Cannot run program "php": CreateProcess error=2, The system cannot find the file specified

[dev-idkwhoami]

Laravel Package Version

1.0.4

Laravel Version

12.23.1

PHP Version

8.4.11

Database Driver & Version

No response

Description

After freshly installing the laravel/boost package and running the boost:install command which finished successfull. I tried activating the MCP Server in PHPStorm's MCP Settings. But i got an error saying Cannot run program "php": CreateProcess error=2, The system cannot find the file specified.

I want to clarify they work as intended, within PHPStorm as well as in a normal console.

Important

I relatively quickly figured out that for CreateProcess doesn't like the "shortened" php so i changed the program to php.bat and then it could start the server successfully.

For completion, this is what my .junie/mcp/mcp.json file looks like

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "laravel-boost": {
            "command": "php.bat",
            "args": [
                "B:\\zenni\\artisan",
                "boost:mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

I don't know whether that is something Jetbrains needs to fix or maybe the boost:install command can "work around" ?

I don't even know if everybody using herd with standalone php has that issue.

Anyway i decided to post this here so that others having the same issue might be able to solve it.

Steps To Reproduce

Prerequisites:

Laravel Herd installed and PHP installed through Herd (PHP standalone). Might be important im on Windows 11.

Steps:

1. Install laravel/boost composer package:

composer require laravel/boost --dev

2. Run boost:install command

php artisan boost:install

3. Navigate to PHPStorm Settings > Tools > Junie > MCP Settings and activate the laravel-boost server (click Apply)
4. The "Status" column will show red circle with exclamation mark. By clicking into the cell it will display the error.

[dinoluck]

If you change "command" to "C:\path\to\php\executable" it will fix that error for you.

[otavio-araujo]

If you change "command" to "C:\path\to\php\executable" it will fix that error for you.

Worked for me.

[ashleyhindle]

This should now be fixed for new installations using the latest Boost, marking as closed 🙏

Marcel is looking at Herd not starting in a different issue 👌