One-command local developer environment for Adobe Experience Manager as a Cloud Service (AEMaaCS) — AEM Author, Publish, Dispatcher and HTTPS, identical on macOS, Linux and Windows. Your isolated local island of services.
- AEMaaCS — AEM Author + Publish, Dispatcher, nginx SSL, real site domains (available now)
- Magento (ACaaCS), Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform ...and more — planned stacks, see Extending
The starting reference point is AEMaaCS — clone this repo, drop in your AEM SDK, run make.
Every developer, in every team, runs the same stack as the cloud ie AEM Author and Publish, the Dispatcher and HTTPS on the real site domains. What works on the developer machine works when the code is merged — no "works on my machine", no surprises in the shared cloud environments.
- Same setup for all — one command (
make) builds the identical environment on macOS, Linux and Windows. New joiners are productive on day one, not in week two. - Cloud-like, locally — HTTPS domain → Dispatcher → Publish, the same path the visitor takes. Caching, filters, rewrites and redirects are tested before the merge, not after the deploy.
- Cloud environments are limited — AEMaaCS environments are few and shared; one per developer is not cost-effective. Stackisle gives every developer a full stack of their own at no cloud cost, and keeps the shared environments for integration and UAT.
- Faster delivery — fewer failed pipelines, fewer blocked environments, fewer late defects. Estimated ~40% productivity gain for the overall team.
- Built for enterprise scale — critical for complex projects with multiple teams, brands and domains, delivered at true global scale, where everyone must build and test on the same baseline.
Start here — Stackisle is the starting point for every project: clone it, add it to your own
repo as needed, drop in the AEM SDK, run make. An opportunity to enhance and make it your own
playbook by partnering with the Claude.ai skills.
macOS
make prereq
make health
Linux
make prereq
make health
Window
make prereq
make health
https://dev-local-www-brand.com — the WKND sample site served locally over HTTPS, through nginx and the Dispatcher
One-command setup for a fully local AEMaaCS development environment on macOS, Windows, and Linux.
Browser → https://dev-local-www-brand.com
[nginx container] INSTALL_DIR/certs/server.crt, INSTALL_DIR/nginx/conf.d/
→ aem-dispatcher:80 (host: http://localhost:9999)
[Dispatcher container] INSTALL_DIR/dispatcher/src/
→ host.docker.internal:4503
AEM Publish (local Java process) AEM Author :4502 alongside
Browse these — no port needed. nginx (Docker) terminates SSL and forwards to the dispatcher and AEM Publish behind it.
| Site URL |
|---|
| https://dev-local-www-brand.com |
| https://dev-local-www-shop.brand.com |
| https://dev-local-www-b2b.brand.com |
| https://dev-local-www-new.brand.com |
One row per domain in CUSTOM_DOMAINS (.env). To add a site, see Adding a domain.
| Service | URL | Runs as |
|---|---|---|
| AEM Author | http://localhost:4502 | Java 21 process, author,local — admin/admin |
| AEM Publish | http://localhost:4503 | Java 21 process, publish,local |
| Dispatcher | http://localhost:9999 | Docker aem-dispatcher → Publish |
- Docker (Desktop on mac/windows) with compose v2, Java 21+ (AEM SDK 2026.x refuses to start on 17), curl, unzip, openssl; mkcert optional (trusted certs)
make install-prereqinstalls them on mac/linux; Windows:powershell -File prereq/windows/install-prereq.ps1(Admin), then use Git Bash- The AEM SDK zip from Adobe Software Distribution
(sign in with your Adobe ID; search "AEM SDK"), placed at
sdk/aem-sdk-<version>.zip(you should have access and the dispatcher tools are inside it — nothing else to download)
First time? Follow docs/setup-guide.md. It runs every step one at a time, with what each does, how to check it, and how to undo it.
cp .env.example .env # optional — `make` creates it; edit CUSTOM_DOMAINS / ports
make # prereq → sdk → certs → dispatcher → nginx → hosts → start → wait
make help # every targetTwo variables in .env decide everything:
SDK_DIR="./sdk" # The path of the SDK container (put aem-sdk-<version>.zip here)
INSTALL_DIR="./sdk" # The path you want to installDerived from INSTALL_DIR |
Contents |
|---|---|
author/, publish/ |
AEM jars + crx-quickstart (repository, logs) |
dispatcher/src/ |
Dispatcher vhost/farm config (seeded from the SDK) |
dispatcher/docker/, dispatcher/logs/ |
Resolved image, saved logs |
certs/ |
server.crt, server.key |
nginx/conf.d/ |
Generated nginx server blocks |
Relative paths resolve from the project folder; absolute paths (/opt/aem) and ~ work too.
make set-paths INSTALL_DIR=/opt/aem # change one…
make set-paths SDK_DIR=./sdk INSTALL_DIR=~/aem-local # …or both (writes .env)
make paths # show the layout (read-only)
make prereq # check the folders are writableChanging paths doesn't move an existing install. set-paths warns and explains the options.
| make target | Script | What it does |
|---|---|---|
help |
built into Makefile |
List all targets |
env |
built into Makefile |
Create .env from .env.example (if missing) |
set-paths |
set-paths.sh |
Set SDK_DIR / INSTALL_DIR in .env |
prereq |
00-check-prereq.sh |
Verify tools, Java 21+, Docker daemon, SDK zip |
sdk |
01-unpack-sdk.sh, 02-create-author-publish.sh |
Unpack SDK, create author/ + publish/ |
certs |
03-create-cert.sh |
certs/server.crt/.key for all domains |
dispatcher |
04-install-dispatcher.sh |
Dispatcher tools, seed dispatcher/src, load image |
nginx |
05-create-nginx-config.sh |
nginx/conf.d/<domain>.conf |
hosts |
update-etc-hosts.sh |
Map domains → 127.0.0.1 |
start |
06, 07, 08 |
Start AEM, dispatcher, nginx |
health / wait |
09-health-check.sh |
Check every hop / poll until healthy |
make |
all of the above | One command to install and start all above services |
stop |
08, 07, 06 (stop) |
Graceful stop of all services |
For the detailed step-by-step command guide, see ./docs/setup-guide.md.
# .env
CUSTOM_DOMAINS="dev-local-www-brand.com dev-local-www-shop.brand.com dev-local-www-b2b.brand.com dev-local-www-new.brand.com dev-local-www-promo.brand.com"
make certs nginx hosts reload-nginxThe dispatcher's default config accepts every host (*), so no dispatcher change is
needed. For per-domain vhosts, see .claude/skills/references/dispatcher-config.md.
make start | stop | restart | health
make urls # every URL of your setup (built from .env — nothing hardcoded)
make smoke # test SMOKE_PATH on every hop, printing the exact curl used
make stop-aem # graceful: waits until the repository has closed — never force-kills
make restart-aem
make logs-author | logs-publish | logs-dispatcher | logs-nginx
make clean # remove generated certs/conf (keeps AEM + SDK)
make uninstall # revert everything: containers, images, hosts entries, AEM repos (asks)make wknd # install Adobe's WKND site on Author + Publish (AEM running)
make start-aem WKND=1 # start AEM, wait until ready, then install WKND
make WKND=1 # full setup including WKND
FORCE=1 make wknd # reinstallLatest release from the GitHub repo in WKND_REPO (default adobe/aem-guides-wknd), or pin
WKND_VERSION in .env. Skips instances where it's already installed. Then run make smoke:
it tests SMOKE_PATH (default the WKND home page) on every hop and site.
New stacks go in mk/<stack>.mk and are auto-included by the Makefile — no edits to the
core Makefile needed.
Magento (ACaaCS): on hold, untested, not yet wired into make.
Issues and PRs are welcome — especially new platform scripts, additional stacks under mk/,
or fixes for environments this hasn't been tested on yet. If Stackisle saves your team the
"works on my machine" debugging cycle, a ⭐ on the repo helps the next developer find it too.
MIT — use it, fork it, adapt it to your own project's terms. Provided as-is, with no warranty; see the LICENSE file for the full text.