ploy dev

Start the local development server with hot reloading. ploy dev automatically detects whether your project is a worker or a Next.js app and starts the appropriate development environment.

ploy dev [options]

Options

Worker Projects

For worker projects (kind: worker in ploy.yaml), ploy dev starts the full local emulator with all Ploy services available:

• SQLite database (D1-compatible)
• Message queues
• Workflows
• Cache
• State
• File storage
• Auth
• Scheduled jobs

ploy dev
# Worker running at http://localhost:3000
# Dashboard at  http://localhost:4000

The dev dashboard lets you inspect queued messages, workflow runs, database tables, and other runtime state while developing locally.

Custom Port

ploy dev -p 8080
# Worker at http://localhost:8080
# Dashboard at http://localhost:9080

Custom Dashboard Port

ploy dev --dashboard-port 5000
# Worker at http://localhost:3000
# Dashboard at http://localhost:5000

Watch Mode

File watching is enabled by default. Changes to your worker source files trigger a hot reload. Disable it with --no-watch:

ploy dev --no-watch

Next.js Projects

For Next.js projects, ploy dev starts next dev alongside a Ploy mock server that provides all runtime bindings (database, queues, auth, etc.) to your Next.js app.

Auto-detection: a project is considered Next.js if:

1. ploy.yaml has kind: nextjs, or
2. A next.config.ts, next.config.js, next.config.mts, or next.config.mjs file exists

ploy dev
#   Next.js at      http://localhost:3000
#   Ploy dashboard  http://localhost:4000

The PLOY_MOCK_SERVER_URL environment variable is automatically set so that @meetploy/nextjs connects to the local mock server instead of the production API.

Minimal Next.js ploy.yaml

kind: nextjs
db:
  DB: default
auth:
  binding: PLOY_AUTH

Verbose Output

Use -v / --verbose to see detailed logs from the emulator and all runtime services:

ploy dev -v

Project Setup

Make sure your package.json includes a types script that calls ploy types so that type definitions stay in sync:

{
	"scripts": {
		"dev": "ploy dev",
		"types": "ploy types",
		"build": "ploy build"
	}
}