Code Quality Analyzers

5 analyzers maintaining clean, maintainable code following Laravel conventions and PSR standards.

Overview

Code Quality analyzers focus on maintaining high code standards, reducing complexity, improving readability, and ensuring code follows best practices. These analyzers help teams write consistent, maintainable code that's easier to understand and modify.

Key Analyzers

Complexity & Structure

• Nesting Depth Analyzer - Detects excessive code nesting levels that reduce readability
• Method Length Analyzer - Flags methods exceeding recommended line count for better maintainability

Code Smells

• Commented Code Analyzer - Detects commented-out code that should be removed in favor of version control

Documentation & Naming

• Missing DocBlock Analyzer - Flags public methods without proper PHPDoc documentation
• Naming Convention Analyzer - Validates PSR and Laravel naming standards for better code consistency

How They Work

Code Quality analyzers use:

1. AST Parsing: Analyzes code structure to measure complexity and detect patterns
2. Pattern Matching: Identifies code smells and anti-patterns
3. Metrics Calculation: Computes complexity metrics (cyclomatic, cognitive)
4. Convention Validation: Checks code against PSR standards and Laravel conventions

Severity Levels

Severity	Description	Examples
High	Issues that significantly impact maintainability	Excessive complexity, very long methods, deep nesting
Medium	Issues that reduce code quality	Code duplication, magic numbers, missing documentation
Low	Best practice violations	TODO comments, naming inconsistencies

Running Code Quality Analyzers

Run All Code Quality Analyzers

php artisan shield:analyze --category=code-quality

Run Specific Analyzer

php artisan shield:analyze --analyzer=nesting-depth
php artisan shield:analyze --analyzer=method-length
php artisan shield:analyze --analyzer=missing-docblock

Run Multiple Analyzers

php artisan shield:analyze --analyzer=nesting-depth,method-length

Best Practices

Development

• Run code quality analyzers regularly during development
• Set complexity thresholds appropriate for your team
• Refactor complex code before it becomes unmaintainable

Code Reviews

• Review code quality metrics in pull requests
• Use complexity metrics to guide refactoring decisions
• Ensure new code follows established patterns

Team Standards

• Agree on complexity thresholds as a team
• Document naming conventions and coding standards
• Use code quality metrics to track improvement over time

Related Categories

• Security Analyzers - Prevent security vulnerabilities
• Reliability Analyzers - Prevent runtime errors
• Best Practices Analyzers - Follow Laravel conventions
• Performance Analyzers - Optimize application performance