Frequently Asked Questions

PHP systems architecture consultancy means designing or redesigning the structural foundation of a PHP application — separating domain logic from framework concerns, defining service boundaries, choosing appropriate design patterns, and creating a layered architecture that can be upgraded incrementally.

We assess your current structure, identify coupling and cohesion problems, and produce an actionable roadmap to move toward a clean, maintainable architecture. See our dedicated PHP systems architecture service page for more detail.

Rector is an open-source PHP refactoring tool that applies automated code transformations using AST (Abstract Syntax Tree) analysis. It can upgrade PHP syntax, migrate deprecated APIs, enforce coding standards, and apply framework-specific migrations — all without manual line-by-line changes.

We use Rector as the core of our automated refactoring service, writing custom rules where needed and running it against your codebase in safe, auditable batches. See our automated PHP refactoring service page for more.

We use Indoctrinate — our open-source tool that synchronises your database with Doctrine specifications and surfaces schema inconsistencies automatically. Run php bin/indoctrinate fix --dry to preview all changes, then apply them safely.

On the code side, we apply changes incrementally: introducing ORM mappings alongside existing raw queries using a dual-path pattern, running both in parallel to compare results, and only cutting over once behaviour is verified. No big-bang schema changes — every step is production-safe and reversible.

Learn more on our database refactoring service page.

We break an application down into seven layers and modernise each one in the right order. That way complexity is contained and upgrades don't blow up downstream.

• Infrastructure / Environment: PHP runtime, extensions, containers, servers, build pipelines. Assessed upfront with Migrator.
• Framework: routing, dependency injection, request/response, authentication/authorization.
• Domain Logic: business rules, services, entities, events — separated so it outlives any framework. Upgraded with Rector.
• Database / Persistence: schema, migrations, ORM mappings, raw queries. Normalised and Doctrine-synced with Indoctrinate.
• Presentation / Views: templates, frontend assets, emails, reports. PHP views converted to Twig with View Converter.
• Integrations / APIs: external SDKs, internal APIs, webhooks, queues. Updated and versioned safely.
• Cross-Cutting Concerns: security, logging, monitoring, caching, background jobs, configuration.

We combine open-source tools we build and maintain — Migrator, Rector, Indoctrinate, View Converter — with our start-one-finish-one discipline to ensure upgrades are safe, predictable, and never chaotic.