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PHP

Phoenix Code supports full code intelligence for PHP: completions with documentation, parameter hints, hover info, Go to Definition, Find Usages, and error checking in the Problems panel.

Everything works the same way as described in Code Intelligence.

Desktop Only

PHP code intelligence runs in the desktop app.

Automatic Setup​

PHP code intelligence is powered by Intelephense. Phoenix Code downloads it the first time you open a PHP file. The progress shows in the status bar, with a stop button to cancel.

PHP setup task

Updates are automatic, and if you are offline, the download waits for a connection.

To turn PHP code intelligence off, set the codeIntelligence.php preference to false. Setting it back to true downloads the server again.

HTML, CSS, and JavaScript inside your PHP files keep their existing code hints. Intelephense handles only the PHP parts.

Premium Features​

The free version of Intelephense covers everything described above. If you own an Intelephense premium license, set the php.licenseKey preference to your license key, or to the path of your license file.

Working With Frameworks (WordPress, Laravel, etc.)​

PHP code intelligence only knows about the PHP files it can see. If your project is a WordPress theme or plugin (or any codebase that leans on functions/constants defined by a framework you don't have locally, like get_header()), those calls show up as "Undefined function" errors in the Problems panel even though the code is correct.

Fix this by dropping an intelephense.config.json file in your project root, then restart Phoenix Code (or switch between projects) so PHP code intelligence picks it up.

Recommended: point it at the framework's stub files so the functions are actually recognized (you get real hover info and completions, not just silence):

{
    "environment": {
        "includePaths": ["vendor/php-stubs/wordpress-stubs"]
    }
}

Install the stubs with Composer first. Open View > Terminal for a terminal already rooted at your project (same steps on Windows, macOS, and Linux), then run:

composer require --dev php-stubs/wordpress-stubs

Needs Composer installed. If the command isn't found, install Composer first (its site has steps for Windows, macOS, and Linux).

Similar stub packages exist for WooCommerce, Laravel, and other frameworks.

Composer puts the stubs inside your project (vendor/…), so the path above works as-is on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Pointing includePaths at your actual local WordPress install instead would work too, but the path is different for every setup (XAMPP, MAMP, Local, Docker, …) and you'd have to track it down yourself — the stub package sidesteps that entirely.

Quicker: just turn the check off, if you don't want to set up stubs:

{
    "diagnostics": {
        "undefinedFunctions": false
    }
}

This only silences the error. Code intelligence still doesn't know what these functions are, so you won't get hover docs or autocomplete for them — use the stub option above for that.

Commit intelephense.config.json to your repo so the whole team gets the same settings. See the configuration reference for the full list of diagnostics and environment options.

Running PHP Pages​

This page is about editing PHP. To preview PHP pages in the Live Preview, see PHP Live Preview Setup.