anil / dump

v0.1.2 2026-05-07 17:26 UTC

Requires

• php: ^8.2
• illuminate/config: ^11.0|^12.0|^13.0
• illuminate/console: ^11.0|^12.0|^13.0
• illuminate/http: ^11.0|^12.0|^13.0
• illuminate/log: ^11.0|^12.0|^13.0
• illuminate/support: ^11.0|^12.0|^13.0
• symfony/var-dumper: ^7.0|^8.0

Requires (Dev)

• larastan/larastan: ^3.0
• laravel/pint: ^1.29
• mockery/mockery: ^1.6
• orchestra/testbench: ^9.0|^10.0|^11.0
• pestphp/pest: ^4.0
• phpunit/phpunit: ^12.0

Suggests

• phpunit/phpunit: Required to use DumpFake testing utilities (^12.0)

MIT

• Anil Kumar Thakur

• debug
• dump
• laravel
• var-dumper
• dump-server

Published on Packagist.org on 2026-05-08 01:13 UTC

README

A Laravel package that intercepts dump() and dd() calls and streams them to a dedicated terminal server keeping your browser responses clean while you debug.

Inspired by Symfony's var-dump-server, built for the Laravel ecosystem.

Features

• Intercepts all dump() / dd() calls and forwards them to a running terminal server
• Falls back to CLI or HTML output when the server is not running
• Attaches request context (URI, method, controller) and a stack trace to every dump
• Optional log channel support write every dump to a Laravel log channel
• Global helpers: dump_if(), dump_unless(), dd_if(), dd_unless()
• DumpFake testing utility with rich PHPUnit assertions
• Production guard the handler is never registered when APP_ENV=production
• Configurable clone depth and item limits via environment variables

Requirements

Dependency	Version
PHP	^8.2
Laravel	^11.0 | ^12.0 | ^13.0
symfony/var-dumper	^7.0 | ^8.0

Installation

Install as a dev dependency (recommended debug tooling should not ship to production):

composer require anil/dump --dev

If you need the dump server available in production (e.g. for staging environments or log-channel mirroring), install it as a regular dependency instead:

composer require anil/dump

The service provider is auto-discovered. Then run the install command to publish the config and add the required environment variables:

php artisan dump:install

This will:

• Publish config/dump-server.php
• Append DUMP_SERVER_HOST, DUMP_SERVER_ENABLED, and DUMP_SERVER_LOG_ENABLED to both .env and .env.example

Usage

1. Start the dump server

In a separate terminal, start the server before making requests:

php artisan dump:server

Output HTML instead of CLI output:

php artisan dump:server --format=html

2. Call dump() or dd() as usual

dump($user);
dump(['key' => 'value']);
dd($request->all());

When the server is running, output is captured and displayed in the server terminal with request context and a stack trace instead of inline in the browser.

When the server is not running, dump() falls back to normal CLI or HTML output.

Helper Functions

Four conditional helpers are available globally:

// Dump only when the condition is true
dump_if($user->isAdmin(), $user);

// Dump only when the condition is false
dump_unless($request->isJson(), $request->all());

// Die-and-dump only when the condition is true
dd_if(app()->isLocal(), $response);

// Die-and-dump only when the condition is false
dd_unless($feature->isEnabled(), $payload);

Configuration

Publish the config file manually if needed:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=dump-server-config

config/dump-server.php:

return [
    // TCP host the server listens on
    'host' => env('DUMP_SERVER_HOST', 'tcp://127.0.0.1:9912'),

    // Set to false to disable the handler entirely in an environment
    'enabled' => env('DUMP_SERVER_ENABLED', true),

    // VarCloner limits  increase for deeply nested structures
    'max_depth' => env('DUMP_SERVER_MAX_DEPTH', 10),
    'max_items' => env('DUMP_SERVER_MAX_ITEMS', 2500),

    // Optionally mirror every dump to a log channel
    'log' => [
        'enabled' => env('DUMP_SERVER_LOG_ENABLED', false),
        'channel' => env('DUMP_SERVER_LOG_CHANNEL', 'stack'),
        'level'   => env('DUMP_SERVER_LOG_LEVEL', 'debug'),
    ],
];

Environment variables

Variable	Default	Description
DUMP_SERVER_HOST	tcp://127.0.0.1:9912	TCP address the server binds to
DUMP_SERVER_ENABLED	true	Set to false to disable the handler
DUMP_SERVER_MAX_DEPTH	10	Maximum clone depth for nested objects
DUMP_SERVER_MAX_ITEMS	2500	Maximum number of items cloned
DUMP_SERVER_LOG_ENABLED	false	Mirror dumps to a log channel
DUMP_SERVER_LOG_CHANNEL	stack	Log channel to write to
DUMP_SERVER_LOG_LEVEL	debug	PSR-3 log level

Testing

The package ships with DumpFake, a drop-in test helper that captures dumps and provides PHPUnit assertions.

use Anil\Dump\Testing\DumpFake;

$fake = DumpFake::fake();

dump('hello');
dump(42);
dump(['a' => 1]);

// Assert a specific value was dumped
$fake->assertDumped('hello');

// Assert a value was NOT dumped
$fake->assertNotDumped('world');

// Assert nothing was dumped
$fake->assertNothingDumped();

// Assert the total number of dumps
$fake->assertDumpedCount(3);

// Assert using a custom callback
$fake->assertDumpedUsing(fn ($v) => is_array($v) && isset($v['a']));

// Retrieve all captured values
$dumped = $fake->getDumped();

// Restore the original handler when done
$fake->restore();

Running the test suite

composer test

Static Analysis

The package is analysed at PHPStan level 10 with Larastan:

composer analyse

Code Style

Formatting is enforced with Laravel Pint:

composer format       # fix
composer format:check # check only

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for release history.

License

The MIT License (MIT). See LICENSE for details.