PHP Modern Standards

PHP Modern Standards

Acknowledgement: Shared by Peter Bamuhigire, techguypeter.com, +256 784 464178.

Use When

• Modern PHP development standards for maintainable, testable, object-oriented code. Use when writing PHP 8+ applications, implementing OOP patterns, ensuring security, following PSR standards, optimizing performance, or building Laravel...

Workflow

• For long-lived PHP application work, load references/world-class-php-oop-clean-architecture.md before designing controllers, services, repositories, or domain objects.
• For containerized PHP work, pair with docker-development.

Evidence Produced

References

• Use the references/ directory for deep detail after reading the core workflow below.
• Use the examples/ directory for concrete patterns when implementation shape matters.

Production-grade PHP patterns for maintainable, testable, secure, high-performance applications.

Core Principle: Write type-safe, secure, performant PHP code following PSR standards with modern PHP 8+ features.

References:

• references/performance-efficiency.md — generators, OPcache, profiling, Fibers deep dive

• references/code-quality-tooling.md — PHPStan, Pint config, CI/CD patterns

• references/rate-limiting.md — rate limiting patterns

• references/message-queues.md — queue patterns

• references/cache-invalidation.md — cache invalidation patterns

• references/resilience-patterns.md — circuit breakers, retries

• references/restful-api-patterns.md — cURL client, Attribute routing, JWT, API versioning, testing

• references/database-orm-patterns.md — PDO, QueryBuilder, Active Record Model, soft delete, ORM concepts

• references/attack-prevention.md — SQL injection, XSS, CSRF, CSP, brute force, least privilege

• references/world-class-php-oop-clean-architecture.md — PHP 8 OOP, SOLID, clean architecture, repositories, adapters, and framework-independent domain rules

• references/source-register-dev-engine.md — local EPUB sources used for this development-engine upgrade

• references/php-security.md - absorbed PHP-specific security hardening, sessions, validation, crypto, upload, and deployment guidance

• references/php-vs-nextjs.md - absorbed PHP vs Next.js architecture decision guidance

• references/javascript-php-integration.md - absorbed integration patterns for PHP-rendered pages and JavaScript modules Examples: examples/modern-php-patterns.php, examples/laravel-patterns.php Security: Load references/php-security.md for comprehensive security patterns.

• Use for PHP 8+, OOP, security, testing, performance, and Laravel; do not use for legacy PHP below 7.4 or WordPress-specific work.

File Structure

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

namespace App\Domain\User;

use App\Domain\Shared\ValueObject;

final readonly class User
{
    public function __construct(
        private int $id,
        private string $email,
    ) {
    }
}

Rules: Always declare(strict_types=1), one class per file, namespace = directory, import all dependencies.

Cross-Platform File Naming (MANDATORY)

Code runs on Windows (dev), Ubuntu (staging), and Debian (production). Linux is case-sensitive:

• Class files: PascalCase matching class name (StaffService.php)
• Config dirs: lowercase (src/config/, src/lang/)
• Module dirs: PascalCase matching namespace (src/HR/Services/)
• require/include: Must match EXACT case on disk
• Paths: Use / (forward slash). Never hardcode C:\. Use sys_get_temp_dir() for temp files.

Additional Guidance

Extended guidance for php-modern-standards was moved to references/skill-deep-dive.md to keep this entrypoint compact and fast to load.

PHP DevOps Runtime Discipline

When PHP work affects deployment, Docker, or production operations, pair this skill with docker-development and deployment-release-engineering, then apply the PHP delivery notes in ../deployment-release-engineering/references/devops-book-patterns.md:

• keep Composer lockfiles and dependency installation reproducible;
• run static analysis, coding standards, and tests in CI before packaging;
• manage .env and secrets outside version control;
• document PHP-FPM pool settings, OPcache reset or warm-up, queue worker restart, cache clear/warm, and file-permission steps;
• include database migration order, backup, verification queries, and rollback or compensating actions;
• verify server updates, unattended security updates, web server config, and backup/restore for uploaded files.

Use that deep dive for:

• Type System
• Modern Features
• Performance
• SOLID Principles
• Control Flow
• Security (Essentials)
• Testing
• Laravel Conventions
• Code Quality Tooling
• PSR Standards
• Anti-Patterns
• Checklist

Decision Rules

Degraded Mode

Fallback: without execution, provide exact Composer, static-analysis, and test commands. Do not assume framework support without dependency metadata.

Domain Anti-Patterns

• Concatenating user input into SQL.
• Hiding domain behaviour in controllers.
• Catching Throwable without recovery policy.
• Adding mutable service-locator dependencies.
• Claiming compatibility without checking Composer constraints.

Inputs

Outputs

• Produce PHP code or findings with static-analysis, test, security, and compatibility evidence.

Capability contract

Read/search and local static checks are allowed. Dependency changes, migrations, deployment, and production execution require explicit task authority.