How can I debug PHP Laravel on Visual Studio Code without use XAMPP or WAMP server

Setup xdebug extension in php.ini file as per your PHP version.

Check which version of xdebug support your PHP here : https://xdebug.org/wizard.php

Don't forget to change your xdebug extension path zend_extension.

Add xdebug extension into the browser also. For mozila click here.

[xdebug]
zend_extension = "C:\php\ext\php_xdebug-2.7.0-7.2-vc15.dll"
xdebug.remote_autostart = 1
;xdebug.profiler_append = 0
;xdebug.profiler_enable = 0
;xdebug.profiler_enable_trigger = 0
;xdebug.profiler_output_dir = "c:\xampp\tmp"
;xdebug.profiler_output_name = "cachegrind.out.%t-%s"
xdebug.remote_enable = 1
;xdebug.remote_handler = "dbgp"
;xdebug.remote_host = "127.0.0.1"
;xdebug.remote_log = "c:\xampp\tmp\xdebug.txt"
;xdebug.remote_port = 9000
;xdebug.trace_output_dir = "c:\xampp\tmp"
;36000 = 10h
;xdebug.remote_cookie_expire_time = 36000
;xdebug.trace_output_dir = "C:\xampp\tmp"

I'd try starting artisan with Xdebug like php -z /path/to/xdebug.so artisan serve.

And then use the PHP debug extension for Visual Studio code, to set breakpoints, inspect variables and all other debugging stuff.

Creating a launch.json file within the .vscode directory of the project with the following contents did the trick for me:

{
     // Use IntelliSense to learn about possible attributes.
     // Hover to view descriptions of existing attributes.
     // For more information, visit: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=830387
     "version": "0.2.0",
     "configurations": [
         {
             "name": "Listen for XDebug",
             "type": "php",
             "request": "launch",
             "port": 9000
         }

     ]
}

Finished setting up development environment, and would like to list some notes:

• using Homestead/Vagrant/VirtualBox virtual environment and VSCode PHP Debug plugin

• edit .vscode/launch.json, or after first F5 will be created with settings like here:

  
     //file: .vscode/launch.json
     "version": "0.2.0",
     "configurations": [
      {
          "name": "Listen for Xdebug",
          "type": "php",
          "request": "launch",
          "port": 9003
      },
     // ...
  
  
  

•  # sudo vim /etc/php/8.1/fpm/conf.d/20-xdebug.ini # symlink
   # or sudo vim /etc/php/8.1/mods-available/xdebug.ini
   zend_extension=xdebug.so
   xdebug.mode = debug
   xdebug.discover_client_host = true
   xdebug.client_port = 9003
   xdebug.max_nesting_level = 512
   xdebug.idekey = VSCODE
   xdebug.start_with_request=yes
   xdebug.client_host=10.0.2.15 # <--- my Homestead/Vagrant/VirtualBox IP address (ip addr show)
  

• sudo service php8.1-fpm restart

• php artisan serve - will deploy/publish/attach php code to php8.1-fpm service

• 

Notes about development environment

• Host OS is Ubuntu 21.10
• Have installed VirtualBox and Vagrant
• Homestead cloned and started - vagrant up
• vagrant ssh-config copy paste to ~/.ssh/config
• VSCode extensions
  • Remote - SSH
  • Remote - SSH: Editing Configuration Files
• Using VSCode extension Laravel Extension Pack collection

Additional notes:

• there are two parts of Laravel/PHP that could be debugged:
• php artisan serve - running from shell to deploy/publish/attach php files to php8.1-fpm
  • one way to debug that launching part is to use this command line:

    php \            
      -dzend_extension=xdebug.so \
      -dxdebug.mode=debug \
      -dxdebug.discover_client_host=true \
      -dxdebug.client_port=9003 \
      -dxdebug.max_nesting_level=512 \
      -dxdebug.idekey=VSCODE \
      -dxdebug.start_with_request=yes \
      -dxdebug.client_host=10.0.2.15 \
      artisan serve
    

  • place brake-point somewhere at artisan script in root folder
  • do not need that part at all (just mentioning here for sake of completeness) and could be replaced with php artisan serve
• service php8.1-fpm status - running in background
  • to debug that part, /etc/php/8.1/mods-available/xdebug.ini file should be configured like here:

    zend_extension=xdebug.so
    xdebug.mode = debug
    xdebug.discover_client_host = true
    xdebug.client_port = 9003
    xdebug.max_nesting_level = 512
    xdebug.idekey = VSCODE
    xdebug.start_with_request=yes
    xdebug.client_host=10.0.2.15
    

  • always do sudo service php8.1-fpm restart after changing /etc/php/8.1/mods-available/xdebug.ini
  • place brake-point somewhere in SomeCustomController.php file
• keep running IDE debugger (client) with F5 from ./vscode/launch.json and php parts from above will be able communicate with it over port 9003
• Laravel docs:

  ... consider using Laravel Homestead

• Xdebug docs:

  There could be more than one php.ini file. In many set-ups there is a different one for the command line (often cli/php.ini) and the web server (often fpm/php.ini)

Helper commands to check if Xdebug extensions are set:

• php-fpm8.1 -m - Xdebug should be listed
• php --ini and php -v - Xdebug not listed