PHP Eyes

Shows a clickable "N references" hint above PHP classes, interfaces, enums, methods and functions, the way VS Code already does for TypeScript. Click it to peek at every place the symbol is used.

    3 references
    public function execute(User $user): BankAccount
    {

PHP extensions that offer this CodeLens usually keep it behind a premium licence. PHP Eyes adds it for free on top of whichever PHP extension you already use.

Requirements

You need a PHP extension that supports Find All References (Shift+F12). Any of these will do, including their free versions:

• PHP Intelephense
• PHP by DEVSENSE
• Phpactor

PHP Eyes doesn't parse or index your code itself. It asks that extension for the symbols in each file and for their references, then shows the count. If Shift+F12 finds a usage, the lens counts it. If Shift+F12 misses it, so does the lens.

Usage

Install the extension and open a PHP file. The counts show up above each symbol after the PHP extension finishes indexing your workspace.

• Click "N references" to open the references peek. The list is looked up fresh on every click.
• Save any PHP file and every count is marked out of date. The old numbers stay on screen while new ones are counted in the background, then update in place.
• Run PHP Eyes: Recount References from the Command Palette to force a full recount.

Magic methods such as __construct and __get are skipped, because PHP calls them implicitly and their counts would be misleading.

Settings

CodeLens must also be on in VS Code itself (editor.codeLens, which is on by default).

Performance

Finding references is the slow part, and it's done by your PHP extension, not this one. To keep the lenses quick:

• Counts are cached per symbol and kept between sessions. After the first count, a lens shows its last known number immediately and is rechecked in the background.
• Lookups run a few at a time. Language servers answer them one by one anyway, so sending everything at once would only make each lens wait longer. The symbols you're looking at are counted first.
• Lookups nobody needs any more are dropped, for example when you scroll past them before they run.

The first count after opening a workspace can still take a while, because the PHP extension has to finish indexing first.

Troubleshooting

No lenses appear. Check that Shift+F12 on a method name lists results. If it doesn't, the PHP extension hasn't finished indexing or isn't running. Also check that editor.codeLens is on.

Counts are slow. If you have more than one PHP extension installed (for example Intelephense and DEVSENSE), VS Code asks all of them and waits for the slowest. Disabling one for the workspace usually helps a lot. To see how long each lookup takes, run Developer: Set Log Level..., choose PHP Eyes, set it to Debug, and open the PHP Eyes output channel.

A count looks wrong. The count matches what Shift+F12 finds. In Laravel projects that means calls through facades, __call/__callStatic, container string bindings, and route strings like 'Controller@method' usually aren't counted, unless something like Laravel IDE Helper lets the PHP extension resolve them.

Duplicate lenses. If your PHP extension also shows its own reference CodeLens (for example a licensed Intelephense or DEVSENSE), turn one of them off.

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

Copyright (C) 2026 SirMekus

PHP Eyes is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0. You're free to use, study, change and share it, but any version you distribute, including a modified one, must also be released under GPL-3.0 with its source code available.

Versions 0.2.0 and earlier were released under the MIT License.