Debugging

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Xdebug

The default Docker stack is shipped without a Xdebug stage. It’s easy though to add Xdebug to your project, for development purposes such as debugging tests or remote API requests.

Add a Development Stage to the Dockerfile

To avoid deploying API Platform to production with an active Xdebug extension, it’s recommended to add a custom stage to the end of the api/Dockerfile.

# api/Dockerfile
FROM api_platform_php as api_platform_php_dev

ARG XDEBUG_VERSION=3.0.2
RUN set -eux; \
	apk add --no-cache --virtual .build-deps $PHPIZE_DEPS; \
	pecl install xdebug-$XDEBUG_VERSION; \
	docker-php-ext-enable xdebug; \
	apk del .build-deps

Configure Xdebug with Docker Compose Override

Using an override file named docker-compose.override.yml ensures that the production configuration remains untouched.

As an example, an override could look like this:

version: "3.4"

services:
  php:
    build:
      target: api_platform_php_dev
    environment:
      # See https://docs.docker.com/docker-for-mac/networking/#i-want-to-connect-from-a-container-to-a-service-on-the-host
      # See https://github.com/docker/for-linux/issues/264
      # The `remote_host` below may optionally be replaced with `remote_connect_back`
      XDEBUG_CONFIG: >-
        remote_enable=1
        remote_host=host.docker.internal
        remote_connect_back=1
        remote_port=9000
        idekey=PHPSTORM        
      # This should correspond to the server declared in PHPStorm `Preferences | Languages & Frameworks | PHP | Servers`
      # Then PHPStorm will use the corresponding path mappings
      PHP_IDE_CONFIG: serverName=api-platform

Note for Mac environments use the following:

      XDEBUG_CONFIG: >-
        remote_enable=1
        remote_host=docker.for.mac.localhost
        remote_connect_back=0
        remote_port=9000
        idekey=PHPSTORM
        remote_autostart=1
        remote_mode=req
        remote_handler=dbgp

Troubleshooting

Inspect the installation with the following command. The requested Xdebug version should be displayed in the output.

$ docker-compose exec php php --version

PHP …
    with Xdebug v3.0.2, Copyright (c) 2002-2021, by Derick Rethans
    …

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