# Introduction & Quick Start

Welcome to **Multi-PHP**, the all-in-one local development environment for Windows. This guide will walk you through the first steps and help you get your environment up and running.

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## 🚀 Quick Start

Follow these steps to get started with your first PHP project:

1.  **Launch Multi-PHP**: Open the application from your desktop or start menu.
2.  **Dashboard Overview**: On your first launch, you'll see the Dashboard. This is your control center for all services.
3.  **Download PHP**: Go to `Settings > PHP Versions` and download at least one PHP version (e.g., PHP 8.3).
4.  **Start Services**: Click the **"Start All"** button on the Dashboard to launch Nginx/Apache and MariaDB.
5.  **Create a Project**: Navigate to the **"My Projects"** tab and add your first project folder.

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## 🏢 Core Components

Multi-PHP bundles several essential tools for modern web development:

| Component | Description |
| :--- | :--- |
| **PHP-FPM** | High-performance FastCGI process manager for PHP. |
| **Nginx** | Modern, lightweight, and fast web server. |
| **Apache** | Robust, traditional web server with `.htaccess` support. |
| **MariaDB** | The community-developed, commercially supported fork of MySQL. |
| **phpMyAdmin** | Web interface for easy database management. |

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> [!IMPORTANT]
> Some services might fail to start if their default ports (80, 3306) are already being used by other applications (like Skype or another XAMPP installation). Check the **"Settings"** to change these ports if needed.

### 📖 Next Steps
- [Learn how to manage Projects](./projects.md)
- [Configure PHP Versions & Extensions](./php.md)
- [Manage MariaDB Databases](./database.md)