Phpstorm Xdebug Docker

| 02-05-2021
[RAND-1-100] Comments



  1. PHPSTORM + XDEBUG (2/3) + WSL2 + DOCKER. Small example project to show how to configure xdebug (2 or 3) with WSL2 and Docker. This solution works only if you use PhpStorm on WSL2 with X server! WSL2 change Linux IP every reboot time, so you should, add global variable (WSLIP) in your Linux system.
  2. Click the +on the top left and add a new Docker configuration. Select Docker Compose and the php service, then use the default options for everything else. Save this and apply. Next click the 'Add configuration' button on the taskbar in the top right.
  3. On Windows you will have to manually retrieve the IP address to which Xdebug should connect to via xdebug.remotehost. When you have done no custom configuration in your Virtual Switch manager, Docker for Windows will use the Default Switch automatically.

Created at 2020-10-10Updated at 2020-10-11Category Docker Tag Resource / Docker / PHP / PhpStorm / PhpUnit / Linux

I have recently configured my windows 10 laptop with an additional SSD, so I could experiment with Linux. I have already installed Pop!_OS Git, PhpStorm and Docker. I haven’t installed PHP or Composer locally. Next I want to learn how to use this new environment. This is what I have found out so far.

Codeigniter docker-compose phpstorm xdebug docker-desktop. Improve this question. Follow edited Mar 27 at 19:44. Asked Mar 26 at 21:09. 3,828 8 8 gold badges 41 41 silver badges 68 68 bronze badges.

Start with a Project

One of my favorite projects is the Gilded Rose Kata. I can clone that from github as follows:

Create docker-compose.yml

It is possible to run PHP cli without a docker-compose file, I have found it is easier to set up PhpStorm using this intermediate step.

PhpStorm has several preconfigured Docker containers, source:

They can be used as follows:

Php 7.3 CLI and XDebug 2.7

docker-compose.yml

The above will work for Linux, for Windows and MacOS the XDEBUG_CONFIG: will need the changed as follows:

Windows and MacOS

Windows and MacOS replace with XDEBUG_CONFIG:host.docker.internal, which will automatically resolve to the internal address of the host Docker is running on.

MacOS with local Homebrew php-fpm

If you use a local Homebrew php-fpm installation, port 9000 (which is the default debugging port) may become occupied. PhpStorm will remain silent on starting listening for incoming connections. If this is the case, in the Settings | Languages & Frameworks | PHP | Debug, set the Debug port to 9001, and use the following configuration line instead.

Apache, PHP 7.3, XDebug 2.7 and MySQL

For information this is the LAMP version (based on the phpstorm-workshop).

docker-compose.yml

Install dependencies using composer

To keep things simple the composer Docker container can be used to install the dependencies.

This is the script recommended on the docker hub composer page to avoid filesystem permissions problems

By default, Composer runs as root inside the container. This can lead to permission issues on your host filesystem. You can work around this by running the container with a different user:

On windows change $PWD for the full path to the project (note: forward slash / as separator), remove the line end and run the command as one line:

Alternatively, more complex projects will need specific PHP extensions to be installed, which are not included in the Composer Docker container. The following method could be used to install Composer, inside the container and install the dependencies.

  1. Access bash in the php-cli container: docker-compose run --rm php-cli /bin/bash
  2. Install Composer, by following the download instructions for Linux
  3. Still, inside the container, install dependencies: php composer.phar install
  4. Exit the container exit

Phpstorm Xdebug Dockers

Note: In Linux, using the second method Composer will create the vendor folder as root!

The permissions can be changed using chown:

Further information

There is a detailed description about running Docker containers as current host user.

The official documentation on Docker run and docker-compose cli reference.

Configure PhpStorm

Now the project has been cloned from GitHub and the dependencies have been installed. PhpStorm can be setup to use Docker. Thanks to Gary Hockin’s excellent YouTube video Running PHPUnit Tests in PhpStorm with Docker, the setup process can be easily replicated.

Phpstorm Xdebug Docker Not Working

Docker php fpm xdebug

There is a four stage process:

  1. Configure PhpStorm to use Docker
  2. Configure the remote interpreter
  3. Configure PhpUnit
  4. Create Test runner

1. Configure PhpStorm to use Docker

  • Settings (Ctrl + Alt + S)
  • Search for Docker
    • Under Build, Execution, Deployment
  • Click + to add
  • Select Unix socket
    • Confirm connection was successful

2. Configure the default CLI interpreter

XdebugXdebug config
  • Settings (Ctrl + Alt + S)
  • Search for CLI interpreter
    • Under Language & Frameworks > PHP
  • Click the ellipse button next to CLI Interpreter
  • Click +
  • Select From Docker, Vagrant…
  • Choose Docker Compose
  • Choose the Service from the drop down list (e.g. php-cli)
  • Select OK
  • Change the name e.g. Docker PHP
Phpstorm Xdebug Docker
  • Apply and OK
  • Check the mapping
    • e.g. for a web project <Project root>→/var/www/html
    • e.g. for an app project <Project root>→/app

3. Configure PhpUnit

  • Settings (Ctrl + Alt + S)
  • Search for Test Frameworks
    • Under Language & Frameworks > PHP
  • Click +
  • Select PhpUnit from remote interpreter
  • Choose the interpreter created above, e.g. Docker PHP
    • Confirm the path mappings, as above <Project root>→/app
    • Input the script path based on the mapping inside the container e.g. /app/vendor/autoload.php
    • Under Test runner, tick Default configuration script, type in the path, in the docker container. e.g. /app/phpunit.xml

4. Create the test runner

  • Click Edit Configuration (next to run test button)
  • Click + to add
  • Select PHPUnit
  • Under Test Runner choose Defined in the configuration file
  • Name - e.g. Docker PHPUnit
  • Click Play to run all the tests!

What about configuring xDebug?

Thanks to this setup, xDebug has been automatically configured! It will use the default PHP Interpreter, which was configured in step 2. A breakpoint can be set in the app or tests can be run with coverage :)

Enjoy the kata!

Phpstorm Xdebug Docker Cli

Edit: Added details on running commands on MacOS and Windows and small tweaks.