Use with PHPUnit

One-liner: call VCR manually per test — turn it on, insert a cassette, turn it off.

On this page: Manual lifecycle

Manual lifecycle

use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;

class ExampleTest extends TestCase
{
    public function testShouldInterceptStreamWrapper(): void
    {
        \VCR\VCR::turnOn();
        \VCR\VCR::insertCassette('example');

        $result = file_get_contents('http://example.com');
        $this->assertNotEmpty($result);

        \VCR\VCR::eject();
        \VCR\VCR::turnOff();
    }

    public function testThrowsWithoutACassette(): void
    {
        \VCR\VCR::turnOn();

        $this->expectException(\BadMethodCallException::class);
        file_get_contents('http://example.com'); // no cassette inserted -> throws
    }
}

turnOn()/turnOff() per test keeps hooks scoped to the tests that need them — cheaper than leaving VCR on for the whole suite, and it means a test forgetting to insert a cassette fails loudly instead of silently reusing whatever the previous test left behind.

📌 Note: php-vcr/phpunit-testlistener-vcr used to offer a @vcr annotation as a shortcut for this. It implements PHPUnit's TestListener interface and the <listeners> XML config element — both were removed in PHPUnit 10, and the package only ever declared support for PHPUnit 7/8. It doesn't work on the PHPUnit 9.5.10+/10.5+/11.0+ versions php-vcr itself targets, so it isn't documented here until it's updated to the newer Extension/Event API.

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