About 40 super-strict rules we found useful in ShipMonk. We tend to have PHPStan set up as strict as possible, but that still was not strict enough for us. This set of rules should fill the missing gaps we found.
If you find some rules opinionated, you can easily disable them.
composer require --dev shipmonk/phpstan-rules
Use official extension-installer or enable all rules manually by:
includes:
- vendor/shipmonk/phpstan-rules/rules.neon
You can easily disable or reconfigure any rule. Here is a default setup used in rules.neon
you can change:
parameters:
shipmonkRules:
allowComparingOnlyComparableTypes:
enabled: true
allowNamedArgumentOnlyInAttributes:
enabled: true
backedEnumGenerics:
enabled: true
classSuffixNaming:
enabled: true
superclassToSuffixMapping: []
enforceClosureParamNativeTypehint:
enabled: true
allowMissingTypeWhenInferred: false
enforceEnumMatch:
enabled: true
enforceIteratorToArrayPreserveKeys:
enabled: true
enforceListReturn:
enabled: true
enforceNativeReturnTypehint:
enabled: true
enforceReadonlyPublicProperty:
enabled: true
forbidArithmeticOperationOnNonNumber:
enabled: true
allowNumericString: false
forbidAssignmentNotMatchingVarDoc:
enabled: true
allowNarrowing: false
forbidCast:
enabled: true
blacklist: ['(array)', '(object)', '(unset)']
forbidCheckedExceptionInCallable:
enabled: true
immediatelyCalledCallables:
array_reduce: 1
array_intersect_ukey: 2
array_uintersect: 2
array_uintersect_assoc: 2
array_intersect_uassoc: 2
array_uintersect_uassoc: [2, 3]
array_diff_ukey: 2
array_udiff: 2
array_udiff_assoc: 2
array_diff_uassoc: 2
array_udiff_uassoc: [2, 3]
array_filter: 1
array_map: 0
array_walk_recursive: 1
array_walk: 1
call_user_func: 0
call_user_func_array: 0
forward_static_call: 0
forward_static_call_array: 0
uasort: 1
uksort: 1
usort: 1
allowedCheckedExceptionCallables: []
forbidCheckedExceptionInYieldingMethod:
enabled: true
forbidCustomFunctions:
enabled: true
list: []
forbidEnumInFunctionArguments:
enabled: true
forbidFetchOnMixed:
enabled: true
forbidIdenticalClassComparison:
enabled: true
blacklist: ['DateTimeInterface']
forbidIncrementDecrementOnNonInteger:
enabled: true
forbidMatchDefaultArmForEnums:
enabled: true
forbidMethodCallOnMixed:
enabled: true
forbidNotNormalizedType:
enabled: true
checkDisjunctiveNormalForm: true
forbidNullInAssignOperations:
enabled: true
blacklist: ['??=']
forbidNullInBinaryOperations:
enabled: true
blacklist: ['===', '!==', '??']
forbidNullInInterpolatedString:
enabled: true
forbidPhpDocNullabilityMismatchWithNativeTypehint:
enabled: true
forbidProtectedEnumMethod:
enabled: true
forbidReturnValueInYieldingMethod:
enabled: true
reportRegardlessOfReturnType: false
forbidVariableTypeOverwriting:
enabled: true
forbidUnsetClassField:
enabled: true
forbidUselessNullableReturn:
enabled: true
forbidUnusedException:
enabled: true
forbidUnusedMatchResult:
enabled: true
requirePreviousExceptionPass:
enabled: true
reportEvenIfExceptionIsNotAcceptableByRethrownOne: true
uselessPrivatePropertyDefaultValue:
enabled: true
uselessPrivatePropertyNullability:
enabled: true
Few rules are enabled, but do nothing unless configured, those are marked with *
.
When you try to configure any default array, PHPStan config is merged by default, so if you want to enforce only your values and not to include our defaults, use exclamation mark:
parameters:
shipmonkRules:
forbidCast:
enabled: true
blacklist!: ['(unset)'] # force the blacklist to be only (unset)
- Denies using comparison operators
>,<,<=,>=,<=>
over anything other thanint|string|float|DateTimeInterface
or same size tuples containing comparable types. Null is not allowed. - Mixing different types in those operators is also forbidden, only exception is comparing floats with integers
- Mainly targets to accidental comparisons of objects, enums or arrays which is valid in PHP, but very tricky
function example1(Money $fee1, Money $fee2) {
if ($fee1 > $fee2) {} // comparing objects is denied
}
new DateTime() > '2040-01-02'; // comparing different types is denied
200 > '1e2'; // comparing different types is denied
- Allows usage of named arguments only in native attributes
- Before native attributes, we used DisallowNamedArguments sniff. But we used Doctrine annotations, which almost "require" named arguments when converted to native attributes.
class User {
#[Column(type: Types::STRING, nullable: false)] // allowed
private string $email;
public function __construct(string $email) {
$this->setEmail(email: $email); // forbidden
}
}
- This one is highly opinionated and will probably be disabled/dropped next major version as it does not provide any extra strictness, you can disable it by:
parameters:
shipmonkRules:
allowNamedArgumentOnlyInAttributes:
enabled: false
- Ensures that every BackedEnum child defines generic type
- This rule makes sense only when BackedEnum was hacked to be generic by stub as described in this article
- This rule does nothing if BackedEnum is not set to be generic, which is a default setup. Use following config to really start using it:
parameters:
stubFiles:
- BackedEnum.php.stub # see article or BackedEnumGenericsRuleTest
ignoreErrors:
- '#^Enum .*? has @implements tag, but does not implement any interface.$#'
enum MyEnum: string { // missing @implements tag
case MyCase = 'case1';
}
- Allows you to enforce class name suffix for subclasses of configured superclass
- Checks nothing by default, configure it by passing
superclass => suffix
mapping - Passed superclass is not expected to have such suffix, only subclasses are
- You can use interface as superclass
shipmonkRules:
classSuffixNaming:
superclassToSuffixMapping!:
\Exception: Exception
\PHPStan\Rules\Rule: Rule
\PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase: Test
\Symfony\Component\Console\Command\Command: Command
- Enforces usage of native typehints for closure & arrow function parameters
- Does nothing on PHP 7.4 and below as native
mixed
is not available there - Can be configured by
allowMissingTypeWhenInferred: true
to allow missing typehint when it can be inferred from the context
/**
* @param list<Entity> $entities
* @return list<Uuid>
*/
public function getIds(array $entities): array {
return array_map(
function ($entity) { // missing native typehint; not reported with allowMissingTypeWhenInferred: true
return $entity->id;
},
$entities
);
}
- Enforces usage of
match ($enum)
instead of exhaustive conditions likeif ($enum === Enum::One) elseif ($enum === Enum::Two)
- This rule aims to "fix" a bit problematic behaviour of PHPStan (introduced at 1.10.0 and fixed in 1.10.34). It understands enum cases very well and forces you to adjust following code:
enum MyEnum {
case Foo;
case Bar;
}
if ($enum === MyEnum::Foo) {
// ...
} elseif ($enum === MyEnum::Bar) { // always true reported by phpstan (for versions 1.10.0 - 1.10.34)
// ...
} else {
throw new LogicException('Unknown case'); // phpstan knows it cannot happen
}
Which someone might fix as:
if ($enum === MyEnum::Foo) {
// ...
} elseif ($enum === MyEnum::Bar) {
// ...
}
Or even worse as:
if ($enum === MyEnum::Foo) {
// ...
} else {
// ...
}
We believe that this leads to more error-prone code since adding new enum case may not fail in tests.
Very good approach within similar cases is to use match
construct so that (ideally with forbidMatchDefaultArmForEnums
enabled) phpstan fails once new case is added.
PHPStan even adds tip about match
in those cases since 1.10.11
.
For those reasons, this rule detects any always-true/false enum comparisons and forces you to rewrite it to match ($enum)
.
Since PHPStan 1.10.34, the behaviour is much better as it does not report error on the last elseif in case that it is followed by else with thrown exception. Such case raises exception in your tests if you add new enum case, but it is still silent in PHPStan. This leaves space for error being deployed to production. So we still believe this rule makes sense even in latest PHPStan.
- Enforces presence of second parameter in iterator_to_array call (
$preserve_keys
) as the default valuetrue
is generally dangerous (risk of data loss / failure) - You can use both
true
andfalse
there, but doing so is intentional choice now
$fn = function () {
yield new stdClass => 1;
};
iterator_to_array($fn()); // denied, would fail
- Enforces usage of
list<T>
when list is always returned from a class method or function - When only single return with empty array is present in the method, it is not considered as list
- Does nothing when list types are disabled in PHPStan
/**
* @return array<string>
*/
public function returnList(): array // error, return phpdoc is generic array, but list is always returned
{
return ['item'];
}
- Enforces usage of native return typehints if supported by your PHP version
- If PHPDoc is present, it deduces needed typehint from that, if not, deduction is performed based on real types returned
- Applies to class methods, closures and functions
- Is disabled, if you have PHPStan set up with
treatPhpDocTypesAsCertain: false
- Limitations:
- Does not suggest parent typehint
- Ignores trait methods
class NoNativeReturnTypehint {
/**
* @return list<string>
*/
public function returnList() // error, missing array typehint
{
return ['item'];
}
}
- Ensures immutability of all public properties by enforcing
readonly
modifier - No modifier needed for readonly classes in PHP 8.2
- Does nothing if PHP version does not support readonly properties (PHP 8.0 and below)
class EnforceReadonlyPublicPropertyRule {
public int $foo; // fails, no readonly modifier
public readonly int $bar;
}
- Disallows using arithmetic operators with non-numeric types (only float and int is allowed)
- You can allow numeric-string by using
allowNumericString: true
configuration - Modulo operator (
%
) allows only integers as it emits deprecation otherwise - Plus operator is allowed for merging arrays
function add(string $a, string $b) {
return $a + $b; // denied, non-numeric types are allowed
}
- Verifies if defined type in
@var
phpdoc accepts the assigned type during assignment - No other places except assignment are checked
/** @var string $foo */
$foo = $this->methodReturningInt(); // invalid var phpdoc
- For reasons of imperfect implementation of type infering in phpstan-doctrine, there is an option to check only array-shapes and forget all other types by using
check-shape-only
- This is helpful for cases where field nullability is eliminated by WHERE field IS NOT NULL which is not propagated to the inferred types
/** @var array<array{id: int}> $result check-shape-only */
$result = $queryBuilder->select('t.id')
->from(Table::class, 't')
->andWhere('t.id IS NOT NULL')
->getResult();
- It is possible to explicitly allow narrowing of types by
@var
phpdoc by usingallow-narrowing
/** @var SomeClass $result allow-narrowing */
$result = $service->getSomeClassOrNull();
- Or you can enable it widely by using:
parameters:
shipmonkRules:
forbidAssignmentNotMatchingVarDoc:
allowNarrowing: true
-
Since
phpstan/phpstan:1.10.0
with bleedingEdge, there is a very similar check within PHPStan itself. -
The main difference is that it allows only subtype (narrowing), not supertype (widening) in
@var
phpdoc. -
This rule allows only widening, narrowing is allowed only when marked by
allow-narrowing
or configured byallowNarrowing: true
. -
Basically, there are 3 ways for you to check inline
@var
phpdoc:- allow only narrowing
- this rule disabled, native check enabled
- allow narrowing and widening
- this rule enabled with
allowNarrowing: true
, native check disabled
- this rule enabled with
- allow only widening
- this rule enabled, native check disabled
- allow only narrowing
-
You can disable native check while keeping bleedingEdge by:
parameters:
featureToggles:
varTagType: false
- Deny casting you configure
- Possible values to use:
(array)
- denied by default(object)
- denied by default(unset)
- denied by default(bool)
(int)
(string)
(float)
- forbids using also(double)
and(real)
$empty = (array) null; // denied cast
$notEmpty = (array) 0; // denied cast
parameters:
shipmonkRules:
forbidCast:
blacklist!: ['(array)', '(object)', '(unset)']
- Denies throwing checked exception in callables (Closures, Arrow functions and First class callables) as those cannot be tracked as checked by PHPStan analysis, because it is unknown when the callable is about to be called
- It allows configuration of functions/methods, where the callable is called immediately, those cases are allowed and are also added to dynamic throw type extension which causes those exceptions to be tracked properly in your codebase (!)
- By default, native functions like
array_map
are present. So it is recommended not to overwrite the defaults here (by!
char).
- By default, native functions like
- It allows configuration of functions/methods, where the callable is handling all thrown exceptions and it is safe to throw anything from there; this basically makes such calls ignored by this rule
- It ignores implicitly thrown Throwable
parameters:
shipmonkRules:
forbidCheckedExceptionInCallable:
immediatelyCalledCallables:
'Doctrine\ORM\EntityManager::transactional': 0 # 0 is argument index where the closure appears, you can use list if needed
'Symfony\Contracts\Cache\CacheInterface::get': 1
'Acme\my_custom_function': 0
allowedCheckedExceptionCallables:
'Symfony\Component\Console\Question::setValidator': 0 # symfony automatically converts all thrown exceptions to error output, so it is safe to throw anything here
- We recommend using following config for checked exceptions:
- Also, bleedingEdge enables proper analysis of dead types in multi-catch, so we recommend enabling even that
parameters:
exceptions:
check:
missingCheckedExceptionInThrows: true # enforce checked exceptions to be stated in @throws
tooWideThrowType: true # report invalid @throws (exceptions that are not actually thrown in annotated method)
implicitThrows: false # no @throws means nothing is thrown (otherwise Throwable is thrown)
checkedExceptionClasses:
- YourApp\TopLevelRuntimeException # track only your exceptions (children of some, typically RuntimeException)
class UserEditFacade
{
/**
* @throws UserNotFoundException
* ^ This throws would normally be reported as never thrown in native phpstan, but we know the closure is immediately called
*/
public function updateUserEmail(UserId $userId, Email $email): void
{
$this->entityManager->transactional(function () use ($userId, $email) {
$user = $this->userRepository->get($userId); // throws checked UserNotFoundException
$user->updateEmail($email);
})
}
public function getUpdateEmailCallback(UserId $userId, Email $email): callable
{
return function () use ($userId, $email) {
$user = $this->userRepository->get($userId); // this usage is denied, it throws checked exception, but you don't know when, thus it cannot be tracked by phpstan
$user->updateEmail($email);
};
}
}
- Denies throwing checked exception within yielding methods as those exceptions are not throw upon method call, but when generator gets iterated.
- This behaviour cannot be easily reflected within PHPStan exception analysis and may cause false negatives.
- Make sure you have enabled checked exceptions, otherwise, this rule does nothing
class Provider {
/** @throws CheckedException */
public static function generate(): iterable
{
yield 1;
throw new CheckedException(); // denied, gets thrown once iterated
}
}
- Allows you to easily deny some approaches within your codebase by denying classes, methods and functions
- Configuration syntax is array where key is method name and value is reason used in error message
- Works even with interfaces, constructors and some dynamic class/method names like
$fn = 'sleep'; $fn();
parameters:
shipmonkRules:
forbidCustomFunctions:
list:
'Namespace\SomeClass::*': 'Please use different class' # deny all methods by using * (including constructor)
'Namespace\AnotherClass::someMethod': 'Please use anotherMethod' # deny single method
'var_dump': 'Please remove debug code' # deny function
new SomeClass(); // Class SomeClass is forbidden. Please use different class
(new AnotherClass())->someMethod(); // Method AnotherClass::someMethod() is forbidden. Please use anotherMethod
- Guards passing native enums to native functions where it fails / produces warning or does unexpected behaviour
- Most of the array manipulation functions does not work with enums as they do implicit __toString conversion inside, but that is not possible to do with enums
- See test for all functions and their problems
enum MyEnum: string {
case MyCase = 'case1';
}
implode('', [MyEnum::MyCase]); // denied, would fail on implicit toString conversion
- Denies constant/property fetch on unknown type.
- Any property fetch assumes the caller is an object with such property and therefore, the typehint/phpdoc should be fixed.
- Similar to
forbidMethodCallOnMixed
- Makes sense only on PHPStan level 8 or below, gets autodisabled on level 9
function example($unknown) {
$unknown->property; // cannot fetch property on mixed
}
- Denies comparing configured classes by
===
or!==
- Default configuration contains only
DateTimeInterface
- You may want to add more classes from your codebase or vendor
function isEqual(DateTimeImmutable $a, DateTimeImmutable $b): bool {
return $a === $b; // comparing denied classes
}
parameters:
shipmonkRules:
forbidIdenticalClassComparison:
blacklist!:
- DateTimeInterface
- Brick\Money\MoneyContainer
- Brick\Math\BigNumber
- Ramsey\Uuid\UuidInterface
- Denies using
$i++
,$i--
,++$i
,--$i
with any non-integer - PHP itself is leading towards stricter behaviour here and soft-deprecated some non-integer usages in 8.3, see RFC
$value = '2e0';
$value++; // would be float(3), denied
- Denies using default arm in
match()
construct when native enum is passed as subject - This rules makes sense only as a complement of native phpstan rule that guards that all enum cases are handled in match arms
- As a result, you are forced to add new arm when new enum case is added. That brings up all the places in your codebase that needs new handling.
match ($enum) {
MyEnum::Case: 1;
default: 2; // default arm forbidden
}
- Denies calling methods on unknown type.
- Any method call assumes the caller is an object with such method and therefore, the typehint/phpdoc should be fixed.
- Similar to
forbidFetchOnMixed
- Makes sense only on PHPStan level 8 or below, gets autodisabled on level 9
function example($unknown) {
$unknown->call(); // cannot call method on mixed
}
- Reports any PhpDoc or native type that is not normalized, which can be:
- when child and parent appears in its union or intersection
- when same type appears multiple times in its union or intersection
- when DNF is not used
- configurable by
checkDisjunctiveNormalForm
- configurable by
- Main motivation here is that PHPStan normalizes all types before analysis, so it is better to see it in codebase the same way PHPStan does
/**
* @return mixed|false // denied, this is still just mixed
*/
public function getAttribute(string $name)
{
return $this->attributes[$name] ?? false;
}
- Denies using assign operators if null is involved on right side
- You can configure which operators are ignored, by default only
??=
is excluded
function getCost(int $cost, ?int $surcharge): int {
$cost += $surcharge; // denied, adding possibly-null value
return $cost;
}
- Denies using binary operators if null is involved on either side
- You can configure which operators are ignored. Default ignore is excluding only
===, !==, ??
- Following custom setup is recommended when using latest phpstan-strict-rules and
allowComparingOnlyComparableTypes
is enabled
parameters:
shipmonkRules:
forbidNullInBinaryOperations:
blacklist!: [
'**', '!=', '==', '+', 'and', 'or', '&&', '||', '%', '-', '/', '*', # checked by phpstan-strict-rules
'>', '>=', '<', '<=', '<=>', # checked by AllowComparingOnlyComparableTypesRule
'===', '!==', '??' # valid with null involved
]
function getFullName(?string $firstName, string $lastName): string {
return $firstName . ' ' . $lastName; // denied, null involved in binary operation
}
- Disallows using nullable expressions within double-quoted strings
- This should probably comply with setup of concat operator (
.
) inforbidNullInBinaryOperations
so if you blacklisted it there, you might want to disable this rule
public function output(?string $name) {
echo "Hello $name!"; // denied, possibly null value
}
- Disallows having nullable native typehint while using non-nullable phpdoc
- Checks
@return
and@param
over methods and@var
over properties - PHPStan itself allows using subtype of native type in phpdoc, but resolves overall type as union of those types making such phpdoc actually invalid
/**
* @param string $param
*/
public function sayHello(?string $param) {} // invalid phpdoc not containing null
- Disallows protected method within enums as those are not extendable anyway
- Ignore method declared in traits as those might be reused in regular classes
enum MyEnum {
protected function isOpen(): bool {} // protected enum method denied
}
- Disallows returning values in yielding methods unless marked to return Generator as the value is accessible only via Generator::getReturn
- To prevent misuse, this rule can be configured to even stricter mode where it reports such returns regardless of return type declared
class Get {
public static function oneTwoThree(): iterable { // marked as iterable, caller cannot access the return value by Generator::getReturn
yield 1;
yield 2;
return 3;
}
}
iterator_to_array(Get::oneTwoThree()); // [1, 2] - see https://3v4l.org/Leu9j
parameters:
shipmonkRules:
forbidReturnValueInYieldingMethod:
reportRegardlessOfReturnType: true # optional stricter mode, defaults to false
- Restricts variable assignment to those that does not change its type
- Array append
$array[] = 1;
not yet supported
- Array append
- Null and mixed are not taken into account, advanced phpstan types like non-empty-X are trimmed before comparison
- Rule allows type generalization and type narrowing (parent <-> child)
function example(OrderId $id) {
$id = $id->getStringValue(); // denied, type changed from object to string
}
- Denies calling
unset
over class field as it causes un-initialization, see https://3v4l.org/V8uuP - Null assignment should be used instead
function example(MyClass $class) {
unset($class->field); // denied
}
- Denies marking closure/function/method return type as nullable when null is never returned
- Recommended to be used together with
uselessPrivatePropertyDefaultValue
andUselessPrivatePropertyNullabilityRule
public function example(int $foo): ?int { // null never returned
if ($foo < 0) {
return 0;
}
return $foo;
}
- Reports forgotten exception throw (created or returned from function, but not used in any way)
function validate(): void {
new Exception(); // forgotten throw
}
- Reports forgotten usage of match result
- Any
match
with at least one arm returning a value is checked
match ($foo) { // unused match result
case 'foo' => 1;
}
- Detects forgotten exception pass-as-previous when re-throwing
- Checks if caught exception can be passed as argument to the call (including constructor call) in
throw
node inside the catch block - You may encounter false-positives in some edge-cases, where you do not want to pass exception as previous, feel free to ignore those
try {
// some code
} catch (RuntimeException $e) {
throw new LogicException('Cannot happen'); // $e not passed as previous
}
- If you want to be even stricter, you can set up
reportEvenIfExceptionIsNotAcceptableByRethrownOne
totrue
and the rule will start reporting even cases where the thrown exception does not have parameter matching the caught exception- Defaults to true
- That will force you to add the parameter to be able to pass it as previous
- Usable only if you do not throw exceptions from libraries, which is a good practice anyway
parameters:
shipmonkRules:
requirePreviousExceptionPass:
reportEvenIfExceptionIsNotAcceptableByRethrownOne: true
class MyException extends RuntimeException {
public function __construct() {
parent::__construct('My error');
}
}
try {
// some code
} catch (RuntimeException $e) {
throw new MyException(); // reported even though MyException cannot accept it yet
}
- Detects useless default value of a private property that is always initialized in constructor.
- Cannot handle conditions or private method calls within constructor.
- When enabled, return statements in constructors are denied to avoid false positives
- Recommended to be used with
uselessPrivatePropertyNullability
andforbidUselessNullableReturn
class Example
{
private ?int $field = null; // useless default value
public function __construct()
{
$this->field = 1;
}
}
- Detects useless nullability of a private property by checking type of all assignments.
- Works only with natively typehinted properties
- Recommended to be used with
uselessPrivatePropertyNullability
andforbidUselessNullableReturn
as removing useless default value may cause useless nullability to be detected
class Example
{
private ?int $field; // useless nullability
public function __construct()
{
$this->field = 1;
}
public function setField(int $value)
{
$this->field = $value;
}
}
Some strict behaviour in PHPStan is not enabled by default, consider enabling extra strictness even there:
includes:
- phar://phpstan.phar/conf/config.levelmax.neon
- phar://phpstan.phar/conf/bleedingEdge.neon # https://phpstan.org/blog/what-is-bleeding-edge
- vendor/phpstan/phpstan-strict-rules/rules.neon # https://github.com/phpstan/phpstan-strict-rules
parameters:
checkImplicitMixed: true # https://phpstan.org/config-reference#checkimplicitmixed
checkBenevolentUnionTypes: true # https://phpstan.org/config-reference#checkbenevolentuniontypes
checkUninitializedProperties: true # https://phpstan.org/config-reference#checkuninitializedproperties
checkMissingCallableSignature: true # https://phpstan.org/config-reference#vague-typehints
checkTooWideReturnTypesInProtectedAndPublicMethods: true # https://phpstan.org/config-reference#checktoowidereturntypesinprotectedandpublicmethods
- Check your code by
composer check
- Autofix coding-style by
composer fix:cs
- All functionality must be tested