Fix: Mailpit not starting in Local — seed with 9.2.5, then upgrade

Resolved Completed Feature Requests
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1

Mailpit not starting in Local — fixed by seeding with 9.2.5

Fix for: “Missing Mailpit v1.24 — Don’t worry. We’ll reinstall it next time you start your site”

Setup:

  • macOS 15.6.1 (Intel)
  • Goal: latest Local version

Fix (concise)

  1. Install Local 9.2.5 (“What’s New in Local 9.2.5”).

    • This seeds WP-CLI v2.12.0 and Mailpit v1.24.1.
    • Create a test site, start it once, stop it, then quit Local.

  2. Verify that Mailpit was installed by Local

    • Path: ~/Library/Application Support/Local/lightning-services
    • You should see a folder like mailpit-1.24.1+0.
    • Quick check:
      ls "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Local/lightning-services" | grep -i mailpit

  3. Upgrade to the latest Local

    • Drag and drop into /Applications (avoid app cleaners).
    • Start a site once, stop it, then quit Local.

Result

Mailpit now runs reliably across site restarts.

Note

If 9.2.5 isn’t available, the same approach works by first seeding with another earlier Local version and then upgrading in place.

PS: Thank me later, folks — no big deal; it only cost me more than three days. :skull:

2

Sorry for the time you lost on this, @stiff. I appreciate you posting your solution here.

macOS Intel users on 9.2.7 can alternatively follow the steps here:

https://community.localwp.com/t/local-v9-2-7-fails-on-intel-mac-missing-mailpit-architecture-detection-error/51269/3

We’re looking into why Mailpit was not bundled with the Intel production build of 9.2.7 (when it was included in the 9.2.7 beta), and will ship an update that includes it.