Can´t start it in PhpStorm

[Hellcastle]

Laravel Package Version

1.0.5

Laravel Version

12.23.1

PHP Version

8.3.24

Database Driver & Version

No response

Description

When I went to enable all the new Laravel Boost features/connections for Junie in PHPStorm, the status for Herd and laravel-boost is "Cannot run program "php": CreateProcess error=2, The system cannot find the file specified."
I reinstalled Boost, but without success.

mcp.json

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "laravel-boost": {
            "command": "php",
            "args": [
                "C:\\Users\\xxxx\\Herd\\project\\artisan",
                "boost:mcp"
            ]
        },
        "herd": {
            "command": "php",
            "args": [
                "C:/Users/xxxx/.config/herd/bin/herd-mcp.phar"
            ],
            "env": {
                "SITE_PATH": "C:\\Users\\xxxx\\Herd\\project"
            }
        }
    }
}

PHPStorm Version:
PhpStorm 2025.2
Windows 11
Herd 1.22.0

Steps To Reproduce

Create blank Laravel 12 project with Herd, Livewire Stack, Laravels build-in authentication and Pest, no Volt
add boost via composer require laravel/boost --dev
php artisan boost:install with this settings:

[ashleyhindle]

If you run php -v in the same terminal you installed Boost in, does it run ok?

I think PHPStorm has issues with PATHs, we might need to use an absolute path for PHP too 🤔

[dinoluck]

If you run php -v in the same terminal you installed Boost in, does it run ok?

I think PHPStorm has issues with PATHs, we might need to use an absolute path for PHP too 🤔

I found that if I escape it properly (C:\path\to\herd\php\executable) it works, but then it hangs "starting" because the .phar itself is choking or something else. Even if you try to execute it from like PowerShell "php ...mcp.phar" it just hangs until you kill it.

[Hellcastle]

Yes, here is the result:

PHP 8.3.24 (cli) (built: Jul 29 2025 16:33:43) (NTS Visual C++ 2019 x64)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v4.3.24, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
with Zend OPcache v8.3.24, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

I tried the solution from #74 and changed the code as follows:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "laravel-boost": {
            "command": "php",
            "args": [
                "C:\\Users\\xxxx\\Herd\\project\\artisan",
                "boost:mcp"
            ]
        },
        "herd": {
            "command": "php",
            "args": [
                "C:/Users/xxxx/.config/herd/bin/herd-mcp.phar"
            ],
            "env": {
                "SITE_PATH": "C:\\Users\\xxxx\\Herd\\project"
            }
        }
    }
}

to

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "laravel-boost": {
            "command": "C:\\Users\\xxxx\\.config\\herd\\bin\\php83\\php.exe",
            "args": [
                "C:\\Users\\xxxx\\Herd\\project\\artisan",
                "boost:mcp"
            ]
        },
        "herd": {
            "command": "C:\\Users\\xxxx\\.config\\herd\\bin\\php83\\php.exe",
            "args": [
                "C:/Users/xxxx/.config/herd/bin/herd-mcp.phar"
            ],
            "env": {
                "SITE_PATH": "C:\\Users\\xxxx\\Herd\\project"
            }
        }
    }
}

it work´s for laravel-boost but not for herd

[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 👌