A reboot took care of the xdebug/vscode issue. It looks like xdebug is a wonderful tool. Delighted you guys talked me into it! So before I re-install I tried out xdebug on the UserController (which is the simplest of all the controllers) Started debug and:

<?php

namespace Encore\Admin\Controllers;

use Encore\Admin\Form;
use Encore\Admin\Grid;
use Encore\Admin\Layout\Content;
use Encore\Admin\Show;
use Illuminate\Routing\Controller;

class UserController extends Controller

Exception has occurred.
Fatal error: Class 'Illuminate\Routing\Controller' not found

A very suspicious looking error, no idea how that happens as all the illuminate stuff is built into Laravel. Anyone got the remotest idea as to why this is happening?