Formats php_errors.log entries into a readable, color-coded panel directly inside VS Code.
Note: This extension is primarily used as an internal tool. It is published to the VS Code Marketplace for ease of distribution and updates within the team.
Features
Automatic detection — when a matching log file is opened, a formatted webview opens alongside it.
Sidebar tree view — errors grouped by severity (Critical, Error, Warning, Notice, Info, Debug) or by date, with a badge showing the critical/error count.
Webview panel — each entry displays:
Datetime, severity level, channel
Message and exception details (class, message, code)
Clickable file:line links that jump directly to the source location
Full stack trace with clickable links
GET parameters
Both log formats supported:
JSON (Monolog-style): one JSON object per line
Native PHP: [date] PHP Warning: ... in file on line N, including multi-line and \n-escaped stack traces
Live refresh — the panel and tree update automatically as the file changes on disk.
Search and filter — filter by free text or severity level pill; group identical errors with a count badge; group by date.
Delete entries — remove individual errors (✕ button) or clear the entire log file from both the sidebar and webview.
Status bar — shows parsed/invalid counts while a log file is active.
Usage
The extension activates automatically when a matching log file is found in the workspace root. You can also trigger it manually:
Click the Open Formatted View button in the editor title bar (top-right, visible when a log file is open)
Right-click the file in the Explorer and choose PHP Error Log Viewer: Open Formatted View
The sidebar panel header contains the following actions:
Icon
Action
📅 / 🌳
Toggle between group-by-date and group-by-severity
🗑️
Clear all entries from the log file
🔄
Refresh the tree view
👁️
Open the formatted webview
📄
Open the raw log file in the editor
Hovering over an individual error entry reveals an ✕ button to remove that single entry from the log file.
Webview toolbar
Control
Description
Search box
Free-text filter across message, exception class, level, channel, and file path
Level pills
Click one or more severity badges to show only those levels
Group similar
Merge identical errors into one card with a ×N count
By date
Group entries into Today / This week / Last week / Older
Expand All / Collapse All
Toggle all cards open or closed
Clear all
Delete every entry from the log file (confirmation required)
Settings
Setting
Default
Description
phpErrorLogViewer.autoOpen
true
Automatically open the formatted view when a log file is opened.
phpErrorLogViewer.logFilePath
""
Path to the PHP error log file. Accepts an absolute path (e.g. /var/log/php/errors.log) or a path relative to the workspace root (e.g. logs/php_errors.log). Leave empty to use php_errors.log in the workspace root.
phpErrorLogViewer.defaultExpandedView
false
Whether error entries in the webview start expanded. Set to true to show full details by default.
Commands
Command
Description
PHP Error Log Viewer: Open Formatted View
Open the webview panel for the current log file
PHP Error Log Viewer: Open Log File
Open the raw log file in the editor
PHP Error Log Viewer: Refresh
Reload the log file and update the sidebar
PHP Error Log Viewer: Group by Date
Switch sidebar to date-based grouping
PHP Error Log Viewer: Group by Severity
Switch sidebar to severity-based grouping
PHP Error Log Viewer: Remove Entry
Delete a single error entry from the log
PHP Error Log Viewer: Clear All Entries
Delete all entries from the log file
Development
Run locally
Open this folder in VS Code.
Press F5 to launch the Extension Development Host.
Open a php_errors.log file in the development host window.
Tests
npm install
npm test
Package as VSIX
npm install -g @vscode/vsce
vsce package
Then in VS Code: Extensions → ... → Install from VSIX... and select the generated .vsix file.
