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name: php-human-made description: Human Made PHP coding standards for WordPress development. Apply when writing PHP, reviewing PHP code, or working on WordPress plugins and themes. Covers PHPCS HM-Minimum ruleset, namespacing conventions, bootstrap patterns, type hints, and file organization.

Human Made PHP Standards

These standards follow the Human Made coding standards (HM-Minimum PHPCS ruleset).

Architecture

• Prefer namespaced procedural code over unnecessary OOP abstractions
• Use classes only when genuinely modeling objects or when the pattern benefits from encapsulation
• Group code by feature, not by technology (e.g., Project\Reports not Project\CLI)

Bootstrap Pattern

Use the bootstrap pattern for feature initialization:

Copy<?php
namespace Project\Feature;

function bootstrap() : void {
    add_action( 'init', __NAMESPACE__ . '\\register' );
    add_filter( 'the_content', __NAMESPACE__ . '\\filter_content' );
}

function register() : void {
    // Implementation
}

File Naming

• Main plugin file: plugin.php
• Main theme file: functions.php
• Classes: class-{classname}.php (lowercase)
• Namespaced functions: namespace.php or {feature}.php
• Top-level namespace directory: inc/

Code Conventions

• Array syntax: [] over array()
• Yoda conditions: Not required
• Visibility: Always declare public, protected, private
• Prefer protected over private for extensibility
• Type hints: Use for internal functions; exercise caution with WordPress callbacks that may pass unexpected types
• Return types: Only declare when function returns exactly one type

WordPress Security

• Sanitize all input: sanitize_text_field(), absint(), wp_kses_post(), etc.
• Escape all output: esc_html(), esc_attr(), esc_url(), wp_kses_post()
• Use nonces for form submissions and AJAX requests
• Check capabilities before performing actions: current_user_can()
• Use prepared statements for database queries: $wpdb->prepare()

Linting

Projects use PHPCS with Human Made standards:

• Ruleset: HM-Minimum (or project-specific extension)
• Config file: phpcs.xml or phpcs.xml.dist
• Run with: composer run phpcs or vendor/bin/phpcs

PHPStan is used for static analysis:

• Level: 5 (typical)
• Config file: phpstan.neon or phpstan.neon.dist
• Run with: composer run phpstan or vendor/bin/phpstan analyse