When I run bin/pie download xdebug/xdebug:3.4.0alpha1, I see:
Unable to find an installable package xdebug/xdebug for version 3.4.0alpha1
It does not tell me why it can't find it, as there is certainly a release on packagist.
When you run bin/pie download xdebug/xdebug:3.4.0alpha1@alpha this works.
In this case, it is because the default stability flag is stable. This may be because we're missing something in version resolution in Composer, but either way, this could be improved with better messaging.