Introduction

bradietilley/php-builder turns PHP structure into plain PHP objects. You compose PhpClass, PhpInterface, PhpTrait, or PhpEnum builders, attach members (constants, properties, methods, attributes), then call toPhp() to emit a full source file — <?php, optional declare(strict_types=1);, namespace, use imports, and the type body.

It is designed for code generators, scaffolding tools, IDE helpers, and any pipeline that needs to write valid PHP without string-concatenating syntax by hand.

Design goals

• Declarative builders. Each PHP construct maps to a typed object (PhpMethod, PhpProperty, PhpAttribute, …) with named constructor arguments and public properties you can mutate after construction.
• Import-aware. FQCNs in extends/implements/traits, return types, attributes, and PHPDoc are collected into use statements. Name clashes are aliased automatically, or you can pass an explicit alias to import() — see Imports & Aliasing.
• Docblock-aware. Array shapes, callable signatures, templates, @throws, and descriptions are rendered as PHPDoc when they cannot be expressed in native type syntax alone.
• Modern PHP surface. Constructor promotion, asymmetric visibility, property hooks, backed enums, trait adaptations, and generics templates are first-class.

What it is not

• It is not an AST parser or rewriter. You build new source; you do not load or mutate existing files.
• It does not execute or validate the generated code beyond structural checks (e.g. hooks incompatible with readonly).
• It does not format opinionated style by default. Register a PhpFormatter callback (Pint, PHP-CS-Fixer, …) if you want post-processing.

When to use it

Reach for this package when a generator, artisan command, or build step needs to emit classes/interfaces/traits/enums with correct imports and modern syntax — instead of heredocs or template engines that drift out of sync with PHP.

Continue to Installation.