PHP & Laravel Development

Code Style

• declare(strict_types=1) in every file
• Happy path last -- guards and errors first, success at the end. Early returns, no else.
• Comments explain why, never what. Never comment tests. If code needs a "what" comment, rename or restructure.
• No single-letter variables -- $exception not $e, $request not $r
• ?string not string|null. Always specify void. Import classnames, never inline FQN.
• Validation uses array notation ['required', 'email'] for easier custom rule classes
• PHPStan level 8+ (phpstan analyse --level=8); aim for 9 on new projects. @phpstan-type / @phpstan-param for generic collection types.

Modern PHP (8.4)