DDEV Experiment Runs Umbraco on .NET 10 in Containers

Custom DDEV configuration documented by Lee Mills runs Umbraco on .NET 10 with Kestrel and Azure SQL Edge in containers. Mills described the experiment in a DDEV TechNote published 24 August 2026, where he tested how much of DDEV's usual local-development workflow could be retained with a different application stack. A fresh clone can start with ddev start without requiring the .NET SDK or database service to be installed on the host.

For Drupal developers, the experiment shows how the same tool recommended for Drupal local development can be extended beyond its common PHP workflows. The configuration uses DDEV's generic project and web server types, allowing Umbraco to provide its own Kestrel server process. Mills also omits DDEV's standard MariaDB container and runs the database as a separate Azure SQL Edge service.

That database arrangement means DDEV's usual import-db and export-db commands do not apply, so Mills added separate commands for moving Umbraco Cloud .bacpac backups. He chose Azure SQL Edge because full SQL Server has no ARM64 container image, although Microsoft lists Azure SQL Edge as retired from 30 September 2025. Mills describes the configuration as bespoke, says he has tested it only on his own machine against one project, and suggests that an add-on would be a better home for the .NET installation, database service, and backup commands if the approach is developed further.