php-lsp 0.1.50

A PHP Language Server Protocol implementation
php-lsp-0.1.50 is not a library.

php-lsp

A PHP Language Server written in Rust — diagnostics, completions, hover, go-to-definition, rename, refactoring, and more.

Features · Editors & AI Clients · Configuration · Architecture · Contributing

Install

cargo install php-lsp

Or download a pre-built binary from Releases.

Setup

For full setup instructions for all editors and AI clients (Claude Code, Cursor, Zed, VS Code, Neovim, PHPStorm) see docs/editors.md.

The binary path after cargo install is ~/.cargo/bin/php-lsp. Run which php-lsp to confirm.

Configuration

Pass options via initializationOptions:

{
  "phpVersion": "8.1",
  "excludePaths": ["cache/*", "storage/*"]
}

See docs/configuration.md for all options.

Comparison

Server Language License Maintained
php-lsp Rust ✅ Free/OSS ✅ Active
Intelephense TypeScript ⚠️ Freemium ✅ Active
PHPantom Rust ✅ Free/OSS ✅ Active
Phpactor PHP ✅ Free/OSS ✅ Active
DEVSENSE Node.js 🔒 Paid ✅ Active
Psalm LSP PHP ✅ Free/OSS ✅ Active
phpls Go ✅ Free/OSS ✅ Active
felixfbecker PHP ✅ Free/OSS ❌ Abandoned

Feature matrix:

Feature php-lsp Intelephense PHPantom Phpactor DEVSENSE Psalm
Completion ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ⚠️ limited
Hover ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
Go-to-definition ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
Go-to-declaration ✅ 🔒 Premium ❌ ✅ ✅ ❌
Go-to-type-definition ✅ 🔒 Premium ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌
Find references ✅ ✅ ❌ ✅ ✅ ❌
Rename ✅ 🔒 Premium ✅ ✅ ✅ ❌
Call hierarchy ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌
Type hierarchy ✅ 🔒 Premium ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌
Implementations ✅ 🔒 Premium ❌ ✅ ✅ ❌
Semantic tokens ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌
Inlay hints ✅ ❌ ❌ ✅ ✅ ❌
Code lens ✅ 🔒 Premium ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌
Signature help ✅ ✅ ❌ ✅ ✅ ❌
Selection range ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌
Document highlight ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌
Folding ✅ 🔒 Premium ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌
On-type formatting ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌
Document links ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌
PSR-4 autoload ✅ ✅ ❌ ✅ ✅ ❌
PhpStorm meta ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌
Static analysis ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅✅
Embedded HTML/JS/CSS ❌ ✅ ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌
Laravel/framework aware ❌ ⚠️ plugin ✅ built-in ❌ ⚠️ plugin ❌
Debugger ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌
Deep generics / PHPStan types ⚠️ partial ⚠️ partial ✅ ❌ ✅ ✅

Where php-lsp is strong:

  • Rust-based — no GC pauses, async-first with tokio, lock-free document store via dashmap
  • mir-php static analysis — two-pass cross-file engine: undefined vars/functions, arity errors, type mismatches, deprecated calls
  • PhpStorm metadata — the only open-source LSP that parses .phpstorm.meta.php for DI container type inference
  • Breadth of LSP coverage — call/type hierarchy, semantic tokens, inlay hints, selection range, and 10 code action types all free
  • Completion depth — type-aware chains, match enum completions, named args, auto use insertion, camel/underscore fuzzy matching

Where others are stronger:

  • Intelephense / DEVSENSE — embedded HTML/JS/CSS intelligence inside PHP files; more battle-tested on very large codebases
  • PHPantom — deeper generics, PHPStan annotations, conditional return types; built-in Laravel Eloquent and Drupal support
  • Psalm — strictest type analysis available; best-in-class for type correctness at the cost of IDE feature breadth
  • DEVSENSE — integrated debugger, PHPUnit UI, professional support
  • php-lsp — newer and has a smaller community than Intelephense or Phpactor

License

MIT