How to Build a Complete PHP 7 Development Environment with Homestead, Xdebug, and Docker

Homestead – A Full‑Feature PHP 7 Box

Install the Homestead Vagrant box

Homestead is an official Laravel‑maintained Vagrant box based on Ubuntu 14.04 that bundles an LNMP stack, common PHP packages and modules. It provides a convenient way to set up a dedicated PHP 7 testing environment.

Before starting, install VirtualBox and Vagrant on your host OS.

Download the box: vagrant box add laravel/homestead-7 Verify the installation:

vagrant box list

Install the Homestead deployment script

git clone -b php-7 https://github.com/laravel/homestead.git Homestead7

cd Homestead7
bash init.sh

The script creates Homestead.yaml in ~/.homestead, which will hold all LNMP project configurations.

Configure an LNMP project

mkdir php7

Edit Homestead.yaml to add a folder sync and a site definition for the new php7 directory.

Bring the box up

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

Run the box: vagrant up Add a host entry 192.168.10.10 php7.app and browse to http://php7.app/demo.php. Seeing the PHP info page confirms the environment works.

Xdebug – Debug PHP Code Step by Step

Compile and install Xdebug

wget http://xdebug.org/files/xdebug-2.4.0rc1.tgz
tar xvzf xdebug-2.4.0rc1.tgz
cd xdebug-2.4.0rc1
phpize7.0
./configure --enable-xdebug
make
sudo make install

Note the path of the generated .so file.

Enable Xdebug

zend_extension="/usr/lib/php/20151012/xdebug.so"
xdebug.remote_enable = 1
xdebug.remote_connect_back = 1
xdebug.remote_port = 9000
xdebug.max_nesting_level = 500

Copy the file to /etc/php/mods-available and create symlinks:

sudo ln -sfn /etc/php/mods-available/xdebug.ini /etc/php/7.0/cli/conf.d/20-xdebug.ini
sudo ln -sfn /etc/php/mods-available/xdebug.ini /etc/php/7.0/fpm/conf.d/20-xdebug.ini

Restart PHP‑FPM: service php7.0-fpm restart Verify with php -m, php -i | grep xdebug, or by checking the Xdebug logo in the phpinfo page.

PHPStorm Integration

Install PHPStorm, open the php7 project, and add a PHP Web Application run configuration. Define a remote server that points to the Homestead VirtualBox instance and set the correct path mappings.

Set a breakpoint in demo.php, start the “Run/Debug” configuration, and PHPStorm will launch Chrome and pause execution at the breakpoint, allowing step‑by‑step debugging.

Package Everything into a Docker Container

A ready‑made Docker image boxueio/php7-with-xdebug bundles the LNMP stack, PHP 7, Xdebug and common Laravel modules.

docker pull boxueio/php7-with-xdebug
docker run -d --name php7 -p 8088:80 -p 33060:3306 -v [your source dir]:/var/www/php7.app php7-with-xdebug

Add php7.app to /etc/hosts and access the environment at http://php7.app:8088.