Compare HTTP Toolkit vs. Xdebug

You can easily scan through traffic by highlighting content type, status, and source. Or, you can use powerful filtering tools that match your messages to the most important ones. With MDN inline explanations and docs, you can examine the URL, status, headers, and body of each request, or response. You can explore message bodies using highlighting and auto formatting for JSON HTML, JS, JS and other formats, all with the help of Monaco, the editor in Visual Studio Code. Match requests precisely, jump to them as they appear, and edit any information: the target URL or method, headers, body, or method. You can either respond manually to the requests as they arrive or pass them upstream. On the way back, pause and edit the actual response. Step through HTTP traffic request-by-request, or manually mock errors and endpoints. To quickly prototype against new services or endpoints, create rules that match requests.

Xdebug is a powerful PHP extension that enhances the development workflow by offering various tools and functionalities. It allows developers to step through code in their integrated development environment as scripts run, making debugging much easier. The extension provides an enhanced version of the var_dump() function and delivers stack traces for notices, warnings, errors, and exceptions, clearly indicating the path leading to issues. Additionally, it logs all function calls, including arguments and their locations, to the disk, and can be configured to also record every variable assignment and return value for each function. This feature set enables developers, with the aid of visualization tools, to thoroughly examine the performance of their PHP applications and identify any bottlenecks. Moreover, Xdebug reveals the sections of code that are executed during unit testing with PHPUnit, aiding in better test coverage. For convenience, installing Xdebug via a package manager is typically the quickest method; simply replace the PHP version with the version you are currently using. You can also install Xdebug using PECL on both Linux and macOS, utilizing Homebrew for a streamlined setup process. Overall, Xdebug significantly enhances PHP development by providing essential debugging tools and performance insights.