Configure Xdebug

Install the PHP plugin

This functionality relies on the PHP plugin that should be installed and enabled in your IDE.

The plugin is available only in IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate.

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+S to open the IDE settings and select Plugins.

2. Switch to the Marketplace tab and use the search field to find the PHP plugin.

3. Click Install and restart the IDE if prompted.

Download Xdebug

• Download the Xdebug extension compatible with your PHP version and install it as described in the installation guide.

  If you are using an AMP package, the Xdebug extension may be already installed. Refer to the instructions specific for your package.

Integrate Xdebug with the PHP interpreter

1. Open the active php.ini file in the editor:

   1. In the Settings/Preferences dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), click PHP under Languages & Frameworks.

   2. On the PHP reference page that opens, click next to the CLI Interpreter field.

   3. In the CLI Interpreters dialog that opens, the Configuration file read-only field shows the path to the active php.ini file. Click Open in Editor.

2. To disable the Zend Debugger and Zend Optimizer tools, which block Xdebug, remove or comment out the following lines in the php.ini file:

   zend_extension=<path_to_zend_debugger> zend_extension=<path_to_zend_optimizer>

3. To enable Xdebug, locate or create the [xdebug] section in the php.ini file and update it as follows:

   [xdebug] zend_extension="<path to xdebug extension>" xdebug.mode=debug xdebug.client_host=127.0.0.1 xdebug.client_port="<the port (9003 by default) to which Xdebug connects>"

   [xdebug] zend_extension="<path to xdebug extension>" xdebug.remote_enable=1 xdebug.remote_host=127.0.0.1 xdebug.remote_port="<the port (9000 by default) to which Xdebug connects>"

   To enable multi-user debugging via Xdebug proxies, locate the xdebug.idekey setting and assign it a value of your choice. This value will be used to register your IDE on Xdebug proxy servers.

4. Save and close the php.ini file.

5. Verify Xdebug installation by doing any of the following:

   • In the command line, run the following command:

     php --version

     The output should list Xdebug among the installed extensions:

     

   • Create a php file containing the following code:

     <?php phpinfo();

     Open the file in the browser. The phpinfo output should contain the Xdebug section:

     

Configure Xdebug in IntelliJ IDEA

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+S to open the IDE settings and select Languages & Frameworks | PHP.

2. Check the Xdebug installation associated with the selected PHP interpreter:

   1. On the PHP page, choose the relevant PHP installation from the CLI Interpreter list and click next to the field. The list shows all the PHP installations available in IntelliJ IDEA, see Configuring Local PHP Interpreters and Configuring Remote PHP Interpreters.

   2. The CLI Interpreters dialog that opens shows the following:

      • The version of the selected PHP installation.

      • The name and version of the debugging engine associated with the selected PHP installation (Xdebug or Zend Debugger). If no debugger is configured, IntelliJ IDEA shows the corresponding message:

        

   Alternatively, open the Installation Wizard, paste the output of the phpinfo(), and click Analyze my phpinfo() output. Learn more about checking the Xdebug installation in Validate the Configuration of a Debugging Engine.

3. Define the Xdebug behaviour. Click Debug under the PHP node. On the Debug page that opens, specify the following settings in the Xdebug area:

   • In the Debug port field, appoint the port through which the tool will communicate with IntelliJ IDEA.

     This must be the same port number as specified in the php.ini file:

     xdebug.client_port="<the port (9003 by default) to which Xdebug connects>"

     xdebug.remote_port="<the port (9000 by default) to which Xdebug connects>"

     By default, Xdebug 2 listens on port 9000. For Xdebug 3, the default port has changed from 9000 to 9003. You can specify several ports by separating them with a comma. By default, the Debug port value is set to 9001,9003 to have IntelliJ IDEA listen on both ports simultaneously.

   • To have IntelliJ IDEA accept any incoming connections from Xdebug engine through the port specified in the Debug port field, select the Can accept external connections checkbox.

   • Select the Force break at first line when no path mapping specified checkbox to have the debugger stop as soon as it reaches and opens a file that is not mapped to any file in the project on the Servers page. The debugger stops at the first line of this file and Examine/update variables shows the following error message: Cannot find a local copy of the file on server <path to the file on the server> and a link Click to set up mappings. Click the link to open the Resolve Path Mappings Problem dialog and map the problem file to its local copy.

     When this checkbox cleared, the debugger does not stop upon reaching and opening an unmapped file, the file is just processed, and no error messages are displayed.

   • Select the Force break at first line when a script is outside the project checkbox to have the debugger stop at the first line as soon as it reaches and opens a file outside the current project. With this checkbox cleared, the debugger continues upon opening a file outside the current project.

4. In the External connections area, specify how you want IntelliJ IDEA to treat connections received from hosts and through ports that are not registered as deployment server configurations.

   • Ignore external connections through unregistered server configurations: Select this checkbox to have IntelliJ IDEA ignore connections received from hosts and through ports that are not registered as deployment server configurations. When this checkbox is selected, IntelliJ IDEA does not attempt to create a deployment server configuration automatically.

   • Break at first line in PHP scripts: Select this checkbox to have the debugger stop as soon as connection between it and IntelliJ IDEA is established (instead of running automatically until the first breakpoint is reached). Alternatively turn on the Run | Break at first line in PHP scripts option from the main menu.

   • Max. simultaneous connections Use this spin box to limit the number of external connections that can be processed simultaneously.