For “infrastructure” apps like databases, caches, etc, I’ve been using Docker containers. Very easy to setup and tear down in a repeatable way. Unless I’m modifying the app itself, of course.

For me it’s the only sane way to manage multiple small projects. A few lines in a docker compose file and I’m done, no matter the Postgres/Python/Ruby/Lib or framework version, everything is isolated and reproductible. Downside is gigabytes of RAM wasted.

Exactly. I have a few build tools on my machine but any service installed locally has been long gone. Even the apps I work on - I just have the code locally and compile/package it up for testing within a container, which resembles the actual production landing spot. No more "it works on my machine".