xdebug/xdebug

Health v2 · maintenance only

Flags: no_license

Adoption not part of the score

3414 stars · 600 forks observed · 2026-08-28

What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-29, confidence not recorded

Xdebug is a PHP extension providing step debugging, profiling, tracing, code coverage, and improved error reporting for PHP applications. It integrates with IDEs over the DBGp protocol and is actively maintained with regular releases.

Use cases

• step through PHP code in an IDE while a script executes
• profile a PHP application to find performance bottlenecks
• collect code coverage for PHPUnit test runs
• trace every function call with arguments and return values to a file
• get better var_dump output and stack traces for errors and exceptions
• debug PHP running in Docker or on a remote server from a local IDE

When to choose

• you develop PHP and need interactive step debugging in VS Code, PhpStorm, or another DBGp-compatible IDE
• you want to profile PHP scripts and analyze Cachegrind-compatible output with tools like KCacheGrind or Webgrind
• you need code coverage collection for PHPUnit or want detailed function traces of an unfamiliar codebase
• you want richer error output, improved var_dump, and stack traces during development

When to avoid

• you are not working with PHP
• you need a debugger for a language other than PHP or a non-DBGp debugging workflow
• you want a standalone GUI debugger without an IDE or editor integration
• you need a lightweight production profiler with minimal overhead rather than a development aid

Facets

plugin · maturity active

testing benchmarking developer-tools monitoring developer-tools web-development backend testing performance php windows cross-platform php-extension debugger profiler step-debugging dbg-protocol code-coverage function-tracing var-dump phpunit ide-integration cachegrind error-reporting linux macos

Member repositories

For agents

markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="xdebug/xdebug")