Usage and Configuration

Listening for dumps

Run the listener by itself:

php artisan dump:listen

The client and listener use tcp://127.0.0.1:9912 by default. To change both, set DUMP_TO_CONSOLE_HOST as described in Configuration. The --host option changes only the listener for that invocation. Use it when the client already sends dumps to that endpoint:

php artisan dump:listen --host=tcp://127.0.0.1:9913

The package also adds a dumps process to php artisan dev.

Dumping values

Like Laravel’s dump() helper, dc() returns the values it receives. Unlike dump(), it sends the rendered value to the listener instead of writing into the current process output.

$user = dc(User::findOrFail($id));

$values = dc('first', 'second');

$named = dc(user: $user, permissions: $user->getAllPermissions());

Multiple positional values are labeled 1, 2, and so on. Named arguments keep their names. A single value is returned directly. Multiple values are returned as an array with the original keys. Calling dc() without arguments sends a small marker and returns null.

Delivery is best effort. If the listener is unavailable or a value cannot be prepared or written, the dump is silently discarded. Debugging should not become the production incident it was investigating.

Fluent dumps

Use the package trait when an application class should support fluent console dumps:

use ArtisanToolbox\DumpToConsole\Concerns\Dumpable;

class ReportBuilder
{
    use Dumpable;
}

$report = $builder
    ->dc()
    ->generate();

dc() returns the same object after sending it to the listener. Additional arguments are supported and are dumped alongside the object.

Benchmarks

The package registers Benchmark::dc() to measure a callback once, dump its duration and result, and return the result:

use Illuminate\Support\Benchmark;

$report = Benchmark::dc(fn () => $service->generateReport());

Configuration

Publish the configuration when the listener endpoint or artisan dev integration must change:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag="dump-to-console-config"

Set the endpoint for both the client and the listener in .env:

DUMP_TO_CONSOLE_HOST=tcp://127.0.0.1:9913

If the application caches its configuration, rebuild the cache and restart long-running processes so they use the new endpoint.

To run the listener separately from php artisan dev, set register_dev_command to false in the published config/dump-to-console.php file.

Security

The dump protocol has no authentication or encryption. Keep it bound to a trusted local interface and treat dumped values with the same care as local logs.

How it works

The client clones values with Symfony VarDumper, adds a timestamp and source context, and sends the payload over a reusable TCP connection. Opening the connection is synchronous and uses a 50 ms connection timeout. Writes use non-blocking mode after the connection opens. The listener uses Symfony’s dump server protocol and Laravel’s CLI dumper, preserving Laravel’s rendering and editor links.

The HTTP server, queue workers, scheduler, and Artisan commands can run as separate processes while sending their temporary debug values to the same console.