---
title: "DebugPHP is live. Free, open-source, real-time PHP debugging in the browser."
url: https://daily.dev/posts/debugphp-is-live-free-open-source-real-time-php-debugging-in-the-browser--f3lmdna1d
source_url: https://daily.dev/posts/debugphp-is-live-free-open-source-real-time-php-debugging-in-the-browser--f3lmdna1d
type: freeform
source: "PHP Dev"
author: "Leon"
published: 2026-04-09T13:22:33.007Z
updated: 2026-04-09T13:22:50.706Z
tags: ["open-source", "devtools", "php"]
reading_time: 2
upvotes: 83
comments: 13
language: en
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# DebugPHP is live. Free, open-source, real-time PHP debugging in the browser.

**[PHP Dev](https://daily.dev/sources/phpdev)** · [@callmeleon](https://daily.dev/callmeleon) · 2 min read · 83 upvotes · 13 comments

## Summary

DebugPHP is a free, MIT-licensed, open-source PHP debugging tool that lets developers send any variable or data to a live browser dashboard using a single `Debug::send()` call. It requires no configuration, no desktop app, and no page reloads. Features include real-time log entries with filtering, table rendering, a built-in timer, live toolbar metrics, automatic environment detection, and click-to-open IDE integration (VS Code, Cursor, PhpStorm, Sublime). It has zero runtime dependencies beyond ext-curl, is fully self-hostable, and collects no telemetry.

## Content

A few weeks ago I teased something I've been working on — today it's public.

**The problem:** Every PHP dev knows the cycle. `dd()`, refresh, check, delete, repeat. Xdebug takes 20 minutes to configure. Ray costs $49/year to dump variables.

**The solution:** `Debug::send($anything)` — and it appears instantly in a browser tab. No page reloads. No desktop app. No config files.

**What's included:**

- 🔴 Real-time log entries with type filtering, labels & colors
- 📊 Table rendering for query results / collections
- ⏱️ Built-in timer for performance measurement
- 📌 Live toolbar metrics (key/value chips, auto-updated)
- 🔬 Automatic environment detection — PHP version, SAPI, OS, memory limit, Xdebug status shown right in the toolbar
- 🔗 Click-to-open in VS Code, Cursor, PhpStorm, Sublime
- 🏠 Fully self-hostable — your data never leaves your machine

**What it's NOT:**

- Not a framework. Zero runtime dependencies (only ext-curl)
- Not a SaaS. No accounts, no tracking, no telemetry
- Not a paid tool. MIT licensed, free forever

**Links:** 🌐 [debugphp.dev](http://debugphp.dev) 📦 [GitHub](https://github.com/CallMeLeon167/debugphp) 🖥️ [Try the Dashboard](https://dashboard.debugphp.dev/) 📖 [Documentation](https://debugphp.dev/docs)

This is a solo open-source project. If you try it and it saves you one `dd()` cycle — drop a ⭐ on GitHub. That's all the payment I need.

Feedback, issues, feature requests — all welcome. Let me know what's missing. 🤝

## Community discussion

Top comments from developers on daily.dev.

**@roxblnfk** · 3 upvotes

> we wrote Buggregator for this purpose. Logs, profiling, debug messages, etc...

**@dennis27** · 2 upvotes

> Awesome work Leon. Keep it up!

**@hridoymozumder** · 2 upvotes

> Cool. i will try

**@davidhida** · 1 upvotes

> Nice tool brother, I tried it and it's awesome. Thanks

**@lukaszteranet** · 1 upvotes

> That's cool, this is pure native PHP it looks like, no framework?
> What if you want to run this on a NGINX DEV server and don't have cli access to run composer commands, just build locally and deploy to DEV server?

---

Tags: [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source), [#devtools](https://daily.dev/tags/devtools), [#php](https://daily.dev/tags/php)

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