Ide Helper

Laravel IDE Helper Assistant

You are a Laravel IDE Helper specialist. Help configure and run ide-helper to improve autocompletion in IDEs.

Quick Commands

# Generate helper file for facades
php artisan ide-helper:generate

# Generate PHPStorm meta file
php artisan ide-helper:meta

# Generate model PHPDocs (write to model files)
php artisan ide-helper:model --write --reset -n

# Generate model PHPDocs (separate file)
php artisan ide-helper:model --nowrite

# Full regeneration (recommended composer script)
composer run ide-helper

Windows / Laravel Herd

"$HOME/.config/herd/bin/php.bat" artisan ide-helper:generate
"$HOME/.config/herd/bin/php.bat" artisan ide-helper:meta
"$HOME/.config/herd/bin/php.bat" artisan ide-helper:model --write --reset -q -n
"$HOME/.config/herd/bin/composer.bat" run ide-helper

Installation

composer require barryvdh/laravel-ide-helper --dev

Composer Script (Recommended)

Add to composer.json:

{
    "scripts": {
        "ide-helper": [
            "@php artisan ide-helper:generate -q",
            "@php artisan ide-helper:meta -q",
            "@php artisan ide-helper:model --write --reset -q -n",
            "./vendor/bin/pint --config=pint.json -q"
        ]
    }
}

This script:

1. Generates _ide_helper.php (facades + other classes)
2. Generates .phpstorm.meta.php (factory patterns, container resolution)
3. Writes @property PHPDocs directly into model files
4. Runs Pint to format the generated/modified code

.gitignore

Add generated files to .gitignore:

_ide_helper.php
_ide_helper_models.php
.phpstorm.meta.php

Commands Detail

ide-helper:generate

Generates _ide_helper.php with PHPDocs for:

• Facades (DB, Cache, Auth, etc.)
• Service container bindings
• Custom macros and mixins

# Default
php artisan ide-helper:generate

# Custom filename
php artisan ide-helper:generate custom_helper.php

# Include helper helpers (optional)
php artisan ide-helper:generate --helpers

ide-helper:meta

Generates .phpstorm.meta.php for:

• app() container resolution
• resolve() calls
• Factory ::make() patterns
• Config ::get() return types

php artisan ide-helper:meta

ide-helper:model

Generates @property and @method PHPDocs for Eloquent models:

# Write PHPDocs directly to model files (recommended)
php artisan ide-helper:model --write --reset -n

# Generate separate _ide_helper_models.php file
php artisan ide-helper:model --nowrite

# Specific models only
php artisan ide-helper:model "App\Models\User" "App\Models\Post"

# With database connection
php artisan ide-helper:model --write --reset -n --db-connection=mysql

Flags:

• --write (-W): Write PHPDocs to model files
• --nowrite (-N): Write to _ide_helper_models.php
• --reset (-R): Replace existing PHPDocs (don't append)
• -n: Non-interactive (don't ask for confirmation)
• -q: Quiet (suppress output)

Generated Model PHPDoc Example

/**
 * App\Models\User
 *
 * @property int $id
 * @property string $name
 * @property string $email
 * @property \Illuminate\Support\Carbon|null $email_verified_at
 * @property string $password
 * @property string|null $remember_token
 * @property \Illuminate\Support\Carbon|null $created_at
 * @property \Illuminate\Support\Carbon|null $updated_at
 * @property-read \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Collection<int, \App\Models\Post> $posts
 * @property-read int|null $posts_count
 *
 * @method static \Database\Factories\UserFactory factory($count = null, $state = [])
 * @method static \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder<static>|User newModelQuery()
 * @method static \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder<static>|User newQuery()
 * @method static \Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder<static>|User query()
 *
 * @mixin \Eloquent
 */
class User extends Authenticatable

Configuration (Optional)

Publish config:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Barryvdh\LaravelIdeHelper\IdeHelperServiceProvider" --tag=config

Key options in config/ide-helper.php:

return [
    // Filename for generated helper
    'filename' => '_ide_helper.php',

    // Where to write model PHPDocs
    'model_locations' => ['app/Models'],

    // Include fluent methods on models
    'include_fluent' => true,

    // Write model PHPDocs to model files (instead of separate file)
    'write_model_magic_where' => true,

    // Include factory builder methods
    'include_factory_builders' => true,

    // Extra facades to include
    'extra' => [
        'Debugbar' => 'Fruitcake\LaravelDebugbar\Facades\Debugbar',
    ],

    // Model hooks (custom PHPDoc transformers)
    'model_hooks' => [],
];

When to Run ide-helper

• After composer install / composer update
• After creating or modifying migrations
• After adding new relationships to models
• After adding new Facades or service bindings
• After running php artisan migrate

Workflow

1. Ensure barryvdh/laravel-ide-helper is installed as dev dependency
2. Ensure composer script ide-helper is configured
3. Ensure .gitignore has _ide_helper.php, _ide_helper_models.php, .phpstorm.meta.php
4. Run composer run ide-helper to regenerate all files
5. After modifying models/migrations, run again

Read the detailed skill file at ~/.claude/skills/laravel/ide-helper.md for advanced configuration.