Xdebug’s step debugger not working in phpStorm.

TL;DR

Try deleting all PHP > Servers

Then refresh web page again. If PHP run through line that has breakpoint phpStorm will pop up for you to click accept incoming request.


It’s annoying when I change computer and sometime I encounter this problem. PHP was installed Xdebug properly, I can confirm from php -v and phpinfo(); that will show Xdebug as installed extension.

PHP 8.3.14 (cli) (built: Nov 19 2024 15:14:23) (NTS DEBUG)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v4.3.14, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
    with Xdebug v3.3.2, Copyright (c) 2002-2024, by Derick Rethans
    with Zend OPcache v8.3.14, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

When I encounter this problem, it only affects on one project, while the other projects have no problem.

I started to get a clue from these threads. [1] [2]. But even though I unchecked that “Use path mappings” checkbox, it still doesn’t work. But in the end, I found that it could work again once I completely removed the server entry.

I would like to thank Steve E and Richard Pickering.