Construct Finder Laravel Package

Product Decisions This Supports

• Codebase Navigation & Tooling: Enables faster development by powering IDE-like class discovery (e.g., autocomplete, refactoring tools, or documentation generators).
• Build vs. Buy: Justifies in-house tooling for static analysis (e.g., dependency mapping, codebase audits) instead of licensing commercial solutions.
• Developer Experience (DX): Reduces friction for onboarding new engineers by providing programmatic access to class metadata (e.g., "Find all classes using this trait").
• Roadmap for Refactoring Tools: Core component for future features like:
  • Automated dependency visualization (e.g., "Show all classes extending BaseModel").
  • Legacy code analysis (e.g., "Find unused interfaces").
• API/Plugin Ecosystem: Foundation for building custom CLI tools or IDE plugins (e.g., "List all enums in the project").

When to Consider This Package

• Avoid if:
  • Your team uses PHPStan/Psalm or PHPUnit (they already include similar functionality).
  • You need runtime reflection (use native ReflectionClass instead).
  • Your project is small (<10K LOC) and lacks complex class hierarchies.
  • You’re constrained by performance (this scans files; for large codebases, consider compiled solutions like phpDocumentor).
• Consider if:
  • You’re building static analysis tools (e.g., custom linters, migration helpers).
  • Your team relies on programmatic codebase introspection (e.g., scaffolding generators).
  • You need lightweight, dependency-free solutions (no heavy frameworks like Symfony’s ClassLoader).

How to Pitch It (Stakeholders)

For Executives: "This package lets us build internal tools to navigate and analyze our PHP codebase programmatically—like a search engine for classes, traits, and enums. It’s lightweight, open-source, and could power everything from developer onboarding to automated refactoring. Think of it as the ‘Ctrl+Shift+F’ for our codebase, but for machines. Upfront cost: near-zero; ROI: faster development and fewer manual audits."

For Engineering: *"Need to find all classes implementing Serializable or list every trait used in a module? This package gives us a fast, reliable way to query class metadata without regex or manual grepping. It’s the backbone for:

• Custom CLI tools (e.g., php find-orphaned-classes).
• IDE plugins or VS Code extensions.
• Pre-commit hooks to enforce architecture rules. No dependencies, pure PHP, and works with any project structure."*

For Developers: *"Tired of grep -r "class "? This library scans your codebase once and lets you query classes by name, namespace, or even parent traits—programmatically. Use it to:

• Build a ‘Where Used?’ tool for any class.
• Auto-generate API documentation with context.
• Write tests that verify class relationships (e.g., ‘Does NewFeature extend BaseController?’). It’s like find for your codebase, but for your scripts."*