Best Local Dev Setup for Joomla + JCB + Xdebug (Cache-Free, Fast Workflow)

[DyNaxity]

Hi everyone 👋

I've been working intensively with JCB and Joomla and I'm looking to optimize my local development setup. I've tried a few different approaches (Docker, WSL, XAMPP on both Windows and Ubuntu), but I keep running into tradeoffs like:

Docker: caching issues (especially with OPcache) — I often have to restart containers to see PHP changes.

XAMPP on Linux: issues with file permissions and configuring Xdebug properly.

WSL: performance or UAC-related access problems.

My goals are:

✅ Reliable and fast PHP code reloading (no aggressive OPcache)
✅ Xdebug working smoothly for step-through debugging
✅ Joomla + JCB running properly (with Admin + Site Views)
✅ Easy environment reset/rebuild if needed

Before I settle on one stack, I’d love to hear:

💡 What dev environment are you using for JCB and Joomla development today?

Docker? Native Linux? VM? Something else?

How do you handle OPcache / Xdebug / Joomla permissions?

Bonus points if you can share your docker-compose.yml, php.ini override tips, or IDE setup!

Thanks in advance 🙏

Dy

[lemuelvdm]

Hi @DyNaxity,

Thanks for reaching out! Please take a look at the following issues on our Gitea system, which may help:

• Octojoom
• Xdebug options (we cannot yet give full support for bugs picked up with using xdebug - Upcoming Feature)

We highly recommend using a Linux-based environment - specifically Ubuntu LTS - with Octojoom, as JCB is developed and maintained in that environment. Using Octojoom can significantly speed up your workflow when working with Docker containers.

Here's another helpful link to an issue discussing environment challenges when using JCB. Be sure to read through the comments for a full understanding of why JCB works best in a native Ubuntu environment.

Our recommendations:

• Development Environment:
  Use Ubuntu Server or Desktop running Octojoom to manage Docker containers and streamline deployment.

• Live Environment:
  We recommend a Webmin - Virtualmin on an Ubuntu Server. Octojoom works great here as well.
  Make sure to install all required PHP versions (8.1, 8.2, 8.3) for Joomla 5 compatibility.

• IDE Recommendation (not free):
  We use PHPStorm by JetBrains, which supports remote development—allowing you to access files directly on the server.

We hope this points you in the right direction for building an efficient and reliable JCB development setup.

Best wishes with your JCB projects!

[cpaschen]

I've had the same challenges as @DyNaxity .
I've used PHPStorm for years, first on Windows with WAMP and then at first with XAMPP on Linux.
A few months ago I switched to using Octojoom. It has significantly improved my productivity.

@DyNaxity If you haven't tried Octojoom you really need to give it a try. As long as you can get by without xdebug (until it's added), it is well worth the move.

However, I'm still needing xdebug config which isn't available there yet.

I've tried using PHPStorm with remote development but haven't gotten it working.

Two questions for @lemuelvdm:

1. Do you happen to know if/when xdebug set-up will be added to Octojoom?
2. Do you have any reference document that clearly gives a way to configure PHP storm for remote development for Joomla/JCB components)?

[kmd-muc]

Would running Octojoom on an Ubuntu instance running on WSL be an option? Or is this nonsense? I ask, because we work on Windows here and setting up a dedicated linux environment would also mean to set up another workstation, but my space here is very limited....

[cpaschen]

@kmd-muc I tried that, but never got WSL working great.

Instead, I just set-up my system dual-boot (Win 10 / Kubuntu), so I could switch between when needed (although I rarely boot into Windows any more due to more efficiency with Kubuntu).

I fought with all sorts of Windows configurations for years, never really having a good experience for Joomla/JCB development. When I switched to Linux, and Octojoom (along with also using PHPStorm), Almost everything is a LOT easier.

If we just had xdebug in octojoom then it would be perfect :-)