Overview

This page introduces revolution/laravel-boost-phpstorm-copilot: what it is, what problem it solves, and how it fits into the Laravel Boost ecosystem. For installation steps see Getting Started. For the full class-level implementation details see Core Implementation.

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What This Package Does

revolution/laravel-boost-phpstorm-copilot is a Laravel package that registers a Boost Agent enabling PhpStorm's GitHub Copilot plugin to communicate with a Laravel project's MCP (Model Context Protocol) server.

When a developer runs php artisan boost:install in their Laravel project, this package adds a PhpStorm with GitHub Copilot option to the agent list. Selecting it:

1. Writes a system-wide mcp.json file that tells the GitHub Copilot plugin inside PhpStorm how to spawn the boost:mcp subprocess.
2. Optionally installs AI guidelines (.github/instructions/laravel-boost.instructions.md) and agent skills (.github/skills/) into the project.

The core constraint is that mcp.json is system-wide, not per-project. Its entries contain absolute paths to the PHP binary and artisan file of the currently active project. This means boost:install must be re-run whenever you switch Laravel projects.

Sources: README.md96-120 .github/copilot-instructions.md1-35

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Position in the Ecosystem

Package ecosystem diagram: how this repo relates to its dependencies and external systems

Sources: composer.json12-16 README.md7-15 .github/copilot-instructions.md17-35

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Key Components

Component	File	Role
PhpStormCopilot	src/PhpStormCopilot.php	Main Agent implementation; handles detection, MCP config generation, and installation
PhpStormCopilotServiceProvider	src/PhpStormCopilotServiceProvider.php	Laravel service provider; registers the agent with laravel/boost at boot
WithWSL	src/Concerns/WithWSL.php	Trait that encapsulates all WSL-specific MCP installation logic
Guidelines template	resources/boost/guidelines/core.blade.php	Blade template installed as .github/instructions/laravel-boost.instructions.md

Sources: .github/copilot-instructions.md19-27 composer.json26-29

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Core Class Structure

Class hierarchy: inheritance chain and interface contracts for PhpStormCopilot

Sources: .github/copilot-instructions.md19-27 composer.json47-53

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Supported Platforms

Platform	mcp.json Write Location	Notes
macOS	~/.config/github-copilot/intellij/mcp.json	Standard
Linux	~/.config/github-copilot/intellij/mcp.json	Standard
Windows (native)	%LOCALAPPDATA%\github-copilot\intellij\mcp.json	Standard
WSL (PHP in WSL, PhpStorm on Windows)	%LOCALAPPDATA%\github-copilot\intellij\mcp.json (written via PowerShell)	Requires wslu package
Laravel Sail	Same as above per OS	Command wrapped in bash -c or wsl.exe

PhpStorm Remote Development (PhpStorm running inside WSL) is not supported by automated installation — the mcp.json file must be configured manually in that case.

Sources: README.md16-88 .github/copilot-instructions.md61-68

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Runtime Data Flow

Sequence diagram: what happens after boost:install when a developer uses Copilot in PhpStorm

Sources: README.md96-120 .github/copilot-instructions.md99-116

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MCP Configuration Format

The mcp.json file written by boost:install uses the following shape. The command and args fields always contain absolute paths:

For WSL environments, the command is wrapped with wsl.exe:

For Laravel Sail on macOS/Linux, the command is wrapped in a bash -c invocation:

Sources: .github/copilot-instructions.md99-154 README.md96-125

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Requirements

Requirement	Value
PHP	^8.3
Laravel	^12.x
laravel/boost	^2.0
PhpStorm	Any version with GitHub Copilot plugin installed
WSL (optional)	wslu package; wslvar must be available

The package is installed as a dev dependency:

Laravel's package auto-discovery automatically loads PhpStormCopilotServiceProvider via the extra.laravel.providers entry in composer.json47-53

Sources: README.md7-14 composer.json12-16 composer.json47-53

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Important Operational Constraint

Because mcp.json stores absolute paths and lives in a system-wide (not per-project) location, the same file is shared across all PhpStorm projects on the machine. Each time you switch to a different Laravel project, you must re-run:

The boost:update command (available in laravel/boost 1.8+) does not update the MCP configuration file.

For more detail on the multi-project workflow and failure modes, see Multi-Project Workflow. For WSL troubleshooting see Troubleshooting Common Issues.

Sources: README.md113-120