Skip to main content

PHP and WordPress Setup

Required Tools​

# LSP server: Intelephense (better PHP LSP)
npm install -g intelephense

# Formatters
composer global require friendsofphp/php-cs-fixer

# Linters
composer global require squizlabs/php_codesniffer

# Mason
:MasonInstall intelephense phpcs php-cs-fixer

Intelephense Configuration​

lspconfig.intelephense.setup({
  on_attach = on_attach,
  capabilities = capabilities,
  settings = {
    intelephense = {
      files = {
        maxSize = 5000000,
      },
      environment = {
        phpVersion = "8.2",   -- your PHP version
      },
      diagnostics = {
        enable = true,
        undefinedClassConstants = true,
        undefinedConstants = true,
        undefinedFunctions = true,
        undefinedMethods = true,
        undefinedProperties = true,
        undefinedSymbols = true,
        undefinedVariables = true,
        unusedSymbols = false,
      },
      format = {
        enable = true,
      },
      stubs = {
        -- Enable WordPress stubs for autocompletion
        "wordpress",
        "apache", "bcmath", "bz2", "calendar",
        "Core", "curl", "date", "dom", "exif",
        "fileinfo", "filter", "ftp", "gd",
        "gettext", "json", "mbstring", "mcrypt",
        "memcache", "memcached", "mysql", "mysqli",
        "openssl", "pcre", "PDO", "pdo_mysql",
        "readline", "Reflection", "session",
        "simplexml", "soap", "SPL", "sqlite3",
        "standard", "tokenizer", "xml", "xmlreader",
        "xmlwriter", "zip", "zlib",
      },
    },
  },
})

WordPress Stubs​

Install WordPress stubs for proper IDE completion:

composer require --dev php-stubs/wordpress-stubs

PHP CS Fixer Configuration​

.php-cs-fixer.php
<?php
$finder = PhpCsFixer\Finder::create()
    ->in(__DIR__)
    ->exclude('node_modules')
    ->exclude('vendor');

return (new PhpCsFixer\Config())
    ->setRules([
        '@PSR12' => true,
        'array_syntax' => ['syntax' => 'short'],
        'ordered_imports' => true,
        'no_unused_imports' => true,
        'trailing_comma_in_multiline' => true,
        'single_quote' => true,
    ])
    ->setFinder($finder);

WordPress Coding Standards (PHPCS)​

# Install WordPress standards
composer global require wp-coding-standards/wpcs
phpcs --config-set installed_paths ~/.composer/vendor/wp-coding-standards/wpcs

none-ls Sources for PHP​

null_ls.setup({
  sources = {
    null_ls.builtins.formatting.phpcsfixer.with({
      extra_args = { "--config=.php-cs-fixer.php" },
    }),
    null_ls.builtins.diagnostics.phpcs.with({
      extra_args = { "--standard=WordPress" },  -- or PSR12
    }),
  },
})

WP-CLI Integration​

Run WP-CLI commands from Neovim:

lua/config/keymaps.lua
vim.keymap.set("n", "&lt;leader&gt;wp", function()
  local cmd = vim.fn.input("WP-CLI: wp ")
  if cmd ~= "" then
    vim.cmd("split | terminal wp " .. cmd)
  end
end, { desc = "Run WP-CLI command" })

PHP File Structure Navigation​

With Treesitter + nvim-treesitter-textobjects:

vaf    → select entire PHP function
dac    → delete entire class
]f     → jump to next function
[c     → jump to previous class

In LazyVim​

LazyVim Context

LazyVim provides a lang.php extra that instantly configures PHP LSP (Intelephense or PHPactor), formatting, and linting. It leverages conform.nvim and vim-lint for modern standard practices without writing extensive configurations manually.

AspectVanilla NeovimLazyVim
LSP SetupManual intelephense configurationEnable via :LazyExtras → lang.php
FormattingCustom php-cs-fixer in
ull-lsPre-configured via conform.nvim (via the extra)
LintingCustom phpcs in
ull-lsPre-configured via
vim-lint
WP StubsRequires manual LSP stubs array configNeeds slight manual override for intelephense settings if strictly using WP

Enabling PHP in LazyVim​

  1. Open Neovim.
  2. Run :LazyExtras.
  3. Enable lang.php.

By default, the lang.php extra uses intelephense and sets up php-cs-fixer for formatting.

Adding WordPress Stubs in LazyVim​

Since WordPress isn't a standard part of vanilla PHP development, you will need to append the wordpress stub to Intelephense inside LazyVim. You can do this by extending the LSP configuration in your lua/plugins/lsp.lua file:

lua/plugins/lsp.lua
return {
  {
    "neovim/nvim-lspconfig",
    opts = {
      servers = {
        intelephense = {
          settings = {
            intelephense = {
              stubs = {
                "wordpress",
                "apache", "bcmath", "bz2", "calendar", "Core", "curl", "date", "dom", "exif", "fileinfo", "filter", "ftp", "gd", "gettext", "json", "mbstring", "mcrypt", "memcache", "memcached", "mysql", "mysqli", "openssl", "pcre", "PDO", "pdo_mysql", "readline", "Reflection", "session", "simplexml", "soap", "SPL", "sqlite3", "standard", "tokenizer", "xml", "xmlreader", "xmlwriter", "zip", "zlib",
              },
            },
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

What's Next​