PhpStorm: Unable to activate Boost

[jobjen02]

Laravel Package Version

1.0.1

Laravel Version

12.20

PHP Version

8.4.0

Database Driver & Version

Postgres 17

Description

When I try to activate laravel-boost in my "MCP Settings" in PhpStorm, I get an red exclamation mark with the message:

StandaloneCoroutine was cancelled

Could not open input file: /var/www/html/artisan

I'm using docker.

Steps To Reproduce

Setup an laravel project with docker and install boost (I guess). Not sure why it's not working on our side. We don't have any special things within our Laravel project.

[ashleyhindle]

Can you share the contents of your .junie/mcp/mcp.json file?

Boost should be ran from the host ideally, was boost:install ran within the docker container? 👌

[jobjen02]

Can you share the contents of your .junie/mcp/mcp.json file?

Boost should be ran from the host ideally, was boost:install ran within the docker container? 👌

Yes I did run it from the docker container.

Here is my .junie/mcp/mcp.json file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "laravel-boost": {
            "command": "php",
            "args": [
                "/var/www/html/artisan",
                "boost:mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

[ashleyhindle]

Ah ok, you might need to wrap that in a docker run command which should work. Something like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "laravel-boost": {
            "command": "docker",
            "args": [
                "exec",
                "-i",
                "<container_name>",
                "php",
                "/var/www/html/",
                "artisan",
                "boost:mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

[jobjen02]

Now I only get this error: StandaloneCoroutine was cancelled. This is my mcp.json:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "laravel-boost": {
            "command": "docker",
            "args": [
                "exec",
                "-i",
                "shoplinkr-api-1",
                "php",
                "/var/www/html/",
                "artisan",
                "boost:mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

[pratikkuikel]

Non docker environment.
can confirm that ./artisan in the terminal works, wasn't working before though. Had to chmod +x artisan.
And
can confirm the same error for windsurf editor.
.vscode/mcp.json

{
    "servers": {
        "laravel-boost": {
            "command": "php",
            "args": [
                "./artisan",
                "boost:mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Debug console :
2025-08-13 20:51:41.680 [info] Connection state: Starting
2025-08-13 20:51:41.680 [info] Connection state: Running
2025-08-13 20:51:41.695 [warning] [server stderr] Could not open input file: ./artisan
2025-08-13 20:51:41.702 [info] Connection state: Error Process exited with code 1

[mariomarquesdev]

Ah ok, you might need to wrap that in a docker run command which should work. Something like this:

{
"mcpServers": {
"laravel-boost": {
"command": "docker",
"args": [
"exec",
"-i",
"<container_name>",
"php",
"/var/www/html/",
"artisan",
"boost:mcp"
]
}
}
}

@ashleyhindle @pratikkuikel Can you try to directly point to artisan? It's working for me now

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "laravel-boost": {
            "command": "docker",
            "args": [
                "exec",
                "-i",
                "<container_name>",
                "php",
                "/var/www/html/artisan",
                "boost:mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

[pratikkuikel]

@mariomarquesdev Nope doesn't seem to work for me.
2025-08-13 21:05:06.190 [warning] [server stderr] Could not open input file: artisan
2025-08-13 21:05:06.192 [info] Connection state: Error Process exited with code 1

[jobjen02]

Ah ok, you might need to wrap that in a docker run command which should work. Something like this:
{
"mcpServers": {
"laravel-boost": {
"command": "docker",
"args": [
"exec",
"-i",
"<container_name>",
"php",
"/var/www/html/",
"artisan",
"boost:mcp"
]
}
}
}

@ashleyhindle @pratikkuikel Can you try to directly point to artisan? It's working for me now

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "laravel-boost": {
            "command": "docker",
            "args": [
                "exec",
                "-i",
                "<container_name>",
                "php",
                "/var/www/html/artisan",
                "boost:mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

This fixed it for me, thanks!

[calebdw]

This should work just fine:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "laravel-boost": {
            "command": "sail",
            "args": [
                "artisan",
                "boost:mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

[riyuk]

This should work just fine:

{
"mcpServers": {
"laravel-boost": {
"command": "sail",
"args": [
"artisan",
"boost:mcp"
]
}
}
}

it does not - at least not for us. Environment Variables will not load. However the "docker exec ..." command just works fine 👍 Also this seems more viable in a team setup since the path to the project is always /var/www/html/ in that case.