a manifest so keel can run its tasks, database and services from then on.

Can AI coding agents use it?

Yes. keel mcp runs it as an MCP server, so an agent builds a project with the real installers and gets the same result a person would, rather than improvising the setup.

Is there a visual version?

keel studio runs in your browser and keel console runs full screen in the terminal. Both offer the same actions, so you can work in whichever you prefer.