Fresh install native:serve Call to undefined function Illuminate\Support\mb_split()

[ehlwitz-ah]

When I start the app with php artisan native:server the terminal gets flooded with this message:

Error in PHP:
  Call to undefined function Illuminate\Support\mb_split() (0) in /path/to/src/vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Support/Str.php:1700
Please check your log files:
  /Users/me/Library/Application Support/laravel-dev/storage/logs

The default windwo never gets opened

Steps to reproduce:

composer create-project laravel/laravel project_dir
cd project_dir
composer require nativephp/electron
php artisan native:install
php artisan native:serve

I've checked the used php binary to have mbstring included by unzipping it and calling ./php -i | grep mbstring. So what's going wrong here?

I've done the process multiple times with new folders, added --force to native:install and completely deleted /Users/me/Library/Application Support/laravel-dev. Nothing helped.

Platform: Mac OS 15.5
PHP 8.4.10
node 22.17.1

Did anyone had a similar problem?

FYI: Output of the native:serve command:

 Starting NativePHP dev server…

 Fetching latest dependencies…

 Installing NPM dependencies (This may take a while)...

 Installing NPM dependencies using the npm package manager...

 Fetching latest dependencies…


> laravel-dev@1.0.0 postinstall
> node ./node_modules/electron-builder/cli.js install-app-deps

  • electron-builder  version=26.0.15
  • loaded configuration  file=/path/to/src/vendor/nativephp/electron/resources/js/electron-builder.js
  • executing @electron/rebuild  electronVersion=32.3.3 arch=arm64 buildFromSource=false appDir=./
  • installing native dependencies  arch=arm64
  • completed installing native dependencies

up to date, audited 961 packages in 1s

188 packages are looking for funding
  run `npm fund` for details

4 vulnerabilities (1 low, 2 high, 1 critical)

To address issues that do not require attention, run:
  npm audit fix

To address all issues (including breaking changes), run:
  npm audit fix --force

Run `npm audit` for details.

 Starting NativePHP app

  Copying latest CA Certificate...

 Running the dev script with npm...

 Fetching latest dependencies…


> laravel-dev@1.0.0 dev
> cross-env node php.js && electron-vite dev --watch

Binary Source:  /path/to/src/vendor/nativephp/php-bin/bin/mac/arm64/php-8.4.zip
Binary Filename:  php
PHP version: 8.4
Unzipping PHP binary from /path/to/src/vendor/nativephp/php-bin/bin/mac/arm64/php-8.4.zip to /path/to/src/vendor/nativephp/electron/resources/js/resources/php
Copied PHP binary to  /path/to/src/vendor/nativephp/electron/resources/js/resources/php/php
renderer config is missing
vite v6.3.5 building SSR bundle for development...

watching for file changes...

build started...
✓ 33 modules transformed.
out/main/index.js  70.21 kB
built in 103ms.

build the electron main process successfully

-----

vite v6.3.5 building SSR bundle for development...

watching for file changes...

build started...
✓ 1 modules transformed.
out/preload/index.mjs  0.17 kB
built in 6ms.

build the electron preload files successfully

start electron app...

Error in PHP:
  Call to undefined function Illuminate\Support\mb_split() (0) in /path/to/src/vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Support/Str.php:1700
Please check your log files:
  /Users/me/Library/Application Support/laravel-dev/storage/logs
  
  ...

[uchm4n]

I’m experiencing a similar issue.
It seems there’s a NATIVEPHP_PHP_BINARY_PATH environment variable, but when I set a new PHP path, it doesn’t replace the current path; instead, it appends to it and does not respect absolute path either.
Related: #662 , I'll tag this pull request here #64

[ehlwitz-ah]

Thanks for the hint. After downgrading to laravel/framework:12.20.0 it works.