Configure synchronization with a server

Last modified: 25 March 2024

PhpStorm distinguishes among in-place, local, and remote servers, however the meaning of these terms in the context of PhpStorm slightly differs from their common meaning:

  • In the in-place server configuration, the server is running on your computer, your project is under its document root (for example, in the /htdocs folder), and you do your development directly on the server.

    The document root of an in-place server is the parent of the project root, either immediate or not. The document root is the server root or website root directory. Usually, it is the publicly-accessible base folder for a website.

  • In the local server configuration, you do your development, then copy the sources to the server.

    A local server is a server that is running in a local or a mounted folder and whose document root is NOT the parent of the project root.

  • In the remote server configuration, a server runs on another computer (a remote host). To access files on the server, use FTP/SFTP/FTPS/WebDAV protocols.