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Debugging Made Easy in Laravel with Laradumps 

Heer Patel
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If you’ve been working with Laravel for a while, you already know how often debugging becomes part of your daily workflow. Most of us start with dd() or dump(), but as the project grows, those methods quickly get messy. 

That’s where Laradumps comes in. It’s a modern, elegant, and powerful debugging tool designed specifically for Laravel developers. In this blog, we’ll walk through everything you need to get started with Laradumps — step by step. 

What is Laradumps? 

Laradumps is an open-source Laravel debugging tool that sends your debug output to a desktop application (instead of your browser). This means you can keep your debug logs clean, formatted, and searchable — without messing up your app’s response. 

Some cool features: 

  • Send dumps outside the browser 
  • Pretty-printed objects and arrays 
  • Notifications for queries, events, and requests 
  • Dark/light theme support 
  • Easy to install & use 

Step 1: Install Laradumps Desktop App 

First, download and install the Laradumps App on your machine. 

Download Laradumps App 

It’s available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Once installed, keep the app running — this is where all your dumps will appear. 

Step 2: Install Laradumps in Laravel 

In your Laravel project, install the Laradumps package via Composer: 

composer require laradumps/laradumps --dev 

Step 3: Publish Configuration (Optional) 

If you want to customize Laradumps, publish the config file: 

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="LaraDumps\LaraDumpsServiceProvider" 

This will create a config/laradumps.php file where you can tweak host, port, colors, and more. 

Step 4: Using Laradumps 

Here’s where the fun begins. Instead of using dd() or dump(), you use ds(). 

Example 1: Dumping Variables 

$user = User::find(1); 

ds($user);

This will send the user object to your Laradumps desktop app, nicely formatted. 

Example 2: Multiple Dumps 

ds('Starting process...'); 

$order = Order::find(10); 

ds($order, 'Order Details'); 

ds('Process completed');

Example 3: Listening for Events 

You can even dump when certain events happen: 

ds()->watch('App\Events\OrderShipped'); 

Whenever the OrderShipped event is fired, Laradumps will log it. 

Example 4: Database Query Debugging 

Enable query monitoring in your code: 

ds()->queriesOn(); 

Now, every query Laravel runs will be sent to Laradumps. No more messy DB::listen() hacks! 

Step 5: Advanced Features 

Laradumps has some extra goodies you’ll love: 

  • Notifications: Get native OS notifications when a dump is sent. 
  • Color Tagging: Mark dumps with colors for better organization. 
  • Filtering: Filter by models, queries, or events in the app. 

Step 6: When to Use Laradumps vs dd() 

  • Use dd() only when you want to immediately stop execution. 
  • Use ds() when you want non-blocking debug logs without breaking your app. 
  • Use Laradumps for real-time debugging during development. 

Conclusion 

Laradumps is a game-changer for Laravel developers. It keeps debugging clean, elegant, and organized — all without breaking your workflow. Once you try it, you’ll never want to go back to dd() for everyday debugging.