PhpStorm Plugins You Might Not Know
PhpStorm comes with a ton of built-in features, and you can add even more with plugins. They bring new languages, tools, and small improvements that make everyday coding smoother.
Many of the best ones come from independent developers. One of them is Dmitrii Derepko, who built several handy tools for working with web projects and PHP. Below are a few of his creations worth checking out.
If you’re curious about plugin development, don’t miss the JetBrains Plugin Developer Conference 2025 – free online conference. Dmitrii will be speaking there and will walk you through plugin creation basics: from the initial setup to releasing it on JetBrains Marketplace.
.gitattributes support
If you’ve ever worked with libraries distributed through Composer, NPM, or other package managers, you’ve probably seen a .gitattributes file. It controls how your project looks when archived (via git archive) and which files get included or excluded when users install your package.
The .gitattributes Support plugin adds first-class editing experience for this file in PhpStorm. It highlights syntax, recognizes attribute rules, and even suggests valid options while you type so you don’t have to look them up each time. Small details, but they make editing smoother and help prevent mistakes.
🔗 Plugin Marketplace
💻 Source on GitHub
Git Codeowners
If you use GitHub or GitLab, you’ve probably seen a CODEOWNERS file. It tells your platform who’s responsible for reviewing pull requests that touch specific parts of the codebase.
The Git CODEOWNERS plugin makes editing this file painless. It autocompletes file paths, suggests team names, and validates syntax to prevent mistakes before you commit.
🔗 Plugin Marketplace
💻 Source on GitHub
Cron / Crontab Support
Cron is the classic tool for running tasks on a schedule. But remembering its five-field syntax is… painful.
This plugin highlights errors in your cron expressions, translates them into plain English (“runs every Monday at 3 AM”), and even lets you execute commands directly from PhpStorm – no need to switch to the terminal.
🔗 Plugin Marketplace
💻 Source on GitHub
Sitemap Support
Sitemaps tell search engines which URLs your site exposes and when they were last updated.
This plugin gives you a table-like XML editor for editing and inspecting sitemap files. You can view indexed vs. non-indexed pages, search or filter entries, and tweak URLs by hand if your generator misses something.
🔗 Plugin Marketplace
💻 Source on GitHub
TempestPHP
A work-in-progress plugin that adds support for Tempest (an upcoming new PHP framework) to PhpStorm. Features include support for its custom view syntax, route- and view file support, autocompletion for database models, and more.
🔗 Plugin Marketplace
💻 Source code on GitHub
Buggregator
Buggregator is a visual debugging toolkit that lets you inspect data dumps right inside PhpStorm.
Just call trap() in your PHP code, and the plugin automatically spins up a local server that listens for these calls and renders the data in a docked panel — no browser tabs, no context switching.
It also works seamlessly with the libraries you already use, like Ray, Symfony/VarDumper, Monolog, Sentry, etc.
🔗 Plugin Marketplace
💻 Source on GitHub
PHP Dump
PHP Dump builds on PHP Opcodes Language to visualize your code’s compiled output in real time.
It tokenizes the current file, shows the AST (Abstract Syntax Tree), and displays Opcache details. It helps you understand why a specific function might run slower than expected, without ever executing it.
🔗 Plugin Marketplace
💻 Source on GitHub
FileSystem Info
Sometimes you just want to know which files in your project are taking up space or sitting forgotten.
FileSystem Info scans your project tree and adds file sizes in the project structure tree so you can quickly spot large files.
🔗 Plugin Marketplace
💻 Source on GitHub
Git Churn
Git Churn shows you which files in your repository change too often or never change at all.
Frequent edits usually signal overly complex or unstable code. This plugin helps you spot those hotspots so you can refactor with purpose instead of guesswork.
🔗 Plugin Marketplace
💻 Source on GitHub
That’s it for this roundup – a few plugins that make PhpStorm just a bit smarter.
If you ever had an idea for a PhpStorm plugin or run into something that could be automated or improved, drop it in the comments – maybe Dmitrii (or someone else from the community) will take it on next!
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