Xdebug is often used for debugging PHP programs. However, IDE and Xdebug’s standard capabilities are not always sufficient. Some, but not all, problems can be resolved using the Xdebug proxy, pydbgpproxy. This is why I have created a PHP Xdebug proxy based on the asynchronous framework, amphp.

In this article, I will be looking at what is wrong with pydbgpproxy, what it is missing and why I decided not to rework it. I will also be explaining how PHP Xdebug proxy works and using an example to show how it can be extended.

Pydbgpproxy vs PHP Xdebug proxy

Xdebug proxy is an intermediate service between IDE and Xdebug (it proxies queries from Xdebug to IDE and vice versa). Generally, it is used for multiuser debugging. This is when you have one web server and several developers. …