Lando Meaning Basics: How to Use and Remember It Easily

Alright so I kept hearing people talk about this “Lando” thing, especially online developer groups. Honestly? Ignored it forever. Thought it was just another complicated tool I didn’t need. Plus, the name made zero sense to me – land, land o’lakes? Weird. But then my local setup for this WordPress site got totally screwed up – different PHP versions messing with everything. Again. Such a pain.

Time to Finally Figure Out This Lando Thing

Okay, deep breath. Went to the website. Downloads section. Grabbed the installer for my Mac. Hit install. Easy enough so far. It looked pretty clean. Then… it asked me to open Terminal. Sigh. Not my favorite place, but okay.

Typed the install command it showed me.
lando init
Waited… nothing blew up. Good sign! It asked what kind of project: picked WordPress. Then what recipe? Honestly, no clue. Used the one it suggested.
lando start

Clicked enter and crossed my fingers. Watched a bunch of text scroll by. Docker containers popping up. Then… boom. It said my site was ready! Typed the local URL it gave me into my browser. And holy moly, a fresh WordPress site actually loaded. That was WAY faster than my usual dance.

Okay, Working. But What Does “Lando” Even MEAN?

So it worked. Cool. But the name bugged me. How am I supposed to remember something if the word itself is gibberish? Started digging around old forum posts. Finally found it!

It stands for “Local And Dev”. Like, L-A-N-D-O? Local ANd Development… O. Okay, that final O was confusing. Maybe it’s just Local AND Dev Option? Or maybe it’s just catchy?

Honestly, the exact wording wasn’t perfect. But “Local And Dev” – that clicked. It’s about my local machine and development. That made sense! Finally, the name wasn’t just random letters. Made it way easier to remember what this tool was for.

Remembering How to Actually Use It

Got the name down. Now, how not to forget the commands? Started small:

• New project? lando init first. Always.
• Turning it on? lando start. Like starting a car.
• Need info like the site URL or database details? lando info. Super handy.
• Turning it off? lando stop. Simple.
• Want to run a WP command? lando wp instead of just wp. Just stuck “lando” in front.

Didn’t try to memorize all the fancy stuff. Just these basics for now. Used --help a lot when stuck. Way less scary commands than raw Docker.

My Big Win and Why It Sticks Now

The real test came when I needed to spin up a quick test site for a plugin idea. Before Lando? Would have wasted half an hour messing with MAMP configs. Now?
mkdir test-site && cd test-site
lando init (picked WordPress again)
lando start

A few minutes later, I was installing WordPress. Done. I remembered the commands because they made sense! And knowing Lando = Local AND Dev made the whole tool feel less mysterious. It’s not magic, it’s just automating the annoying Docker setup I never wanted to learn. Gotta say, pretty happy I finally gave it a shot. Still learning bits, but the basics? Got ’em down.