PHP & Laravel Development

Scoped to framework-level PHP. Work on php-src internals or a native PHP extension is C, not PHP: the ia-c-systems skill covers it, including the Zend API conventions (gen_stub arginfo, the request-scoped allocator, custom object handlers, .phpt).

Working rules

• Keep simple CRUD simple; extract cross-model orchestration only when it has a concrete use.
• Validate and authorize at request boundaries; serialize through explicit resources and validate third-party responses.
• Preserve deployed migration history, queued payload compatibility, and concurrent writes.
• Verify cache compilation, queue execution, and HTTP behavior through their real entrypoints when those paths change.

Code Style

• declare(strict_types=1) in every file
• Happy path last: guards and errors first, success at the end. Early returns, no else.
• Comments explain why, never what. Never comment tests. If code needs a "what" comment, rename or restructure.
• No single-letter variables: $exception not $e, $request not $r
• ?string not string|null. Always specify void. Import classnames, never inline FQN.
• Widening one parameter to ?T obliges auditing every call site that forwards the same value: the sibling call still declares string, and null throws a TypeError there even with no declare(strict_types=1), because coercive mode never coerces null into a scalar. Strictness is decided by the file the CALL is written in, never by the callee's file. Full mechanism in common-pitfalls.md.
• Validation uses array notation ['required', 'email'] for easier custom rule classes
• PHPStan level 8+ (phpstan analyse --level=8); aim for 9 on new projects. @phpstan-type / @phpstan-param for generic collection types. The missing-iterable-value-type check lands at level 6 (and every level above it), so any project at 8+ inherits it: use the generic form on every iterable (@return Collection<int, User>, @param array<int, MyObject>) and array-shape notation array{first: SomeClass, second: SomeClass} for fixed-key returns; a bare Collection or array will not clear it.

Discipline

• Simplicity first: every change as simple as possible, minimal code impact
• Only touch what's necessary; no unrelated changes
• No hacky workarounds: if a fix feels wrong, step back and implement the clean solution
• New abstraction requires 3+ usage sites; otherwise inline it
• No empty catch blocks: log or rethrow, never swallow
• Verify before declaring done: ./vendor/bin/phpstan analyse --level=8 && ./vendor/bin/phpunit with zero warnings
• Checkpoint per stage, not only at the end: migrate:status after a migration, route:list --path=<prefix> after routing changes, queue:work --once after adding a job, pint --test before the PR. Each catches its failure class while the change is small

References

• laravel-ecosystem.md: Notifications, Task Scheduling, Custom Casts
• testing.md: PHPUnit essentials, data providers, running tests
• feature-testing.md: Auth, validation, API, console, DB assertions
• mocking-and-faking.md: Facade fakes, action mocking, Mockery
• factories.md: States, relationships, sequences, afterCreating hooks
• production-performance.md: OPcache, JIT, preloading, deploy caches
• common-pitfalls.md: event-layer bypasses, FK cascades, pivot writes, resource and request-shape traps
• pitfalls-deep.md: afterCommit alternatives, observer desync, jsonb race, savepoints, validation-rule internals

Task-specific references

Read the relevant reference before implementing or reviewing the matching behavior:

• For PHP features, controller/action design, routing, resources, or external APIs: framework-patterns.md.
• For migrations, Eloquent writes, casts, queues, job payloads, or production startup: persistence-and-jobs.md.
• For PHPUnit work or changes affecting events, serialization, validation, or lifecycle behavior: testing-and-pitfalls.md.

Existing specialized references, when the corresponding topic applies: