Meta File Generator

The meta file generator produces .phpstorm.meta.php files that PhpStorm and VS Code (with PHP Intelephense) use to understand factories, magic strings, and return types throughout the CakePHP code base.

PhpStorm

This command generates .ide-helper.meta.php in your app's ROOT/.phpstorm.meta.php/ directory:

bin/cake generate phpstorm

Make sure it is indexed (a restart of PhpStorm may be required).

Why a directory?

We use a directory here to allow custom and manually created meta files alongside this generated file. Any file inside this directory will be parsed and used. Prefixing the file with a . is recommended so PHPCS skips it automatically.

What's Next

• Available Tasks — every built-in task and what it covers
• Custom Tasks and Directives — add your own tasks, available directives, examples
• Operations — include/exclude plugins, CI checks, reusing argument sets