Clockwork is a PHP development debugging tool that collects and displays runtime data from server-side middleware in a browser-based interface. It captures request details, performance metrics, logs, database queries, and stack traces for HTTP requests, commands, queue jobs, and tests without requiring modifications to application code.
The tool provides a client-side rendered toolbar and full web interface for inspecting collected data, including a searchable performance timeline viewer, an HTTP request monitor with timing and response details, and inline variable logging helpers that return values while displaying interactive object trees with stack traces. Clockwork integrates with Xdebug for detailed performance profiling and collects browser navigation timings and Web Vitals to merge with server-side data for full-stack debugging.
Collaborative debugging is supported through a share service that uploads serialized debug data and generates public URLs for team review. The tool transmits data as structured JSON between the server-side collector and browser client, and includes a code execution profiler that measures runtime of code blocks with named timeline events.