Hello everyone, I’d like to start a discussion about the potential for PHP to have an official Language Server, implementing the Language Server Protocol (LSP) — similar to what other programming languages already provide (e.g. Go’s gopls, Elixir’s Expert, etc.).
This is not yet a formal RFC, but rather an exploration of whether there’s community interest in such a concept, and what form it could take if we agreed it’s worth pursuing. *Background / Motivation* Currently, PHP developers rely on various third-party or editor-specific language servers, including Psalm, Intelephense, and phpactor. These tools are impressive, but they differ in capabilities, maintenance status, and licensing (some are commercial). Additionally, several editors (e.g. VS Code, PhpStorm) implement their own non-standardized integrations. By contrast, many modern languages now provide an official language server as part of their toolchain. For example: - Go: gopls - Elixir: Expert (official successor to the community-built ElixirLS) - Rust: rust-analyzer - TypeScript: TypeScript Server These servers improve consistency, tooling integration, and accessibility — independent of any specific IDE or vendor. *Why PHP Could Benefit* 1. Toolchain Completeness A programming language should ideally include its own ecosystem of core tools — including syntax checking, testing, and language intelligence. 2. Editor Independence PHP is often associated with PhpStorm because of its strong analysis features. An official LSP would level the playing field, enabling advanced features in any editor that supports the protocol. 3. Standardization A unified and standardized LSP implementation would reduce fragmentation and improve interoperability across IDEs and plugins. 4. Accessibility and Onboarding Lowering the barrier for new developers by providing consistent, out-of-the-box editor support. *Existing Building Blocks* The PHP runtime already provides components that could serve as a foundation — e.g. php -l for syntax checking, reflection APIs, AST via php-ast, and insights from static analysis tools like Psalm or PHPStan. This wouldn’t necessarily mean rewriting existing tools, but defining a common standard — potentially leveraging or integrating with those efforts. *Next Steps* I’m not currently in a position to build such a server myself, but I’d like to open a discussion around: - Whether this aligns with PHP’s roadmap and philosophy. - Any prior work or discussion on the topic. - The potential scope — e.g., core toolchain addition, PECL extension, or standalone PHP project under the official organization. If there’s interest, I’d be happy to draft a more formal RFC to outline possible goals, structure, and implementation paths. Thanks for reading — I’d really appreciate your thoughts, pointers to prior work, or any guidance on how best to take this forward. Best regards, Dan
