12-Factor PHP Configuration

When to use

• The user wants to move hardcoded configuration or credentials out of PHP code and into the environment.
• The user wants different configuration values for local, staging, and production from a single codebase.
• The user needs to store API keys, database passwords, or tokens without committing them or baking them into the image.

When NOT to use

• Do not use this skill when the user needs per-user or gradually-rolled-out feature flags evaluated at runtime.
• Do not use this skill for how a specific framework's config/*.php files or service definitions are structured.

Core guidance