Best Practices Analyzers

15 analyzers ensuring you follow Laravel ecosystem best practices and framework conventions.

Overview

Best Practices analyzers focus on Laravel-specific patterns, framework conventions, and architectural best practices. These analyzers help ensure your code follows Laravel's intended usage patterns and prevents common mistakes that can lead to maintainability issues or performance problems.

Key Analyzers

Laravel Conventions

Logic in Routes

Detects business logic in route files

High

Logic in Blade

Detects complex logic in Blade templates

Medium

Hardcoded Configuration

Detects configuration values outside config files

Medium

Eloquent & Database

Eloquent N+1 Query

Detects N+1 query problems

High

Missing Chunk

Detects missing chunk() calls for large datasets

Medium

Missing Database Transactions

Detects operations that should use database transactions

High

Mixed Query Builder and Eloquent

Detects inconsistent query building patterns

Low

Code Organization

Fat Model

Detects models with too much business logic that violate Single Responsibility Principle

Medium

Service Container Resolution

Detects manual service container resolution and recommends constructor dependency injection

Low

Error Handling & Logging

Silent Failure

Detects empty catch blocks and error suppression that hide failures

High

Missing Error Tracking

Ensures error tracking is configured

Medium

Anti-Patterns

Helper Function Abuse

Detects overuse of global helper functions

Low

Hardcoded Storage Paths

Detects hardcoded file paths

Medium

PHP-Side Data Filtering

Detects filtering that should be done in database

Medium

Framework Override

Detects dangerous extensions of Laravel core classes that break during framework upgrades

High

How They Work

Best Practices analyzers use:

1. Pattern Matching: Identifies Laravel-specific patterns and conventions
2. AST Analysis: Analyzes code structure to detect architectural violations
3. Query Analysis: Examines database queries for optimization opportunities
4. Convention Validation: Checks code against Laravel best practices

Severity Levels

Severity	Description	Examples
High	Issues that violate core Laravel principles	Logic in routes, N+1 queries, missing transactions
Medium	Issues that reduce maintainability	Fat models, hardcoded paths
Low	Best practice violations	Helper function abuse

Running Best Practices Analyzers

Run All Best Practices Analyzers

php artisan shield:analyze --category=best-practices

Run Specific Analyzer

php artisan shield:analyze --analyzer=eloquent-n-plus-one
php artisan shield:analyze --analyzer=missing-database-transactions
php artisan shield:analyze --analyzer=fat-model

Run Multiple Analyzers

php artisan shield:analyze --analyzer=eloquent-n-plus-one,missing-database-transactions,chunk-missing

Best Practices

Development

• Run best practices analyzers during code reviews
• Fix High severity issues before merging
• Use analyzers to learn Laravel conventions

Code Reviews

• Review best practices violations in pull requests
• Use violations as teaching opportunities
• Ensure new code follows Laravel patterns

Team Standards

• Agree on which best practices are mandatory
• Document team-specific conventions
• Use analyzers to maintain consistency across codebase

Related Categories

• Security Analyzers - Prevent security vulnerabilities
• Code Quality Analyzers - Maintain code quality standards
• Reliability Analyzers - Prevent runtime errors
• Performance Analyzers - Optimize application performance