Tinkerwell 3 - The PHP code runner is released

The team at Beyond Code released Tinkerwell 3 with intelligent code completion, magic comments and a stunning new design.

Tinkerwell is the best code runner for Laravel and PHP – think php artisan tinker on steroids. You can run any PHP code, use any feature of the latest Laravel versions and run code within your own applications locally or via SSH. Rapid prototyping, comfortable debugging or using custom every-day Eloquent queries within your apps without creating scratch files, /test routes or refreshing your browser.

Intelligent code completion

Tinkerwell 3 includes an outstanding code completion experience out of the box. Tinkerwell indexes your codebase and provides instant autocompletion – even when connecting to remote projects via SSH. Find exactly the part of your code that you need with fuzzy search logic, no matter if you are searching for classes, methods, constants, or simply want to chain method calls. Helpful documentation snippets make tinkering with your code even easier.

Magic comments

By using a special comment syntax you can quickly dump out variables, perform method calls in the middle of a method chain, and even measure the time of your code execution.

Take this snippet for example:

collect(Http::get('https://api.github.com/orgs/beyondcode/repos')/*?->status()*/
    ->json())
    ->map(function ($repo) {
      $repo["id"]; //?
      return [
        'full_name' => $repo["full_name"],
        'stars' => $repo["stargazers_count"]
      ];
    });

Usually, if you would like to see the status code of the HTTP request, you would need to store the response in a temporary variable, and dump it out separately. Using magic comments in Tinkerwell 3, you can dump out the status() method response right inline in the editor, saving you a lot of time getting the most out of your code.

Here's what the result looks like:

Debugging made easier

In addition to magic comments, the improved code editor in Tinkerwell 3 has some cool new features! Automatic code coverage adds colored indicators next to your code that will tell you exactly which line of your code was executed, and which one wasn't.

Got an error in your code? The error message will be shown directly next to the code that produced it.

Beautiful new UI

The whole user interface of Tinkerwell 3 received a fresh coat of paint. While the theme would previously only style the look and feel of the code editor, the UI of Tinkerwell 3 is now thoroughly designed to match your preferred theme.

Are you often switching between a dark-mode and light-mode in your OS? Your eyes will thank you, because Tinkerwell 3 allows you to dynamically switch themes based on your operating system's preference.

Improved Docker and WSL support

The new version of Tinkerwell supports more Docker environments. Developers using Laravel Sail, DDEV, Warden can find new setup guides for their specific environment in the Tinkerwell documentation. With first-party WSL/Docker support, Tinkerwell got even easier to setup using the recommended Laravel setup flow on Windows.

How to get Tinkerwell 3

Tinkerwell 3 is a free update for everyone who has an active Tinkerwell license that qualifies for updates. Simply start your app and apply the update. Don't have a license yet? No problem – go to the Tinkerwell website and get the app.