Debugging

You can use RoadRunner with the Xdebug extension. To enable it, configure your IDE to accept remote connections.

If you run multiple PHP processes you have to extend the maximum number of allowed connections to the number of active workers, otherwise some calls would not be caught on your breakpoints.

Xdebug for RoadRunner installed on your system

xdebug

To activate Xdebug, set xdebug.mode=debug in your php.ini.

To enable Xdebug in your application, set the environment variable XDEBUG_SESSION:

.rr.yaml

rpc:
   listen: tcp://127.0.0.1:6001

server:
   command: "php worker.php"
   env:
     - XDEBUG_SESSION: 1

http:
   address: "0.0.0.0:8080"
   pool:
      num_workers: 1
      debug: true

Please keep in mind this guide: xdebug3.

You should be able to use breakpoints and view state at this point.

PhpStorm notes

export PHP_IDE_CONFIG="serverName=octane-app.test"
export XDEBUG_SESSION="mode=debug start_with_request=yes client_host=127.0.0.1 client_port=9003 idekey=PHPSTORM"

php -dvariables_order=EGPCS artisan octane:start --max-requests=250 --server=roadrunner --port=8000 --rpc-port=6001 --watch --workers=1

Xdebug for RoadRunner in Docker

First, create a docker-compose.yml file in your project root, or copy the environment and extra_hosts sections into your existing docker-compose.yml:

docker-compose.yml

services:
  api:
    build:
      context: ./
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
    container_name: projectName-api
    command: rr serve -c .rr.yaml
    tty: true
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    volumes:
      - ./api:/app
    networks:
      - default
    environment:
      - PHP_IDE_CONFIG=serverName=docker
    extra_hosts:
      - "host.docker.internal:host-gateway"

Next, create a .rr.yaml file in your project root or copy the following content:

.rr.yaml

rpc:
    listen: 'tcp://127.0.0.1:6001'
http:
    address: '0.0.0.0:8080'
    middleware:
        - gzip
        - static
    static:
        dir: public
        forbid:
            - .php
            - .htaccess
    pool:
        debug: true
        num_workers: 1
        supervisor:
            max_worker_memory: 100
server:
    command: 'php app.php'
    relay: pipes
    env:
      - XDEBUG_SESSION: 1
metrics:
    address: '127.0.0.1:2112'

Next, create a Dockerfile in your project root or copy the following content:

Dockerfile

FROM ghcr.io/roadrunner-server/roadrunner:2025.1.1 AS roadrunner

FROM php:8.4-cli-alpine3.21

# change version to latest if you want to use the latest version of xDebug, see https://xdebug.org
ENV XDEBUG_VERSION=3.4.4

RUN apk add --no-cache autoconf g++ make postgresql-dev coreutils --update linux-headers \
    && pecl install xdebug-$XDEBUG_VERSION \
    && rm -rf /tmp/pear \
    && docker-php-ext-configure pgsql --with-pgsql=/usr/local/pgsql \
    && docker-php-ext-install pdo_pgsql sockets \
    && docker-php-ext-enable xdebug \
    && apk del linux-headers make g++ autoconf

RUN mv $PHP_INI_DIR/php.ini-development $PHP_INI_DIR/php.ini
COPY xdebug.ini /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/xdebug.ini

RUN curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php \
    && mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer \
    && chmod +x /usr/local/bin/composer

RUN addgroup -g 1000 app && adduser -u 1000 -G app -s /bin/sh -D app

WORKDIR /app

COPY --from=roadrunner /usr/bin/rr /usr/local/bin/rr

RUN chown app:app /usr/local/bin/rr && chmod +x /usr/local/bin/rr

USER app

Important: Make sure to change XDEBUG_VERSION to the version you want to use (see xdebug.org). Note that the example container runs as the app user.

Next, create an xdebug.ini file in your project root or copy the following content:

xdebug.ini

xdebug.mode=develop,debug
xdebug.start_with_request=yes
xdebug.discover_client_host=0
xdebug.client_host=host.docker.internal
xdebug.client_port=9003
xdebug.log=/dev/stdout
xdebug.log_level=0

Next, change the settings in your IDE so it can accept remote connections. For example, in PhpStorm go to PHP > Debug and set the following options:

PhpStorm xDebug settings

Next, create a Server entry in your IDE. For example, in PhpStorm go to PHP > Servers and set the following options:

PhpStorm xDebug server settings

Also check the Docker settings in your IDE. For example, in PhpStorm go to Build, Execution, Deployment > Docker and set the following options:

PhpStorm Docker settings

Jobs debugging

Prerequisites

1. Xdebug 3 installed and properly configured.

2. Number of jobs workers set to 1 with jobs.pool.num_workers configuration option in .rr.yaml.

Debug process

If you have any active Xdebug listener while starting RoadRunner with Xdebug enabled, disable it. This will prevent a false-positive debug session.

Once RoadRunner starts all workers, enable XDebug listener and reset jobs workers with:

./rr reset jobs

Now you should see the debug session started:

1. Step over to where the job task is being resolved with $consumer->waitTask().

2. As soon as you reach it, the debugger stops but the session remains active.

3. Trigger task consumption with either an HTTP request or a console command (depending on how your application works), and continue debugging the job worker within the active session.

4. You can continue debugging jobs as long as the debug session is active.

If the connection/session is broken or times out, you can repeat the instructions above to reestablish the connection by resetting job workers.