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Also PHP: A Curated Watchlist for the PHP Ecosystem

Posted on by dams

Also PHP: A Curated Watchlist for the PHP Ecosystem

PHP runs more of the web than most people admit. And yet, when a new developer tool ships — a security scanner, an AI code assistant, a code counter, a refactoring engine: PHP support is often an afterthought, a footnote, or simply missing.

Also supports PHP is a community-maintained list that tracks exactly this: tools and services that support PHP alongside other languages. Not PHP-specific tools: those already have a home. This list is about the broader developer ecosystem and where PHP stands within it.

Why this list exists

The modern developer toolchain is rich. LSP servers, AST-based analyzers, AI code review bots, vulnerability scanners, SDK generators, code formatters: the number of cross-language tools has exploded in the last few years.

But “supports many languages” is a vague claim. Does it mean Python, JavaScript, and Go? Does PHP make the cut? Is that support complete, or stuck at an experimental flag from 2021?

This list answers those questions by naming names. At a glance, you can see:

The “Does not support PHP” section is just as important as the “Supports PHP” one. It is not a hall of shame: it is a map of gaps, and an invitation.

What’s in the list today

The list currently tracks over 30 software projects and vendor services across categories including:

  • Static analysis and security scanning (SonarQube, Bearer, Semgrep, Trivy)
  • AI coding assistants and code review (GitHub Copilot, Codeium, CodeRabbit, Tabnine)
  • Documentation generators (Doxygen, Natural Docs)
  • Code counters (cloc, scc, Tokei)
  • MCP servers and code intelligence tools (codebase-memory-mcp, Serena, Roam-Code)
  • SDK generators (OpenAPI Generator, Fern, Speakeasy, Stainless)
  • IDEs and language support (VS Code, Eclipse PDT)

And over 10 tools in the “Does not support PHP” section: tools where there is an open opportunity to advocate, contribute, or simply flag the gap to their maintainers.

The inclusion rules (they matter)

This is a curated list, not a directory. A few clear rules keep it useful:

  • Multi-language only. The tool must support PHP and at least 2 other languages. PHPStorm and PHPUnit are great, but they belong elsewhere.
  • Active projects only. Archived or unmaintained projects are excluded.
  • Code workflow relevance. The tool must relate to how developers write, analyze, format, index, secure, or ship code.
  • Real support, not promises. Experimental support counts. Planned or abandoned support does not.

How to contribute

The list lives in a single README.md file. Contributing is intentionally simple:

  1. Find a tool that is missing — one you use, one you maintain, or one you just noticed.
  2. Verify it meets the criteria (multi-language, active, code workflow relevant, real PHP support).
  3. Open a pull request adding one line: the tool’s name, its URL, and a one-sentence description of what it does, in the right section.

That’s it. No CI pipeline to untangle. No schema to learn. One line per tool.

If you know of a tool that should support PHP but does not, add it to the “Does not support PHP” section. That half of the list is where conversations start, and sometimes where feature requests, upstream patches, and new contributors come from.

Why it matters

Language ecosystems do not thrive in isolation. PHP’s long-term health as a platform depends partly on whether the broader toolchain treats it as a first-class citizen, whether the next static analyzer, the next AI assistant, the next code intelligence server includes PHP from day one rather than adding it as an afterthought two years later.

A list like this makes the current state visible. Visible state is easier to improve.

If you work in PHP, maintain a cross-language tool, or just care about the ecosystem: come contribute. Add what you know. Fix what is wrong. Flag what is missing.

The list is only as accurate as the people who use it.