Installation
How to install Kythia Workspace on Windows.
Download Kythia Workspace
Download the latest .msi installer for Windows
View Source Code
Explore Kythia Workspace on GitHub
Why Kythia?
Kythia Workspace is a blazing fast, native development environment for Windows. It provides everything that you need to get started with local development. It ships with PHP, Node.js, Nginx, MySQL, Redis, and much more.
You can manage all your sites, databases, and runtimes effortlessly from one beautiful UI, without the heavy footprint of VMs or WSL overhead.
How does it compare?
| Feature | Kythia | Laragon | XAMPP | Herd (Windows) | Docker |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Native Speed (No VM/WSL) | WSL2 overhead | ||||
| RAM Footprint | ~160 MB | ~100 MB | ~250 MB | ~150 MB | 2GB+ (Vmmem) |
| 1-Click Multi PHP | Manual setup | ||||
| Node.js, Bun, Python, Go | |||||
| Web Servers | 7+ options | Apache, Nginx | Apache | Nginx | |
| Databases | 19+ options | MySQL, Redis | MariaDB | ||
| Runtimes | 11+ options | ||||
| Built-in S3 / Object Storage | MinIO | Manual setup | |||
| Built-in Mail Testing | Mailpit | Old MailCatcher | Manual setup | ||
Auto .test Domains | |||||
| Zero Registry Clutter | Portable path | ||||
| Modern Dark UI |
Installation
Prerequisites
- Windows 10/11
- ~25MB of disk space (we are lightweight!)
- ~200MB of RAM (Kythia itself uses very little memory, but the services you install will use more)
- RTX 5090 (just kidding hehee~~ >w<)
Installing via MSI
Download the .msi installer from the Releases page
Run it and follow the setup wizard
Kythia will appear in your Start Menu and System Tray
First launch
On first launch, Kythia will:
- Set up the installation directory at
C:\kythia\ - Register itself in the system tray
- Be ready to download and install your first service
Tip
Kythia stores all downloaded binaries in C:\kythia\bin\ — completely separate from your system files, making it easy to uninstall or move.
Uninstall
To uninstall Kythia, use Settings > Add or Remove Programs on Windows and find Kythia Workspace.
The C:\kythia\bin\ directory with all downloaded services will remain on disk — delete it manually if you want a complete removal.