Your first sandbox

If you've never run ps-lando create before, this guide walks you through the interactive wizard prompt by prompt so you know exactly what each choice does.

Before you start

You should have:

Docker Desktop running.
Lando 3.x installed.
A folder containing your panda.zip (and optionally steasybuilder.zip + steasy_trans_panda.zip).

If any of those aren't in place, see Installation first.

Run create

mkdir my-shop && cd my-shop
cp ~/Downloads/panda*.zip .
cp ~/Downloads/steasy*.zip .          # optional
npx ps-lando@latest create

The prompts

1. PrestaShop version

? Pick a PrestaShop version
  ❯ 9.1.0   (latest stable)
    9.0.3
    9.0.2
    8.2.5
    8.2.4
    ...

The list comes from the official prestashop-flashlight manifest (cached for 24 h, with offline fallback). New PS releases appear without bumping ps-lando.

9.x → downloaded from assets.prestashop3.com as a pre-built edition (vendor/, compiled assets, ~55 bundled modules). Fast.
8.x → downloaded from GitHub Releases.

2. Project name

? Project name (default: my-shop)

Defaults to the current folder name. This becomes:

The Lando app name (name: in .lando.yml).
The hostname: <project>.lndo.site.
The .ps-lando.json project field.

You can almost always accept the default.

3. PHP version

? PHP version (recommended for PS 9.1.x: 8.2)
  ❯ 8.2
    8.1
    8.3

Auto-suggested based on the PrestaShop branch you picked. PS 9 needs 8.1+. PS 8 works with 7.4+ but the CLI defaults to 8.1 / 8.2.

If you choose a PHP that differs from the flashlight recommendation for the chosen PS branch, the wizard asks once before writing .lando.yml.

4. Database, phpMyAdmin, MailHog

Defaults: MySQL + phpMyAdmin + MailHog all enabled. Recommended unless you have a specific reason to drop one.

5. Panda theme

? Install Panda theme? (Y/n)

Auto-detected: if a panda*.zip is in the folder, default is Yes. If not, default is No (you'll get a bare PrestaShop sandbox).

6. Child theme

? Create child theme? (Y/n)

Always say Yes. A child theme (themes/<project>_child/) is where your customisations live. Editing the parent themes/panda/ directly gets wiped on Panda updates. See child theme convention for the full reasoning.

7. Easy Builder

? Install Easy Builder? (Y/n)

Auto-detected from steasybuilder.zip + steasy_trans_panda.zip in the folder. Only show Yes if both zips are present (the bridge is useless alone).

8. Admin credentials

? Admin email (default: admin@example.com)
? Admin password (default: sandbox1234)
? Admin first name (default: Admin)
? Admin last name (default: User)

Stored in .ps-lando.json at the project root. You can recover them later with ps-lando info.

.ps-lando.json contains plaintext credentials. Add it to .gitignore if you version-control the project folder. It's a local sandbox only — never a production file.

9. Locale

? Language (default: es)
? Country (default: es)
? Timezone (default: Europe/Madrid)

These flow into the PrestaShop CLI installer.

10. Modules to install

New in 0.5.0:

? What modules to install?
  ❯ All modules    (default — backwards compatible)
    Core only      (skips blog, easybuilder, social, marketing)
    Custom...      (per-group multiselect)

See Selecting modules for the full breakdown.

11. Recipes

Optional. A multiselect of bundled scripts (demo data, ES taxes, cache warmup, etc.). See Recipes catalog.

What happens after the prompts

1. Download PrestaShop (CDN for 9.x, GitHub for 8.x).
2. Extract — outer zip → inner zip → site root.
3. Generate .lando.yml + lando start.
4. Run the PS CLI installer.
5. Extract Panda theme + copy st* modules.
6. (Optional) Extract steasybuilder + bridge.
7. Activate Panda (with SQL fallback for known PS 8.2.x / 9.x bugs).
8. Install modules in parallel batches (concurrency 3).
9. Run init-scripts/ + selected init-phase recipes.
10. Smoke-test the front-end.
11. Run post-scripts/ + selected post-phase recipes.
12. Print the outro summary.

The outro

When create finishes, you'll see a summary box like this:

✔ Sandbox ready
  Front:     http://my-shop.lndo.site/
  Admin:     http://my-shop.lndo.site/admin8a3kls9d/
  phpMyAdmin: http://localhost:53947
  Mailhog:    http://localhost:53946
  PS:         9.1.0
  Theme:      panda
  Modules:    55/56 active, 1 installed-but-inactive: stupgrader
  Hooks:      0 init / 0 post
  Recipes:    spain-taxes ✓

Each line:

Front / Admin — open in browser with npx ps-lando open front / ... open bo.
Admin path — randomized by PrestaShop during install for security. Persisted in .ps-lando.json so other commands find it.
phpMyAdmin / Mailhog — random ports assigned by Lando. Recoverable via lando info or ps-lando info.
Modules — <active>/<total> plus a list of any installed-but-inactive modules.
Hooks / Recipes — counts of what ran during create.

About `stupgrader installed-but-inactive`

stupgrader is bundled with Panda and consistently reports as installed-but-inactive on PS 9.x. The PrestaShop install command exits 0 but the module never flips active=1 in ps_module — its hook registration silently fails. Known quirk, not a ps-lando bug, and it doesn't affect your day-to-day work. It's surfaced in the outro so the count discrepancy doesn't confuse you.