Clockwork is a development tool for PHP that gives developers an insight into their application runtime — including request data, performance metrics, log entries, database queries, cache queries, redis commands, dispatched events, queued jobs and rendered views — right in the browser, and this repository contains its server-side component.

What it is

Clockwork is a PHP development tool that lives in the Laravel ecosystem and collects runtime data from an application so developers can inspect it from a browser interface, a browser dev tools extension, or an in-application toolbar. The server-side component in this repository does the collecting and storing; the viewing side is provided by the /clockwork route, by the Chrome and Firefox extensions, or by the optional client-side toolbar. It collects the same kind of data across several execution contexts — HTTP requests, console commands, queue jobs and tests — rather than only for browser-initiated page loads.

The concrete problem it solves is the absence of a unified, in-browser record of what an application actually did during a request or job. Instead of scattering temporary logging statements to trace slow database queries, duplicate (N+1) queries, dispatched events or queued jobs, developers install a single library and read the collected data in a dedicated interface. It replaces ad-hoc debug output and per-request log spelunking with structured, browsable runtime insight, and it adds a clock() helper for inline variable logging without altering control flow.

Key capabilities

• Collects request data, performance metrics, log entries, database queries, cache queries, redis commands, dispatched events, queued jobs and rendered views for HTTP requests, commands, queue jobs and tests.
• Collects artisan commands, queue jobs and tests since Clockwork 4.1; this requires enabling in the config file.
• Runs only when the application is in debug mode by default, with options to explicitly enable or disable it, or to always collect data without exposing it for further analysis.
• Offers selective request collection: on-demand mode collects only when the Clockwork app is open, errors-only mode records only 4xx and 5xx responses, and slow-only mode collects only responses above a configured slow threshold; a custom closure can filter requests. CORS pre-flight requests are not collected by default.
• Supports a slow query threshold and detection of duplicate (N+1) queries for database query collection.
• Collects stack traces for data such as log messages and database queries, with the last 10 frames captured by default and a configurable or disableable frame limit.
• Provides the clock() helper, which returns its first argument so inline debugging statements can wrap values directly, plus a long-form clock()->info() call for specifying a log level, and a fluent timeline API for tracking events with a description, start and finish.

Who uses it and how

• Laravel developers debugging a local or staging application who want request data, query timings, logs and events in one view rather than in scattered output.
• Teams building APIs consumed by mobile applications, who use the /clockwork web interface because requests do not originate from a browser.
• Developers profiling queue jobs, console commands and tests, who enable those contexts in the config file and inspect the collected runs afterwards.
• Teams needing occasional visibility into non-debug environments, who use on-demand collection combined with a secret set in the app settings, or restrict recording to errors-only or slow-only traffic.
• Developers who prefer dev tools integration, using the Chrome Web Store or Firefox Addons extensions, or who install the small JavaScript library needed for the client-side rendered toolbar.

Getting started

Install the library with Composer using composer require itsgoingd/clockwork. To enable additional features such as command and queue job profiling, publish the configuration file via the vendor:publish Artisan command, and refresh the route cache with the route:cache Artisan command if the Laravel route cache is in use.

How it compares

The facts provided do not name any paid products that Clockwork replaces, and they do not name comparable tools either. On the evidence in this registry, it stands alone in its category.

When to use it — and when not to

A self-hoster must run a PHP application, install the library through Composer, and decide on configuration — collection mode, filters, slow thresholds, stack trace limits — by publishing and editing the config file. Viewing the collected data also requires a second piece: the /clockwork route, a Chrome or Firefox extension, or the toolbar's JavaScript library, so installing the server-side component alone is not the whole story. Developers who do not use Laravel, or who want an all-in-one tool with no separate viewing client, should look elsewhere; the README here is deliberately brief and defers full installation instructions to the Clockwork website, so expect to consult external documentation rather than the repository itself.

composer require itsgoingd/clockwork

clock(User::first(), auth()->user(), $username)

User::create(clock($request->all()))

clock()->info("User {$username} logged in!")

// using timeline api with begin/end and fluent configuration
clock()->event('Importing tweets')->color('purple')->begin();
    ...
clock()->event('Importing tweets')->end();

// using timeline api with run and array-based configuration
clock()->event('Updating cache', [ 'color' => 'green' ])->run(function () {
    ...
});