MCP PHPStan

MCP PHPStan Server

A Model Context Protocol server that brings PHPStan static analysis into your AI coding workflow — analyze PHP for bugs and type errors, straight from any MCP client.

Implemented in pure PHP with zero Composer dependencies. Drop it into any project or run it standalone — it speaks JSON-RPC 2.0 over stdio and works with Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, and any other MCP-compatible client.

Tools

Tool	Description
phpstan_analyze	Runs PHPStan on one or more paths and returns a readable report of errors.
phpstan_pro	Runs PHPStan with JSON output for richer, structured diagnostics (works with PHPStan Pro when available).

Both tools accept:

• paths (required) — array of absolute or project-relative paths to analyze
• level (optional) — override the configured rule level (e.g. "max" or 8)

Requirements

• PHP 8.1+
• A phpstan binary available (project vendor/bin/phpstan or a global install)

Quick start

1. Clone the repository (or copy it into your project):

   git clone https://github.com/larspohlmann/mcp-phpstan-server.git
   

2. Make the entrypoint executable:

   chmod +x mcp-phpstan-server/bin/mcp-phpstan
   

3. Register it with your MCP client (see below).

Configuration

Configure via environment variables or config/config.json. Environment variables take precedence.

Variable	config.json key	Description	Default
MCP_PHPSTAN_PATH	phpstanPath	Path to the phpstan binary	vendor/bin/phpstan, then phpstan on PATH
MCP_PHPSTAN_CONFIG	phpstanConfig	Path to a phpstan.neon / phpstan.neon.dist	auto-discovered
MCP_PHPSTAN_LEVEL	phpstanLevel	Rule level to analyze at (e.g. max or 8)	max
MCP_PHPSTAN_MEMORY_LIMIT	phpstanMemoryLimit	Value for PHPStan --memory-limit (e.g. 1G)	1G

If no config path is provided, the server searches upward from the current working directory for phpstan.neon or phpstan.neon.dist.

Client setup

Claude Desktop / Claude Code

Add the server to your MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "phpstan": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/mcp-phpstan-server/bin/mcp-phpstan",
      "env": {
        "MCP_PHPSTAN_PATH": "/usr/local/bin/phpstan",
        "MCP_PHPSTAN_CONFIG": "/path/to/your/phpstan.neon",
        "MCP_PHPSTAN_LEVEL": "max",
        "MCP_PHPSTAN_MEMORY_LIMIT": "1G"
      }
    }
  }
}

Then ask your assistant something like "Run PHPStan on the src directory and explain the errors."

Example tool call

{
  "name": "phpstan_analyze",
  "arguments": {
    "paths": ["src", "tests"],
    "level": "max"
  }
}

Architecture

The server follows a light Domain-Driven Design layout:

• src/Domain — tool contracts and result value objects
• src/Application — JSON-RPC MCP server and tool registry
• src/Infrastructure — process runner, config, tool implementations
• bin/mcp-phpstan — stdio entrypoint

It implements the MCP methods initialize, tools/list, and tools/call.

Notes

• STDOUT carries only JSON-RPC messages; all logs go to STDERR.
• A non-zero exit code from phpstan can mean findings as well as failures — the server parses the output to determine the error state.

License

MIT