PHP Insights MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that brings PHP Insights code analysis directly into Cursor and VS Code. Get AI-powered PHP code quality insights, automated fixes, and detailed analysis reports right in your favorite editor.

🎯 Perfect for AI-Powered Development

• 🤖 Cursor Integration: Get PHP code analysis suggestions from Claude

• 💻 VS Code Support: Use with any MCP-compatible VS Code extension

• 🔍 Real-time Analysis: Analyze PHP code quality as you develop

• 📊 Smart Summaries: Get AI-friendly summaries of code issues

• 🔧 Automated Fixes: Let AI suggest and apply code improvements

• ⚡ Fast & Reliable: Optimized for large PHP projects

Related MCP server: WordPress MCP Extension

🚀 Quick Setup

1. Install the MCP Server

# Install globally
npm install -g mcp-phpinsights

# Or install locally in your project (recommended for development)
pnpm add mcp-phpinsights

2. Set Up PHP Insights in Your Project

# Navigate to your PHP project
cd /path/to/your/php/project

# Install PHP Insights via Composer
composer require nunomaduro/phpinsights --dev

# Optional: Create a custom configuration
cp node_modules/mcp-phpinsights/examples/phpinsights.config.php phpinsights.php

3. Configure Cursor

Add this to your Cursor MCP settings:

For Cursor (Settings → Features → Model Context Protocol):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "phpinsights": {
      "command": "mcp-phpinsights",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

For VS Code with MCP Extension:

{
  "mcp.servers": {
    "phpinsights": {
      "command": "mcp-phpinsights",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

💬 How to Use with Cursor & VS Code

In Cursor

Once configured, you can ask Claude to analyze your PHP code:

Example Prompts:

• "Analyze the code quality of my PHP project"

• "What are the main issues in my Laravel application?"

• "Can you fix the code quality issues in the src/ directory?"

• "Generate a summary of PHP Insights analysis for this project"

What Claude Can Do:

• 🔍 Run comprehensive code analysis

• 📊 Generate detailed quality reports

• 🔧 Suggest and apply automated fixes

• 📈 Track code quality metrics over time

• 🎯 Focus analysis on specific directories

In VS Code

With an MCP-compatible extension, you can:

1. Right-click on PHP files → "Analyze with PHP Insights"

2. Command Palette → "PHP Insights: Run Analysis"

3. Status Bar → Click PHP Insights icon for quick analysis

4. Problems Panel → View issues found by PHP Insights

🛠️ Available Tools

phpinsights_run

Runs comprehensive PHP code analysis and returns detailed results.

Use Cases:

• Get complete code quality metrics

• Analyze specific directories or files

• Generate detailed reports for documentation

Example Usage in Cursor:

"Run PHP Insights analysis on my project and show me the results"

phpinsights_summary

Generates human-readable summaries perfect for AI conversations.

Use Cases:

• Quick overview of code quality

• Identify top issues to focus on

• Get AI-friendly summaries for further analysis

Example Output:

📊 Code Quality Summary:
- Overall Score: 85/100
- Code Quality: 90%
- Architecture: 88%
- Style: 92%
- Complexity: 80%

🚨 Top Issues:
1. src/User.php:15 - Unused variable $temp
2. app/Controller.php:25 - Method too long (15 lines)
3. models/Product.php:8 - Missing type declaration

phpinsights_fix

Applies automated fixes to common code quality issues.

Use Cases:

• Automatically fix style issues

• Apply PSR standards

• Clean up unused imports and variables

Example Usage:

"Fix all the code quality issues in my src/ directory"

phpinsights:problems Resource

Provides structured access to all found issues for IDE integration.

Use Cases:

• IDE problem markers

• Quick navigation to issues

• Integration with other development tools

⚙️ Configuration

PHP Insights Configuration

Create a phpinsights.php file in your project root to customize analysis:

<?php
// phpinsights.php
return [
    'preset' => 'laravel', // or 'symfony', 'magento2', 'drupal', 'default'
    'ide' => 'vscode',     // for better IDE integration
    'exclude' => [
        'vendor',
        'storage',
        'bootstrap/cache',
        'node_modules',
        'tests',           // exclude test files if desired
    ],
    'config' => [
        // Customize specific rules
        \NunoMaduro\PhpInsights\Domain\Insights\CyclomaticComplexityIsHigh::class => [
            'maxComplexity' => 10, // Allow higher complexity
        ],
    ],
];

Advanced MCP Configuration

For more control, you can configure the MCP server with custom settings:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "phpinsights": {
      "command": "mcp-phpinsights",
      "args": [],
      "env": {
        "PHPINSIGHTS_TIMEOUT": "300000",  // 5 minutes
        "PHPINSIGHTS_CONFIG": "/custom/path/phpinsights.php"
      }
    }
  }
}

🎯 Real-World Examples

Example 1: Laravel Project Analysis

Prompt in Cursor:

"Analyze my Laravel project and tell me what needs improvement"

Claude's Response:

I'll analyze your Laravel project for code quality issues...

📊 Analysis Results:
- Overall Score: 78/100
- Code Quality: 85%
- Architecture: 80%
- Style: 75%
- Complexity: 70%

🚨 Priority Issues:
1. app/Http/Controllers/UserController.php:45 - Method too long (25 lines)
2. app/Models/Product.php:12 - Missing return type declaration
3. resources/views/users/index.blade.php:8 - Unused variable $temp

💡 Recommendations:
- Break down the long controller method into smaller functions
- Add proper type hints to model methods
- Remove unused variables in Blade templates

Would you like me to help fix any of these issues?

Example 2: Automated Code Fixes

Prompt in Cursor:

"Fix all the style issues in my src/ directory"

Claude's Response:

I'll run PHP Insights with automatic fixes on your src/ directory...

🔧 Fixing Issues:
✅ Fixed 12 PSR-12 style violations
✅ Removed 3 unused imports
✅ Fixed 5 missing type declarations
✅ Corrected 2 indentation issues

📈 Results:
- Before: 75% style score
- After: 92% style score

The fixes have been applied automatically. Your code now follows PSR-12 standards!

Example 3: Focused Analysis

Prompt in Cursor:

"Analyze only the app/Models directory and show me the complexity issues"

Claude's Response:

I'll analyze the Models directory for complexity issues...

📁 Analyzing: app/Models/
🔍 Found 3 complexity issues:

1. User.php:45 - calculateUserScore() method
   - Complexity: 12 (recommended: ≤10)
   - Issues: Multiple nested conditions
   - Suggestion: Extract validation logic to separate methods

2. Product.php:78 - processOrder() method  
   - Complexity: 15 (recommended: ≤10)
   - Issues: Long switch statement
   - Suggestion: Use strategy pattern or extract to service class

3. Order.php:123 - validateOrderData() method
   - Complexity: 11 (recommended: ≤10)
   - Issues: Multiple validation rules in one method
   - Suggestion: Split into individual validation methods

Would you like me to help refactor any of these methods?

🚨 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

"PHP Insights not found"

# Make sure PHP Insights is installed
composer require nunomaduro/phpinsights --dev

# Verify installation
./vendor/bin/phpinsights --version

"Permission denied"

# Fix permissions
chmod +x vendor/bin/phpinsights

"Timeout errors"

• Increase timeout in MCP configuration

• Analyze smaller directories at a time

• Check if PHP Insights is properly configured

"No issues found"

• Verify your project has PHP files

• Check if directories are excluded in phpinsights.php

• Ensure PHP Insights can access your files

Debug Mode

Enable debug logging to troubleshoot issues:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "phpinsights": {
      "command": "mcp-phpinsights",
      "args": [],
      "env": {
        "DEBUG": "mcp-phpinsights:*"
      }
    }
  }
}

🎉 Getting Started Checklist

• Install the MCP server: npm install -g mcp-phpinsights

• Install PHP Insights in your project: composer require nunomaduro/phpinsights --dev

• Configure Cursor/VS Code with MCP settings

• Test with a simple prompt: "Analyze my PHP project"

• Create a custom phpinsights.php config (optional)

• Start using AI-powered PHP code analysis! 🚀

📚 Additional Resources

• Examples - Complete usage examples and configurations

• Contributing Guide - How to contribute to this project

• Changelog - Version history and updates

• PHP Insights Documentation - Official PHP Insights docs

• Model Context Protocol - MCP specification

🛠️ Development

This project uses pnpm as the recommended package manager for development. While npm works for installation, pnpm provides faster installs and better dependency management.

For contributors:

# Install pnpm globally
npm install -g pnpm

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Run development commands
pnpm run build
pnpm test
pnpm run lint

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Whether you're fixing bugs, adding features, or improving documentation, your help makes this project better for everyone.

Quick Start:

1. Fork the repository

2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature

3. Make your changes and add tests

4. Run tests: pnpm test

5. Submit a pull request

See our Contributing Guide for detailed information.

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• PHP Insights - The amazing PHP code analysis tool

• Model Context Protocol - The MCP specification

• Cursor - AI-powered code editor

• VS Code - Popular code editor with MCP support

📞 Support

• 🐛 Bug Reports: Open an issue

• 💡 Feature Requests: Open an issue

• 💬 Discussions: GitHub Discussions

• 📖 Documentation: Check the examples folder for more usage examples

When reporting issues, please include:

• PHP version and framework (Laravel, Symfony, etc.)

• Node.js version

• PHP Insights version

• Error logs and steps to reproduce

Made with ❤️ for the PHP and AI development communities