Duster Laravel Package

Product Decisions This Supports

• Enforce Consistent Code Quality: Adopt Tighten’s standardized linting and coding conventions (PSR1 + Tighten-specific rules) to reduce technical debt and improve maintainability in Laravel projects. This aligns with engineering best practices for scalability and onboarding.
• Automate Developer Workflows: Integrate pre-commit hooks (Husky) and CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions) to enforce linting rules automatically, reducing manual oversight and human error.
• Build vs. Buy: Buy (adopt Duster) instead of building a custom solution, as it provides battle-tested, Laravel-specific configurations for tools like TLint, PHP_CodeSniffer, PHP CS Fixer, and Pint. Saves ~100+ dev hours on setup and maintenance.
• Roadmap Priorities:
  • Phase 1: Integrate Duster into CI/CD (GitHub Actions) for all new Laravel projects.
  • Phase 2: Enforce pre-commit hooks (Husky) for local development teams.
  • Phase 3: Extend to include custom linting rules (e.g., security checks via PHPStan) via duster.json.
• Use Cases:
  • New Laravel Projects: Standardize code quality from day one.
  • Legacy Codebases: Gradually enforce consistency via duster fix --dirty (only auto-fix uncommitted changes).
  • Open-Source Contributions: Ensure PRs adhere to Tighten’s standards (e.g., for internal or community projects).

When to Consider This Package

• Adopt Duster if:

  • Your team uses Laravel and wants to standardize code quality without reinventing the wheel.
  • You need pre-commit hooks or CI/CD integration for linting (saves time vs. manual toolchains).
  • You’re open to Tighten’s presets (PSR1 + custom rules) and want to extend them later (e.g., add PHPStan).
  • Your project has multiple contributors and needs consistent styling to reduce merge conflicts.

• Look Elsewhere if:

  • You require non-Laravel frameworks (Duster is Laravel-specific).
  • Your team has strict custom linting rules that conflict with Tighten’s presets (though duster.json allows overrides).
  • You’re using non-PHP languages (e.g., JavaScript/TypeScript) or need multi-language tooling.
  • You prefer minimal tooling and can enforce standards via editor configs (e.g., VSCode settings) alone.

How to Pitch It (Stakeholders)

For Executives (Business/Leadership)

"Duster automates Laravel code quality enforcement, reducing technical debt and developer friction. By integrating it into our CI/CD pipelines and pre-commit hooks, we’ll catch issues early—saving time on reviews and merges. It’s a low-effort, high-impact way to standardize our codebase, similar to how we enforce design systems for UI. The MIT license and Tighten’s track record (used in production by their clients) make it a safe, scalable choice. Initial setup takes <1 hour per project, with long-term ROI in maintainability."

Ask: "Should we prioritize this for our next Laravel project, or explore alternatives for non-PHP stacks?"

For Engineering Teams

*"Duster bundles TLint, PHP_CodeSniffer, PHP CS Fixer, and Pint with Tighten’s Laravel-optimized presets. Key benefits:

• One command (./vendor/bin/duster lint/fix) replaces running 4+ tools separately.
• Pre-commit hooks (Husky) block bad code before it’s merged.
• GitHub Action integrates seamlessly into PR workflows.
• Customizable: Exclude files, add PHPStan, or tweak rules via duster.json.

Trade-offs:

• Locks into Tighten’s style (but overrides are easy).
• Adds ~5MB to vendor/ (negligible for most projects).

Proposal: Use Duster for all new Laravel projects. For legacy code, run duster fix --dirty incrementally to avoid massive refactors."*

Ask: "Does the team prefer Tighten’s presets, or should we start with a custom config?"