periscope

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php-periscopeSee into your Laravel request.

Xdebug-tier debugging plus Telescope-tier observability, in one live UI — with an AI co-pilot.

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⏪

Time-travel debugging

Pause any request and scrub backward in time. Every function frame, every captured variable, every SQL query, every log line — preserved and replayable, frame by frame.

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Telescope-tier observability

SQL, logs, cache, Redis, jobs, events, mail, HTTP, exceptions, model writes — captured per request, grouped, filtered, time-correlated. All in one panel.

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AI-native API

Built-in MCP server exposes every trace to Claude, Cursor, Codex, and any MCP-speaking agent. `claude mcp add periscope -- php artisan mcp:start periscope` and your AI can query traces directly.

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Fast inactive, fast active

3.3× faster than Xdebug when inactive, 4.1× faster in trace mode. Function-boundary recording, not opcode-level — overhead stays under 5× even on hot paths.

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Built for Laravel 13

v1 supports Laravel 11 / 12 / 13. Auto-discovers your queries, jobs, events, exceptions, cache + Redis ops. Toolbar chip injects into HTML responses. UI mounts at /periscope.

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Works where you work

VSCode + DAP debugger, browser UI on localhost:9999, exportable .html traces for sharing with colleagues — no SaaS, no telemetry, your data never leaves the box.

Quickstart ​

bash
# one-line install (macOS + Linux)
bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/thamibn/php-periscope/main/scripts/install.sh)

# add to any Laravel app
composer require periscopephp/laravel

# start the daemon, open the UI
periscope-daemon &
open http://127.0.0.1:9999

# wire AI agents
claude mcp add periscope -- php artisan mcp:start periscope

What you get on day one ​

The first request you trigger after install shows up in the timeline. Click any frame, see every variable bound at that line. Click any SQL row, see the call site. Drag the timeline scrubber backward, watch the queries / logs / cache hits disappear in reverse.

If something's wrong, the Insights panel tells you:

  • "This query ran 12 times with the same shape — looks like an N+1 in ListingController:show:43."
  • "SELECT * on agencies is over-fetching. Slowest column read at 87ms — try select(['id','name'])."
  • "Exception caught at Foo.php:128. AI advisor: try/catch around the empty-collection branch on line 124 silently swallows the cause. Re-throw or log."

How is it different? ​

XdebugTelescopeDebugBarperiscope
Breakpoints + variables✓——✓
SQL / logs / cache / jobs observability—✓partial✓
Time-travel scrubbing———✓
AI-native (MCP)———✓
Engine-level via Observer API———✓
Per-request UI—post-mortemlive footerlive, full-screen
Frame-level overhead15–40×——< 5×

Telescope is read-only after the fact. Xdebug needs a re-run with breakpoints. DebugBar is a footer chip. periscope is the debugger you would have written if Xdebug, Telescope, and DebugBar were the same project.

Status ​

v0.1.0-alpha. Built for PHP 8.3 on macOS + Linux. Laravel-only on the framework side; the C extension is framework-agnostic and Symfony / WordPress adapters are post-v1.

See docs/ROADMAP.md for what's next.

Released under a proprietary license.

© 2026 php-periscope contributors