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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
We're thrilled to announce that Zed IDE is now officially supported by our PHP Tools extension! 🎉
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:
We’re excited to announce the release of Update 1.58 for our Visual Studio Code extension. This update comes on the heels of a major internal change in our technology stack and brings a suite of new features, improvements, and foundational enhancements for future development.
PHP Extension works seamlessly with Cursor—the popular AI-powered code editor. With the PHP extension, you get a full suite of features, including code completion, intelligent code actions, an integrated debugger, advanced syntax highlighting, and effortless navigation. But that’s not all! It also offers workspace-wide code analysis and detailed diagnostics. Plus, these features are fully compatible with the AI chat agent, creating a powerful coding experience.
