Live Requests — PHP

Works with the built-in development server and with php-fpm pools. Request spans are published by the CodeTracer PHP extension from inside each worker process, so no framework integration is needed — Laravel, Symfony, WordPress and plain PHP all record the same way.

Record the built-in server

ct record --server --lang php -o ./trace -- php -S 127.0.0.1:8000 -t public/

Flags after the program name go to PHP unchanged, so this is exactly the php -S command you already use. The recording stays in the foreground; stop it with Ctrl-C.

Record a php-fpm pool

ct record --server --lang php -o ./trace -- php-fpm --nodaemonize

A pool runs several worker processes, and each one writes its own container. CodeTracer handles this for you: -o names a *parent directory*, the workers write into it, and the panel shows the requests from all of them together. You do not need to know which worker served which request.

Watch requests arrive

In a second terminal:

ct replay -t ./trace

Then send traffic:

curl 'http://127.0.0.1:8000/index.php?id=7'

Rows appear as requests complete. Double-click one to jump into the code that served it.

Open a recording later

ct replay ./trace

What gets recorded

• **The framework and route**, when CodeTracer can identify them.
• **Status and duration** per request.
• **Errors**, including the message for requests that ended in a fatal error

or uncaught exception.

Requirements

PHP 8.1 or newer. The CodeTracer extension is loaded for you — you do not need to edit php.ini or pass -d extension=… yourself.