Experimental
PhpStorm Light
A trimmed-down, experimental build of PhpStorm — faster startup, lower memory, fewer bundled features. Try it and tell us what you think.
Build 262.8702
- Runs alongside other PhpStorm installs with its own settings — test it in parallel without conflicts
- New app icon to tell it apart from other PhpStorm installs
Older builds ▾
262.8644 · 2026-06-29
- Faster startup: instant window on launch, smarter indexing order, fewer background checks
- Smoother editing: lighter inspection profile, no per-file gutter scanning, Code Vision off
- Cleaner UI: compact density, decluttered project tree, simplified right-click menus
- Lighter footprint: on-demand database tools, several rarely-used plugins removed
262.8539 · 2026-06-27
- Initial PhpStorm Light experimental build
Watch us present PhpStorm Light — what we trimmed, what got faster, and why.
What is PhpStorm Light
This is an experimental build that starts in Light Mode by default: everything you use day to day is still here, just with the heavy, slow parts trimmed and startup and indexing tuned to get out of your way sooner.
It's not a reinvention — same PhpStorm, same engine — an early experiment we're actively working on, and the best parts we figure out here land in regular PhpStorm.
Faster startup
- Instant window on launch — the editor appears immediately with a placeholder preview instead of an empty frame with spinners; the real editor takes over once it's ready.
- Smarter indexing order — your PHP source files are indexed first and
vendor/last, so code intelligence in your own code lights up sooner. - Less startup busywork — watching of
vendor/, Composer update checks, and plugin-update checks are deferred; the "updates available" check now runs when you opencomposer.json, not at startup. - No startup plugin nags — the IDE no longer scans your project on launch to advertise plugins; suggestions appear only when you open a matching file (e.g. opening
vite.config.*suggests the Vite plugin). - Clearer indexing progress — indexing now shows how many files are left.
Smoother editing, fewer freezes
- No more commit-dialog hang — "Analyze code" and "Check TODO" before commit are off by default, so committing large changesets no longer freezes the dialog (re-enable them in the commit dialog).
- Lighter highlighting profile — a dedicated "PhpStorm Light" inspection profile runs fewer inspections as you type.
- No per-file gutter scanning — the PHP "extends / implements / overrides" gutter icons are off, skipping a class-hierarchy search on every file you open.
- Code Vision off — the usages / inheritors / code-author inlays above declarations are disabled.
- Generated files skipped — single-file artifacts like
*.phar.php(e.g. installers) are excluded from indexing. - Smart Mode toggle — replaces "Power Save Mode" with a Light-Mode-aware switch that controls how much background analysis runs.
Cleaner, more focused UI
- Compact UI density and breadcrumbs off by default.
- The top-right inspection widget is hidden; the status bar is trimmed to the essentials (PHP language level + Smart Mode).
- Rendered-documentation view and its gutter icon are off; "Open in Browser" editor icons are hidden on PHP and HTML/template files.
- Decluttered Project tree — expand/collapse chevrons, Scratches and Consoles are hidden, and External Libraries moves to the view selector.
- Simplified right-click menus in the Project and Commit/Changes views — a short, curated set of actions plus an "Open In" submenu, with the full menu still under "More…".
Lighter footprint
- Database tools load on demand — instead of starting up with the IDE, they activate the first time you use a database feature.
- Composer in a terminal tab — Composer commands run in a terminal tab so you can see and reuse the output.
- Rarely-used plugins off or removed — CMS integrations (WordPress, Joomla, Drupal), some front-end frameworks (Angular, Vue, React, Vite, Webpack), BDD/test frameworks (Behat, Codeception, PHPSpec), Smarty, UML diagrams, Vagrant, Perforce, grammar checking, time tracking, and several others. Core PHP, Blade, Twig, and the common Laravel/Symfony workflows stay intact.
Found something broken?
This build lives or dies on your feedback. If something's missing, slow, or crashing, file it — that's the whole point of an experimental build. Want to talk it through first? Join the discussion on Discord.