Blog#

Manual PHP installation with debugging support in VSCode on Windows

Setting up PHP manually on Windows may sound intimidating at first, especially when there are many ready-made bundles and installers available. Those solutions can certainly be convenient, but they often hide important details about how PHP actually works.

In this guide, we will go through a clean manual installation of PHP on Windows, configure debugging support with Xdebug, and connect everything to Visual Studio Code using PHP Tools for Visual Studio Code.

Newsletter: PHP Tools for VS Code - March 2026

The latest updates to PHP Tools for Visual Studio Code introduce a broad set of improvements focused on developer productivity, language support, and deeper code intelligence. Across the past development cycle, the extension has gained new language features aligned with the latest PHP releases, expanded framework awareness, improved navigation and debugging workflows, and numerous refinements to code analysis.

Setting Up a Modern WordPress Plugin Dev Environment with VS Code (2026)

Developing WordPress plugins shouldn't mean cluttering your OS with PHP installations or getting lost in the wp-admin core folders. In this tutorial, we will build a professional, containerized environment using Docker and PHP Tools for VS Code from DEVSENSE.

What's New in PHP extension for Visual Studio Code (December 2025 – January 2026)

The end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026 brought another substantial update to the PHP extension for Visual Studio Code by DEVSENSE. This release focuses on deeper code understanding, smarter refactorings, better framework support, full alignment with the latest PHP language changes, and stability. Alongside major IntelliSense improvements and advanced generics support, we’ve also delivered significant performance optimizations to make your daily development smoother than ever.

Optimize Native Function Invocation

PHP has come a long way from being an interpreted scripting language for home web pages to a pretty fast object-oriented compiled language running the most powerful websites on the Internet. As part of its performance boost are various compiler optimizations. In this blog post, we'll focus on a subtle feature that makes applications automatically faster (although just slightly): optimizing native function invocation.

PHP Tools for VS Code – Version 1.61

Pest Tests & Data Providers

September update (1.61) introduces support for Pest tests. This means, your tests defined using it() and test() methods are seamlessly listed in the VSCode's Testing panel, tests can be inspected, run, debugged, or profiled. Additionally, the editor inside your test anonymous function provides full IntelliSense for $this variable and its members. Let's see how it works.

Run and Debug Pest and PHPUnit Tests in VS Code

Test Explorer in Visual Studio Code opens the door to all your PHPUnit and Pest PHP tests. You can browse and filter test suites, test classes, test cases, and data sets. Run, debug, profile, or navigate to any test. You can enable automatic testing on changes, browse test history, and see detailed diffs of actual and expected results. Let me show you how.

12 Most Common Xdebug Issues (and How to Fix Them)

Debugging PHP can sometimes feel like chasing ghosts. Even experienced developers often encounter the same recurring issues, especially when using Xdebug or IDE-integrated debuggers. Here’s a practical guide to the most common pitfalls—and how to solve them.

🎉 PHP Tools Now Supports Zed IDE – Full Tutorial Inside!

We're thrilled to announce that Zed IDE is now officially supported by our PHP Tools extension! 🎉

PHP Tools for Visual Studio Code – Version 1.59

We’re excited to announce the release of PHP Tools for Visual Studio Code version 1.59! This update delivers a wide range of improvements and new features — from enhanced Laravel support, powerful code actions, and improved IntelliSense, to diagnostics and formatting refinements.

Let’s take a look at what’s new: