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How to debug Laravel REST API from inside Visual Studio Code

Laravel is a popular PHP framework for creating web applications, including RESTful APIs. To debug your Laravel API, you need to use Xdebug, a PHP extension that provides debugging and profiling capabilities, and Visual Studio Code (VS Code), a free and powerful code editor that supports many languages and features.

Prerequisites

- PHP 8 or higher with Xdebug 3.0 or higher - VS Code with PHP Debug extension - Postman 10.17.7 or higher - Laravel 8.x or higher - A Laravel REST API project ready to debug - PHP installed on your system and accessible from the command line

Steps

Download and install the Xdebug plugin for your PHP version and configuration from here.

Add the following lines to your php.ini file: [XDebug] xdebug.mode = debug xdebug.start_with_request = trigger xdebug.client_port = 9003 xdebug.client_host = 127.0.0.1

Install the PHP Debug extension on VS Code from Extensions (Ctrl + Shift + X).

Create a launch.json file in your VS Code project folder by clicking on Run and Debug (Ctrl + Shift + D) and selecting create a launch.json file. Choose PHP as the environment.

Start the debugging session by clicking on Run and Debug (Ctrl + Shift + D) and selecting Listen for Xdebug.

Run your Laravel API using the artisan serve command: php artisan serve

Open Postman and send a request to your API endpoint.

Set breakpoints in your VS Code editor where you want to pause the execution and inspect the variables.

Enjoy debugging your Laravel API from inside VS Code using Xdebug and Postman.