WPTechnix Coding Standards

PHP 8.0+ coding standards enforcing strict types, immutability, and PSR-12 compliance.

About

This is a coding standard for PHP_CodeSniffer. It builds upon rules from Slevomat Coding Standard and PHPCSExtra, with a focus on:

Type Safety:

• declare(strict_types=1) required in all files
• Parameter, return, property, and class constant type hints required
• Union, intersection, and DNF types supported
• Disallows mixed type hint and array type hint syntax (use generics in PHPDoc)
• Strict comparison operators (===, !==) enforced

Modern PHP 8.0+ Features:

• Constructor property promotion required
• Arrow functions required for single-expression closures
• Null-safe operator and null coalesce operators required where applicable
• Non-capturing catch blocks (PHP 8.0+)
• Numeric literal separators for readability
• Trailing commas in multiline structures

Immutability & Code Quality:

• Readonly properties enforced, public mutable properties forbidden
• Disallows empty() function
• Early returns required
• Alphabetically sorted use statements and array keys
• Proper class member ordering and spacing
• PHPDoc requirements with proper formatting

Installation

Install this package as a development dependency using Composer.

composer require --dev wptechnix/coding-standards

Automatic Registration (Optional)

For automatic registration of the standard with PHP_CodeSniffer, optionally install the Dealerdirect Composer Installer:

composer require --dev dealerdirect/phpcodesniffer-composer-installer

Without Dealerdirect, you can still use the standard by manually referencing it in your phpcs.xml file.

Usage

To use this coding standard, add <rule ref="WPTechnix"/> to your phpcs.xml configuration.

Here are the contents of an example phpcs.xml.dist file that you may place in the root of your repository:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ruleset xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="vendor/squizlabs/php_codesniffer/phpcs.xsd">

    <arg name="extensions" value="php"/>
    <arg name="colors"/>
    <arg value="sp"/>

    <file>./src</file>
    <file>./tests</file>

    <rule ref="WPTechnix"/>

</ruleset>

Then, run PHP_CodeSniffer:

./vendor/bin/phpcs

To automatically fix violations:

./vendor/bin/phpcbf

Project-Specific Coding Standards

This base standard can be extended for project-specific coding requirements. The following projects xtend WPTechnix coding standards:

• WPTechnix WordPress Coding Standards - Extends this standard with WordPress-specific rules and conventions

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! To contribute, please familiarize yourself with CONTRIBUTING.md.

Copyright and License

The wptechnix/coding-standards library is copyright © WPTechnix and licensed for use under the terms of the MIT License (MIT). Please see LICENSE for more information.