Three steps to a calmer terminal
Drop a .devwebui
List your repo's dev servers in one small file.
Open the pane
Every process, grouped by project, with live status.
Click — or let agents drive
Start, stop, restart. Your AI does the same over MCP.
Your fleet of dev servers, one control plane
One-click control
Start, stop, restart any dev server. Live status, CPU, memory and logs — no shell required.
MCP-native
31 tools let AI agents drive the same daemon you click. Humans and agents, one source of truth.
One panel per project
Drop a .devwebui file — every process groups under one panel, remembered on restart.
Port conflicts, solved
Detects clashes, names the process holding the port, and frees it in one click.
Errors, deduped
A persisted, de-duplicated error log survives restarts and crashes — and agents can read it too.
Runs in your tray
A Windows tray app boots the daemon hidden — no console window. Open, rebuild, restart, quit.
Built for humans and agents
You get a GUI
Click to run your servers. Watch status, CPU, memory and logs in one pane — no terminal juggling.
Your agents get MCP
31 tools drive the exact same daemon. Humans and AI share one state — zero drift, nothing to sync.
Runs entirely on your machine. No accounts, no cloud, nothing to sign up for — just a daemon on your localhost. Open source under MIT. On the roadmap: macOS / Linux tray, in-GUI env editor, log search and multi-host.
DevWebUI next to the other options
vs. PM2
PM2 is a widely used Node process manager. Its own web dashboard, PM2 Plus, is a paid add-on — plans start around $39/month — on top of the free CLI. DevWebUI's GUI is free and bundled with the daemon, and adds an MCP server so your AI agents can drive it too.
vs. hotel
hotel is a lightweight process manager that starts apps from your browser over local .localhost domains. DevWebUI adds live CPU, memory and log monitoring, a de-duplicated error log, port-conflict detection, and an MCP server with 31 tools for AI agents.
vs. exo
exo is a process manager and log viewer for dev, with a CLI and browser GUI, compatible with Procfiles and Docker Compose. DevWebUI groups servers per repo with .devwebui files and ships the same controls to AI agents over MCP, not just to you.
Frequently asked questions
Is DevWebUI free?
DevWebUI is open source under the MIT License. Core functionality needs no account and no cloud, and it runs entirely on your machine as a single daemon on your localhost. There's an optional settings-sync extra you can turn on later if you want your preferences to follow you across machines.
Does DevWebUI need an account or the cloud?
No. DevWebUI runs entirely on your machine as a single daemon on your localhost, and core functionality needs no account and no cloud. There are two optional extras: settings sync, which is off by default until you enable it in Settings, and an anonymous install ping used for update checks, which you can turn off by setting DEVWEBUI_NO_PING=1.
Can AI agents control DevWebUI?
Yes. DevWebUI ships an MCP server with 31 tools so AI agents can drive the same daemon you click. Your AI can start, stop and restart servers the same way you do, and read the persisted, de-duplicated error log too. Humans and agents share one source of truth, so nothing drifts between the GUI and your agent.
What is a .devwebui file?
A .devwebui file lists a repo's dev servers in one small file, dropped in the repo root. It groups every process under one collapsible header in the pane, and projects auto-reload the next time you launch DevWebUI. You can edit the list from inside the GUI too — DevWebUI writes changes back to the file.
Does DevWebUI handle port conflicts?
Yes. DevWebUI detects clashes on a port, names the process holding it, and frees it in one click — no shell required. This sits alongside DevWebUI's live status, CPU, memory and log view for every process it manages, so a blocked dev server is easy to spot without hunting for the culprit at a terminal.
Does DevWebUI work offline?
Yes. The daemon and GUI run entirely on localhost — core functionality needs no account, no cloud, and no internet connection. The only two things that touch the network are both optional: settings sync (off by default) and an anonymous install ping for update checks, which fails silently and can be disabled with DEVWEBUI_NO_PING=1.
What does DevWebUI cost?
Nothing. DevWebUI is open source under the MIT License — no subscription, no seat fees, no usage limits, and no paywalled features. Download the Windows installer or run it from source with Bun on any OS. The two optional extras, cross-device settings sync and an anonymous install ping, are free too and both off until you turn them on.
How is DevWebUI different from PM2, hotel, or exo?
All three are process managers for local dev servers. PM2's own web dashboard, PM2 Plus, is a paid add-on starting around $39/month over its free CLI. hotel and exo are free, browser-based process managers. DevWebUI is free end-to-end and adds an MCP server with 31 tools, so AI agents can drive the same daemon you click.
Stop babysitting bun run dev
Drop a .devwebui file in your repo, open the pane, and hand the same controls to your agents.