README

• PHPStan
• Doctrine

This extension provides following features:

• DQL validation for parse errors, unknown entity classes and unknown persistent fields. QueryBuilder validation is also supported.
• Recognizes magic findBy*, findOneBy* and countBy* methods on EntityRepository.
• Validates entity fields in repository findBy, findBy*, findOneBy, findOneBy*, count and countBy* method calls.
• Interprets EntityRepository<MyEntity> correctly in phpDocs for further type inference of methods called on the repository.
• Provides correct return for Doctrine\ORM\EntityManager::getRepository().
• Provides correct return type for Doctrine\ORM\EntityManager::find, getReference and getPartialReference when Foo::class entity class name is provided as the first argument
• Adds missing matching method on Doctrine\Common\Collections\Collection. This can be turned off by setting parameters.doctrine.allCollectionsSelectable to false.
• Also supports Doctrine ODM.
• Analysis of discrepancies between entity column types and property field types. This can be relaxed with the allowNullablePropertyForRequiredField: true setting.
• Analysis of discrepancies between entity relation types and property field types (to-one, to-many).
• Provides return type for Doctrine\ORM\Query::getResult, getOneOrNullResult, getSingleResult, toIterable and execute in HYDRATE_OBJECT mode (see below).
• Reports final entity classes that can cause problems with Doctrine proxy generation (allowed when native lazy objects are enabled).
• Reports final entity constructors that can cause problems with Doctrine proxy generation.
• Detects Doctrine mapping configuration errors (annotation/attribute parsing issues).
• Forbids direct use of Doctrine proxy class names.
• Provides precise throw types for EntityManager::flush() (ORMException, UniqueConstraintViolationException).
• Integrates with PHPStan dead code detection — entity properties are not reported as unused. Recognizes generated identifiers, version fields, and read-only entities as always written.
• Supports Gedmo doctrine-extensions — properties managed by Gedmo annotations/attributes (e.g. Timestampable, Blameable, Slug) are recognized for dead code detection.
• Narrows Collection::first() and Collection::last() return types from T|false to T when isEmpty() is false.

Installation

To use this extension, require it in Composer:

composer require --dev phpstan/phpstan-doctrine

If you also install phpstan/extension-installer then you're all set!

includes:
    - vendor/phpstan/phpstan-doctrine/extension.neon

includes:
    - vendor/phpstan/phpstan-doctrine/rules.neon

Configuration

If your repositories have a common base class, you can configure it in your phpstan.neon and PHPStan will see additional methods you define in it:

parameters:
	doctrine:
		ormRepositoryClass: MyApp\Doctrine\BetterEntityRepository
		odmRepositoryClass: MyApp\Doctrine\BetterDocumentRepository

You can opt in for more advanced analysis by providing the object manager from your own application. This will enable DQL validation:

parameters:
	doctrine:
		objectManagerLoader: tests/object-manager.php

Example for Symfony 4:

// tests/object-manager.php

use App\Kernel;

require __DIR__ . '/../config/bootstrap.php';
$kernel = new Kernel($_SERVER['APP_ENV'], (bool) $_SERVER['APP_DEBUG']);
$kernel->boot();
return $kernel->getContainer()->get('doctrine')->getManager();

Example for Symfony 5:

// tests/object-manager.php

use App\Kernel;
use Symfony\Component\Dotenv\Dotenv;

require __DIR__ . '/../vendor/autoload.php';

(new Dotenv())->bootEnv(__DIR__ . '/../.env');

$kernel = new Kernel($_SERVER['APP_ENV'], (bool) $_SERVER['APP_DEBUG']);
$kernel->boot();
return $kernel->getContainer()->get('doctrine')->getManager();

If your application uses multiple entity managers, return the Doctrine manager registry from the loader. PHPStan Doctrine will use it to pick the object manager that owns the entity being analysed:

// tests/object-manager.php

use App\Kernel;
use Symfony\Component\Dotenv\Dotenv;

require __DIR__ . '/../vendor/autoload.php';

(new Dotenv())->bootEnv(__DIR__ . '/../.env');

$kernel = new Kernel($_SERVER['APP_ENV'], (bool) $_SERVER['APP_DEBUG']);
$kernel->boot();
return $kernel->getContainer()->get('doctrine');

Query type inference

This extension can infer the result type of DQL queries when an objectManagerLoader is provided.

Examples:

$query = $entityManager->createQuery('SELECT u FROM Acme\User u');
$query->getResult(); // array<Acme\User>

$query = $entityManager->createQuery('SELECT u.id, u.email, u.name FROM Acme\User u');
$query->getResult(); // array<array{id: int, email: string, name: string|null}>

$query = $entityManager->createQuery('
    SELECT u.id, u.email, COALESCE(u.name, "Anonymous") AS name
    FROM   Acme\User u
');
$query->getSingleResult(Query::HYDRATE_OBJECT); // array{id: int, email: string, name: string}>

$query = $entityManager->createQueryBuilder()
    ->select('u')
    ->from(User::class, 'u')
    ->getQuery();
$query->getResult(); // array<Acme\User>

Queries are analyzed statically and do not require a running database server. This makes use of the Doctrine DQL parser and entities metadata.

Most DQL features are supported, including GROUP BY, INDEX BY, DISTINCT, all flavors of JOIN, arithmetic expressions, functions, aggregations, NEW, etc. Sub queries are not yet supported (infered type will be mixed).

Query type inference of expressions

Whether e.g. SUM(e.column) is fetched as float, numeric-string or int highly depends on drivers, their setup and PHP version. This extension autodetects your setup and provides quite accurate results for pdo_mysql, mysqli, pdo_sqlite, sqlite3, pdo_pgsql and pgsql.

Supported methods

The getResult method is supported when called without argument, or with the hydrateMode argument set to Query::HYDRATE_OBJECT:

$query = $entityManager->createQuery('SELECT u FROM Acme\User u');

$query->getResult(); // array<User>

$query->getResult(Query::HYDRATE_OBJECT); // array<User>

The methods getOneOrNullResult, getSingleResult, toIterable, and execute are supported when the hydrateMode argument is explicitly set to Query::HYDRATE_OBJECT:

$query = $entityManager->createQuery('SELECT u FROM Acme\User u');

$query->getOneOrNullResult(); // mixed

$query->getOneOrNullResult(Query::HYDRATE_OBJECT); // User

This is due to the design of the Query class preventing from determining the hydration mode used by these functions unless it is specified explicitly during the call.

Problematic approaches

Not every QueryBuilder can be statically analysed, here are few advices to maximize type inferring:

• Do not pass QueryBuilder to methods
• Do not use dynamic expressions in QueryBuilder methods (mainly in select/join/from/set)

You can enable reporting of places where inferring is unavailable by:

parameters:
	doctrine:
		reportDynamicQueryBuilders: true

Custom types

If your application uses custom Doctrine types, you can write your own type descriptors to analyse them properly. Type descriptors implement the interface PHPStan\Type\Doctrine\Descriptors\DoctrineTypeDescriptor which looks like this:

<?php

public function getType(): string;

public function getWritableToPropertyType(): Type;

public function getWritableToDatabaseType(): Type;

• The getType() method simply returns the class name of the custom type.
• The getWritableToPropertyType() method returns the PHPStan type that the custom type will write into the entity's property field. Basically it is the return type of the custom type's convertToPHPValue() method.
• The getWritableToDatabaseType() method returns the PHPStan type that can be written from the entity's property field into the custom type. Again, basically it's the allowed type for the custom type's convertToDatabaseValue()'s first argument.

Generally, at least for most of Doctrine's native types, these last two methods will return the same type, but it is not always the case. One example would be the datetime type, which allows you to set any \DateTimeInterface into to property field, but will always contain the \DateTime type when loaded from the database.

Nullable types

Type descriptors don't have to deal with nullable types, as these are transparently added/removed from the descriptor's types as needed. Therefore you don't have to return the union type of your custom type and NullType from the descriptor's methods, even if your custom type allows null.

ReflectionDescriptor

If your custom type's convertToPHPValue() and convertToDatabaseValue() methods have proper typehints, you don't have to write your own descriptor for it. The PHPStan\Type\Doctrine\Descriptors\ReflectionDescriptor can analyse the typehints and do the rest for you.

If parent of your type is one of the Doctrine's non-abstract ones, ReflectionDescriptor will reuse its descriptor even for expression resolution (e.g. AVG(t.cost)). For example, if you extend Doctrine\DBAL\Types\DecimalType, it will know that sqlite fetches that as float|int and other drivers as numeric-string. If you extend only Doctrine\DBAL\Types\Type, you should use custom descriptor and optionally implement even DoctrineTypeDriverAwareDescriptor to provide driver-specific resolution.

Registering type descriptors

When you write a custom type descriptor, you have to let PHPStan know about it. Add something like this into your phpstan.neon:

services:
	-
		class: MyCustomTypeDescriptor
		tags: [phpstan.doctrine.typeDescriptor]

	# in case you are using the ReflectionDescriptor
	-
		factory: PHPStan\Type\Doctrine\Descriptors\ReflectionDescriptor('MyApp\MyCustomTypeName')
		tags: [phpstan.doctrine.typeDescriptor]

Ensure types have descriptor

If you want to be sure you never forget descriptor for some custom type, you can enable:

parameters:
	doctrine:
		reportUnknownTypes: true

This causes failures when your entity uses custom type without descriptor:

#[Entity]
abstract class Uuid7Entity
{

    #[Id]
    #[Column(type: Uuid7Type::NAME)] // reported when descriptor for such type is missing
    private Uuid7 $hsCode;

Custom DQL functions

Any custom DQL function that implements Doctrine's TypedExpression is understood by this extension and is inferred with the type used in its getReturnType() method. All other custom DQL functions are inferred as mixed. Please note that you cannot use native StringType to cast (and infer) string results (see ORM issue).

use Doctrine\DBAL\Types\Type;
use Doctrine\DBAL\Types\Types;
use Doctrine\ORM\Query\AST\TypedExpression;
use Doctrine\ORM\Query\AST\Functions\FunctionNode;
use Doctrine\ORM\Query\Parser;
use Doctrine\ORM\Query\SqlWalker;
use Doctrine\ORM\Query\TokenType;

class Floor extends FunctionNode implements TypedExpression
{
    private AST\Node|string $arithmeticExpression;

    public function getSql(SqlWalker $sqlWalker): string
    {
        return 'FLOOR(' . $sqlWalker->walkSimpleArithmeticExpression($this->arithmeticExpression) . ')';
    }

    public function parse(Parser $parser): void
    {
        $parser->match(TokenType::T_IDENTIFIER);
        $parser->match(TokenType::T_OPEN_PARENTHESIS);

        $this->arithmeticExpression = $parser->SimpleArithmeticExpression();

        $parser->match(TokenType::T_CLOSE_PARENTHESIS);
    }


    public function getReturnType(): Type
    {
        return Type::getType(Types::INTEGER);
    }
}

Literal strings

Stub files in phpstan-doctrine come with many parameters marked with literal-string. This is a security-focused type that only allows literal strings written in code to be passed into these parameters.

This reduces risk of SQL injection because dynamic strings from user input are not accepted in place of literal-string.

An example where this type is used is $sql parameter in Doctrine\Dbal\Connection::executeQuery().

To enable this advanced type in phpstan-doctrine, use this configuration parameter:

parameters:
	doctrine:
		literalString: true