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PHP Built-in Web Server

Last modified: 17 March 2022

Use this dialog to configure running PHP applications on a local PHP built-in web server. Note that this configuration is not intended for starting a debugging session. To debug an application running on the built-in server, start the application through this configuration and then connect to the running application as described in Zero-configuration debugging.

note

PHP built-in web server is supplied with PHP 5.4 (and later) and is not built into PhpStorm. It is not suitable for production environments; you should use it only for development and testing purposes.

Server Configuration area

In this area, configure the access to the built-in Web server.

Item

Description

Host

In this field, type the name of the host the PHP built-in web server runs on. By default, host is set to localhost, because the built-in server is located on your machine.

Port

Use this spin box to specify the port on which the PHP built-in web server runs. By default this port is set to port 80. You can set the port number to any other value starting with 1024 and higher.

Document root

In this field, type the full path to the folder that will be considered server document root. This can be either the project root or any other folder under it. All the folders under the document root will be recursively submitted to the PHP interpreter.

The server document root folder will be accessed through HTTP at the above specified host:port. URL addresses for other pages of your applications will be composed based on this mapping.

Type the path manually or click Browse the Browse button and choose the relevant folder in the dialog that opens.

Use router script

Select this checkbox to have a PHP router script executed at every HTTP request start-up. The script is run for each HTTP request. If this script returns FALSE, the requested resource is returned as-is. Otherwise, the script output is returned to the browser.

In the field, specify the location of the script to run. Type the path manually or click Browse the Browse button and choose the file in the dialog that opens.

Command Line area

In this area, customize the behavior of the current PHP interpreter by specifying the options and arguments to be passed to the PHP executable file.

Item

Description

Interpreter options

In this field, specify the options to be passed to the PHP executable file. They override the default behavior of the PHP interpreter or ensure that additional activities are performed.

If necessary, click the Expand button and type the desired options in the Command Line Options dialog. Type each option on a new line. When you close the dialog, they are all displayed in the Command line options field with spaces as separators.

Custom working directory

In this field, specify the location of the files that are outside the folder with your sources and are referenced through relative paths. Type the path manually or click Browse the Browse button and select the desired folder in the dialog that opens.

Environment variables

In this field, specify the environment variables be passed to the built-in server. See Environment Variables in Apache for details.

Common settings

When you edit a run configuration (but not a run configuration template), you can specify the following options:

Name

Specify a name for the run configuration to quickly identify it among others when editing or running.

Allow multiple instances

Allow running multiple instances of this run configuration in parallel.

By default, it is disabled, and when you start this configuration while another instance is still running, PhpStorm suggests stopping the running instance and starting another one. This is helpful when a run configuration consumes a lot of resources and there is no good reason to run multiple instances.

Store as project file

Save the file with the run configuration settings to share it with other team members. The default location is .idea/runConfigurations. However, if you do not want to share the .idea directory, you can save the configuration to any other directory within the project.

By default, it is disabled, and PhpStorm stores run configuration settings in .idea/workspace.xml.

Toolbar

The tree view of run/debug configurations has a toolbar that helps you manage configurations available in your project as well as adjust default configurations templates.

Item

Shortcut

Description

the Add button

Alt+Insert

Create a run/debug configuration.

the Remove button

Alt+Delete

Delete the selected run/debug configuration. Note that you cannot delete default configurations.

Copy

Ctrl+D

Create a copy of the selected run/debug configuration. Note that you create copies of default configurations.

Save configuration

The button is displayed only when you select a temporary configuration. Click this button to save a temporary configuration as permanent.

Move into new folder / Create new folder

Move into new folder / Create new folder. You can group run/debug configurations by placing them into folders.

To create a folder, select the configurations within a category, click Folder, and specify the folder name. If only a category is in focus, an empty folder is created.

Then, to move a configuration into a folder, between the folders or out of a folder, use drag or Move Up and Move Down buttons.

To remove grouping, select a folder and click Remove Configuration.

Sort configurations

Click this button to sort configurations in the alphabetical order.

Before launch

In this area, you can specify tasks to be performed before starting the selected run/debug configuration. The tasks are performed in the order they appear in the list.

Item

Shortcut

Description

the Add button

Alt+Insert

Click this icon to add one of the following available tasks:

  • Run External tool: select to run an external application. In the dialog that opens, select one or multiple applications you want to run. If it is not defined in PhpStorm yet, add its definition. For more information, see External tools and External Tools.

  • Run Another Configuration: select to execute another run/debug configuration and wait until it finishes before starting the current configuration. If you want to run several configurations in parallel, use a compound run/debug configuration.

  • Launch Web Browser: select this option to have a browser started. In the dialog that opens, select the type of the browser and provide the start URL. Also, specify if you want the browser be launched with JavaScript debugger.

  • Run File Watchers: select this option to have PhpStorm apply all the currently active File Watchers.

  • Run Grunt task: select this option to run a Grunt task.

    In the Grunt task dialog that opens, specify the Gruntfile.js where the required task is defined, select the task to execute, and specify the arguments to pass to the Grunt tool.

    Specify the location of the Node.js interpreter, the parameters to pass to it, and the path to the grunt-cli package.

  • Run gulp task: select this option to run a Gulp task.

    In the Gulp task dialog that opens, specify the Gulpfile.js where the required task is defined, select the task to execute, and specify the arguments to pass to the Gulp tool.

    Specify the location of the Node.js interpreter, the parameters to pass to it, and the path to the gulp package.

  • Run npm script: select this option to execute an npm script.

    In the NPM Script dialog that opens, specify the npm run/debug configuration settings.

  • Compile TypeScript: select to run the built-in TypeScript compiler and thus make sure that all the changes you made to your TypeScript code are reflected in the generated JavaScript files. In the TypeScript Compile Settings dialog that opens, select or clear the Check errors checkbox to configure the behaviour of the compiler in case any errors are detected:

    • If the Check errors checkbox is selected, the compiler will show all the errors and the run configuration will not start.

    • If the Check errors checkbox is cleared, the compiler will show all the detected errors but the run configuration still will be launched.

  • Run Phing target: add this task to execute the specified Phing target prior to running or debugging. To appoint a Phing target, click Browse the Browse button and select the desired target in the dialog that opens.

  • Generate CoffeeScript Source Maps: select this option to generate the source maps for your CoffeeScript sources. In the dialog that opens, specify where your CoffeeScript source files are located.

  • Upload files to Remote Host: select this option to have the application files automatically uploaded to the server according to the default server access configuration.

  • Run Remote External Tool: adds a remote SSH external tool.

the Remove button

Alt+Delete

Click this icon to remove the selected task from the list.

Edit

Enter

Click this icon to edit the selected task. Make the necessary changes in the dialog that opens.

Method up/Method down

Alt+Up/Alt+Down

Click these icons to move the selected task one line up or down in the list. The tasks are performed in the order that they appear in the list.

Show this page

Select this checkbox to show the run/debug configuration settings prior to actually starting the run/debug configuration.

Activate tool window

By default this checkbox is selected and the Run or the Debug tool window opens when you start the run/debug configuration.

Otherwise, if the checkbox is cleared, the tool window is hidden. However, when the configuration is running, you can open the corresponding tool window for it yourself by pressing Alt+4 or Alt+5.

See also

Procedures

Reference

Concepts