PHP Patterns

This file extends common/patterns.md with PHP specific content.

Thin Controllers, Explicit Services

• Keep controllers focused on transport: auth, validation, serialization, status codes.
• Move business rules into application/domain services that are easy to test without HTTP bootstrapping.

DTOs and Value Objects

• Replace shape-heavy associative arrays with DTOs for requests, commands, and external API payloads.
• Use value objects for money, identifiers, date ranges, and other constrained concepts.

Dependency Injection

• Depend on interfaces or narrow service contracts, not framework globals.
• Pass collaborators through constructors so services are testable without service-locator lookups.

Boundaries

• Isolate ORM models from domain decisions when the model layer is doing more than persistence.
• Wrap third-party SDKs behind small adapters so the rest of the codebase depends on your contract, not theirs.

Reference

See skill: api-design for endpoint conventions and response-shape guidance. See skill: laravel-patterns for Laravel-specific architecture guidance.