Hello,

We all need some suggestions once in a while about what tools to make our work easier as software engineers.

Hence, I am sharing what my VSCode setup looks like as a PHP/Laravel developer.

Debugging

I currently use Xdebug. There are some supporting extensions to work with it in VSCode. But the software itself has to be installed directly on your machine. You can visit https://xdebug.org/docs/install to learn about how you can install one for your PC / MAC.
On VSCode, you need to install some supporting extensions to work with Xdebug,
I use the following:

• PHP Debug

• PHP extension pack (by Xdebug)

Intellisense

To get that autocomplete and sweet indications when you are typing the right methods and classes. I use the following extensions.

• PHP Intellisense

• PHP intelephense

• Laravel Intellisense

Code Formatting

To avoid having to move those tabs and spaces manually, I use,

• PHP CS Fixer

• Laravel Blade formatter (for .blade.php files)

• PHP (all-in-one PHP support by DevSense) - This does some intellisense as well.

• DotEnv (syntax highlighting for .env files)

Appearance

For the look and feel of the code editor, I use the following,

• Theme - Dracula official.

• Font - Fira Code (https://github.com/tonsky/FiraCode), to use this font, you need to install the font on your PC/MAC and set it as your default font in VSCode.
  Installation instructions are on the GitHub link.