This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Mayank Goyal
“First, solve the problem. Then, write the code.”
— John Johnson
Key Takeaways
- Larastan integrates PHPStan into Laravel for advanced static analysis.
- Detects bugs and type errors without running your code.
- Helps to improve maintainability, reliability, and developer confidence.
- Supports Laravel 9 and above, with different Larastan versions.
- Supports strict level-based analysis with customizable rules and baselines.
Index
- Introduction
- Supported Laravel Versions
- Installing and Configuring Larastan
- Larastan Levels Breakdown
- Ignoring Errors
- Baseline File
- Laravel-Specific Rules
- Custom types Doc
- Use PHPStan plugin in PHPStorm
- FAQs
- Stats
- Interesting Facts
- Conclusion
1. Introduction
Larastan is a PHPStan wrapper that brings powerful static analysis capabilities to Laravel projects. It finds bugs, type mismatches, and dead code in your application without executing a single line of it.
“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”
— Alan Kay
2. Supported Laravel Versions
3. Installing and Configuring Larastan
Installation
To install Larastan, run the following command:
composer require --dev "larastan/larastan:^3.0"
Configuration
Create a phpstan.neon file in the root directory with the following configuration:
includes:
- vendor/larastan/larastan/extension.neon
parameters:
paths:
- app # You can add required folders here
level: 5 # You can increase levels for more strict checking
Running Larastan
To analyze your code, execute:
./vendor/bin/phpstan analyse
If you are getting the error Allowed memory size exhausted, then you can use the — memory-limit option fix the problem:
./vendor/bin/phpstan analyse --memory-limit=2G
For strictest level checking, use:
./vendor/bin/phpstan analyse --level=9
4. Larastan Levels Breakdown
“Automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency.”
— Bill Gates
5. Ignoring Errors
When ignoring errors in PHPStan’s configuration file, they are ignored by writing a regex based on error messages:
parameters:
ignoreErrors:
- '#Call to an undefined method .*badMethod\(\)#'
6. Baseline File
In older codebases it might be hard to spend the time fixing all the code to pass a high PHPStan Level.
To get around this a baseline file can be generated. The baseline file will create a configuration file with all of the current errors, so new code can be written following a higher standard than the old code. (PHPStan Docs)
./vendor/bin/phpstan analyse --generate-baseline
7. Laravel-Specific Rules
A list of configurable rules specific to Laravel can be found here.
8. Custom types Doc
A list of custom type doc is here. Which includes **custom-config-parameters.md , custom-types.md , errors-to-ignore.md **etc. files.
9. Use PHPStan plugin in PHPStorm
Refer this for enabling the phpstan in phpstorm without composer
10. FAQs
Q: Can Larastan catch runtime exceptions?
A: No, Larastan only performs static analysis. It won’t catch exceptions thrown at runtime, but it will highlight unsafe code patterns.
Q: Is it safe to run Larastan on production code?
A: Absolutely! Larastan doesn’t execute any code. It only analyzes it.
Q: Should I aim for level 9 always?
A: Ideally yes, but start small. Use baselines to incrementally improve quality.
Q: Can I customize rules for my project?
A: Yes! You can add custom rules, ignore specific errors, and tune paths.
11. Stats
- At the highest level (Level 9), Larastan and PHPStan together detect over 100 categories of potential issues. (PHPStan Rule Levels, Larastan README)
- Projects adopting Larastan often report significantly fewer runtime errors (anecdotally in the range of 25–50%) thanks to early detection of type and logic issues. (Mattias Geniar Blog Post, Larastan GitHub Discussions, Medium Article about PHPStan Adoption)
- Larastan has over 4 million downloads and is used in thousands of open-source Laravel repositories to improve code quality. (Larastan GitHub)
12. Interesting Facts
- Larastan was created by Nuno Maduro, the creator of PestPHP.
- It internally uses PHPStan, one of the most respected tools for static analysis in PHP.
- You can extend Larastan using custom rules for your specific business logic!
13. Conclusion
Larastan is more than a tool — it’s a code quality companion for Laravel developers. By integrating static analysis early in your development workflow, you prevent bugs, enforce best practices, and build confidence in your codebase.
- Start with level 5
- Use baselines for legacy code
- Gradually level up to 9
- Fix errors as part of regular code reviews
Use it. Learn from it. Make your Laravel code bulletproof.
About the Author: Mayank is a web developer at AddWebSolution, building scalable apps with PHP, Node.js & React. Sharing ideas, code, and creativity.
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Mayank Goyal
Mayank Goyal | Sciencx (2025-08-21T10:30:41+00:00) Enhancing Laravel Code Quality with Larastan. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/08/21/enhancing-laravel-code-quality-with-larastan/
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