Editor features

PhpThunder is first and foremost an editing toolchain. This page covers the workflows that matter during everyday PHP development — from the first keystroke to the final commit.

At a glance

Code intelligence

PhpThunder provides the core IDE behaviors expected in a well-equipped PHP workspace.

Completion

As code is entered, PhpThunder suggests global symbols (classes, functions, constants), class members, static access, and namespaced identifiers. The suggestions include method signatures, property types, and PHPDoc summaries, keeping parameter names close at hand.

PhpThunder also understands PHPDoc templates, array shapes, callable signatures, dynamic return types, magic methods, fluent APIs, and local/imported type aliases. That extra context feeds higher-order inference, so member completion inside closures and arrow functions stays precise even when the variable type comes from a generic callback contract.

Example: Start typing new Http in a Laravel project and PhpThunder completes to Illuminate\Http\Request, adding the use statement at the top of the file if it's not already there.

Hover

Hover over any symbol to see its type signature, return type, parameters, and PHPDoc — including documentation from Composer dependencies. No need to leave the current file.

Hover also reflects alias-expanded PHPDoc types and inferred callback parameter types, so higher-order code keeps the same type detail as direct member access.

Go to definition and find references

F12 jumps to the definition of any symbol. Shift+F12 (or right-click → Find All References) shows everywhere a symbol is used, across the entire project, including vendor/ when vendor analysis is enabled.

Import assistance

When a short class name cannot be resolved, PhpThunder offers to add the missing use statement. When multiple candidates exist (e.g., both App\Request and Illuminate\Http\Request), it shows a picker.

Organize Imports

PhpThunder: Organize Imports removes unused use statements and sorts the remaining ones alphabetically by fully-qualified name (aliases are preserved). It is available from:

• Command palette — run PhpThunder: Organize Imports (also in the editor context menu on a PHP file).
• Lightbulb / Ctrl+. — the Organize Imports source action appears in the code-action menu.
• On save — configure it in your settings.json:

  "editor.codeActionsOnSave": {
    "source.organizeImports": "explicit"
  }
  

Tip: Bind PhpThunder: Organize Imports to a keybinding for a one-shot sort-and-prune of the current file's imports.

Diagnostics and quick fixes

PhpThunder publishes diagnostics for:

• Parse and syntax problems — caught during typing, no save needed
• Type analysis — mismatched argument types, wrong return types, undefined properties
• PHP version mismatches — using PHP 8.1 named arguments in a project targeting 8.0
• PHPDoc issues — incorrect @param types, missing @return annotations, and alias-based type problems
• Unused imports — use statements that are never referenced in the file
• Unused private members — private properties and methods that are never accessed

Quick fixes and source actions are available from the lightbulb () or via Ctrl+.:

• Organize imports — sort and remove unused use statements
• Remove unused imports — surgical removal without touching ordering
• Remove unused private members — clean up dead code in a class
• Generate PHPDoc stub — scaffold a /** */ block for any method or property
• Pick import candidate — resolve ambiguous short names with a picker

Note: Vendor file diagnostics are off by default to keep the noise level low. Enable phpThunder.diagnostics.enableVendor: true for full analysis of third-party code.

Rename Symbol (Pro)

F2 on any symbol triggers a workspace-wide rename that updates every reference: the declaration, all usages, and any qualified references in other files.

Code generation (Pro)

PhpThunder can generate boilerplate:

• Generate Getter / Setter — creates accessor methods for properties, respecting the property type and PHPDoc
• Generate missing accessors — scans a class and offers to fill in any getters or setters that don't exist yet
• Implement Missing Methods — when a class declares an interface or extends an abstract class, PhpThunder generates stubs for all required methods

These are available as quick fixes () directly on the class or property.

Formatting

PhpThunder's formatter is always active and produces PSR-12-compliant output out of the box — no configuration required.

Standard VS Code editor settings and .editorconfig files are recognized in all tiers.

EditorConfig

When an .editorconfig file is present, the formatter walks upward from the file being formatted, collects .editorconfig files (stopping at the first root = true), and applies the result. .editorconfig values take precedence over VS Code settings.

The recognized properties map directly to their VS Code equivalents:

Standard EditorConfig glob patterns are supported (*, **, ?, character classes, alternation), including anchored patterns starting with /. Parsed files are cached and invalidated on change.

Tip: Projects without an .editorconfig can configure the same options directly in settings.json at the workspace or folder level and get identical behavior.

Style customization (Pro)

With a Pro license or active trial, additional style rules can be configured via phpThunder.formatting.*:

• Arrays — preserve, auto, force-single-line, or force-multi-line; also short-array vs array() bracket style
• Parameters and arguments — same four options for function/method definitions and call sites
• Match arms — formatting for match expressions (same four options)
• Control structures — if, elseif/else, foreach, for, while, switch — choose between brace-style or colon/alternative syntax
• Max inline width — the threshold at which auto mode breaks a single-line construct into multiple lines (default: 80)
• Brace positions — class, method, function, namespace, control-flow, and try/catch braces can each be placed on their own line or on the same line as the header
• Spacing — space after casts, inside/outside declaration and call parentheses, after commas, before : in return types
• Trailing commas — add or remove trailing commas in multi-line arrays and argument lists
• Alignment — align consecutive = assignments, => arrows in arrays/match, inline comments, CSS declarations, and JS properties
• Miscellaneous — else/elseif on new line, catch/finally on new line, case/default indentation, empty body compactness, max consecutive blank lines, and more

See Project configuration for the full list of customization settings.

TODO workflows

The TODO panel scans the codebase for comment markers (TODO, FIXME, etc.) and surfaces them in one place.

Key commands:

• PhpThunder: Focus TODOs — open the TODO panel
• PhpThunder: Refresh TODOs — rescan after bulk changes
• PhpThunder: Filter TODOs — narrow down by keyword or file
• PhpThunder: Group TODOs — switch between grouping by file, type, or priority

This is especially handy in larger codebases where TODOs scatter across dozens of files.

Composer helpers

PhpThunder wraps common Composer operations for running them without leaving the editor:

• PhpThunder: Composer Install
• PhpThunder: Composer Update
• PhpThunder: Composer Require Package
• PhpThunder: Composer Dump Autoload
• PhpThunder: Composer Validate

Output from Composer appears in the PhpThunder output channel, where the changes are visible.

Next steps

• Debugging — set up Xdebug and start debugging
• Project configuration — all formatting, diagnostic, and code-fix settings
• Free vs Pro — full breakdown of which features require a Pro license
• Troubleshooting — if the editor state doesn't match the project