I’m looking for local Magento 2 workflow/environment to maximise productivity when developing for magento (mostly frontend). Most things I’ve tried thus far for example Wamp and Mamp are very slow when running magento 2. I’ve seen a lot of people online seem to be using docker but this also seems very slow and complex. Ideally I’d like something that i could use on osx and windows. Perhaps digital ocean and droplets would be an option? Thanks in advance.
Hey @william.davies,
When I first started playing with Magento 2 several years ago, I have a terrible time trying to get it to work with WAMP and AMPSS. I was also pushed into using Docker back in 2017. What a nightmare. It took me longer to learn how to use and troubleshoot Docker than it did to do build a website! I eventually ripped Docker out of the development environment that I was working with. Best thing I ever did.
With that mini-rant out of the way… I only Develop Magento 2 online now - Specifically, on Digital Ocean. I also use something called PHPStorm. It’s a really powerful IDE software. Infact, it’s probably too powerful for what I need (I’m still learning new features all the time). It has built in Git Version Control system and also allows you to sync your files with your server on-the-fly rather than needing to upload every change. It’s an awesome bit of kit and has removed the need for me to ever consider working locally on anything as resource-hungry as Magento. It’s got a 30 day trial if you’re gonna try it, but for me it’s well worth the annual license.
I realise now that this reply is more like a plug for Digital Ocean and PHPStorm 
Sorry, I couldn’t answer your question about working with Magento 2.
Thanks for the swift reply Craig,
This was pretty much the perfect answer I was looking as i too have have many struggles with local magento2 installations. I have gone forward and created a digital ocean account due to your recommendation.
Thanks again
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