> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://ona.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# PHP in Gitpod
Gitpod supports PHP right out of the box, but more advanced features such as debugging can be configured, so here is how to do it!
> There is also an awesome community project that utilizes [ddev](https://github.com/ddev/ddev) with Gitpod and makes things much easier.
> Be sure to check it out first from below!
>
> [https://ddev.github.io/ddev-gitpod-launcher/](https://ddev.github.io/ddev-gitpod-launcher/)
>
> With it, you can run XDebug out of the box, change PHP versions on the fly, and much more!
## Example Repositories
| Repository | Description | Try it |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [symfony-demo](https://github.com/gitpod-io/symfony-demo) | A PHP/Symfony reference application following best practices | [](https://gitpod.io/#https://github.com/gitpod-io/symfony-demo) |
| [magento2gitpod](https://github.com/nemke82/magento2gitpod) | Magento 2 optimized setup for Gitpod: Nginx, MySQL, PHP 7.2, PHP-FPM and more | [](https://gitpod.io/#https://github.com/nemke82/magento2gitpod) |
| [koel](https://github.com/phanan/koel) | A personal music streaming server that works | [](https://gitpod.io/#https://github.com/phanan/koel) |
| [drupal](https://github.com/bserem/gitpod-drupal-mysql-starterkit) | Drupal 9 with MySQL, suitable for site building and contrib module development | [](https://gitpod.io/#https://github.com/bserem/gitpod-drupal-mysql-starterkit) |
| [phpmyadmin](https://github.com/apolopena/gitpod-phpmyadmin) | A phpMyAdmin example with Node.js, a REST API and MySQL for data persistence | [](https://gitpod.io/#https://github.com/apolopena/gitpod-phpmyadmin) |
## Switching PHP versions
Gitpod installs PHP from [Ondřej Surý's PPA](https://launchpad.net/~ondrej/+archive/ubuntu/php) in [here](https://github.com/gitpod-io/workspace-images/blob/main/chunks/tool-nginx/Dockerfile). The default version should be set to PHP8.
But let's say you want to switch to PHP7.4, follow along!
At first, add a [.gitpod.Dockerfile](/classic/user/configure/workspaces/workspace-image) file on your repo with the following content in it:
```dockerfile theme={null}
# You can find the new timestamped tags here: https://hub.docker.com/r/gitpod/workspace-full/tags
FROM gitpod/workspace-full:2022-05-08-14-31-53
# Change your version here
RUN sudo update-alternatives --set php $(which php7.4)
```
Secondly, reference the above Dockerfile in your `.gitpod.yml` configuration file, like so:
```yml theme={null}
image:
file: .gitpod.Dockerfile
```
Now you can [See it in action on a new workspace](/classic/user/references/gitpod-yml#see-it-in-action)
## Debugging PHP in Gitpod
The PHP Debug extension allows debugging PHP applications from within Gitpod.
To get this extension for your project, you must do two things:
First, you must create a [.gitpod.Dockerfile](/classic/user/configure/workspaces/workspace-image) for your repository:
```dockerfile theme={null}
FROM gitpod/workspace-full:2022-05-08-14-31-53
RUN sudo install-packages php-xdebug
```
Second, reference the above Dockerfile in a [.gitpod.yml](/classic/user/references/gitpod-yml) file, and then also install the extension, like so:
```yml theme={null}
image:
file: .gitpod.Dockerfile
vscode:
extensions:
- felixfbecker.php-debug
```
Now you can [See it in action on a new workspace](/classic/user/references/gitpod-yml#see-it-in-action)
Later, you can head over to `Run and Debug` on the left hand side and have fun debugging PHP! You can also create a `launch.json` file.
Finally, here is a full [example repository](https://github.com/gitpod-io/Gitpod-PHP-Debug) containing the complete Gitpod PHP debug configuration described above. You can try it by clicking here:
[](https://gitpod.io/#https://github.com/gitpod-io/Gitpod-PHP-Debug)
## PECL Package Manager
Gitpod's default workspace image also comes with the [PECL](https://pecl.php.net/) package manager pre-installed. To install packages with it, you must use `sudo pecl install ` in your repository's [.gitpod.Dockerfile](/classic/user/configure/workspaces/workspace-image), e.g. like so:
```dockerfile theme={null}
FROM gitpod/workspace-full
RUN sudo pecl channel-update pecl.php.net && \
sudo pecl install
```
where `` is the PHP extension you want to install, e.g. `xdebug`.
## Setting GitHub token to Composer
Some composer plugins like [symfony/flex](https://github.com/symfony/flex) does direct API call against GitHub to fetch additional information. These unauthenticated requests will be rate-limited and may fail your task steps. To fix this behavior we can use the default credential-helper to obtain a GitHub Token and configure composer properly
```bash theme={null}
composer config --global github-oauth.github.com $(printf '%s\n' host=github.com | gp credential-helper get | sort | head -2 | tail -1 | sed 's;password=;;')
```
## Further Reading
* [Gitpodifying a new Laravel Application](https://notes.etin.space/posts/gitpodifying-a-new-laravel-application) by Etin Obaseki