WP Enforcer

When writing for a platform as big as WordPress – especially in a team environment – a consistent set of coding standards is vital. Having multiple developers committing code using a mixture of spaces and tabs, inconsistent formatting, or otherwise varying coding styles can lead to headache-inducing merge conflicts.

There are a number of great tools available to check against established coding standards (namely PHP_CodeSniffer), but setting them up on a project can be a pain. WP Enforcer is designed to make this setup a breeze.

How does it work?

WP Enforcer uses Git Hooks to automatically run PHP_CodeSniffer every time a developer tries to make a commit; if the code isn't up-to-snuff, the commit will be rejected and the developer will get a message explaining what needs to be fixed.

Note: If your project already has messy standards you may not want to make WP Enforcer mandatory until after you've cleaned up the codebase or suddenly commits will be quite painful! See Adding to an Existing Project for an easy work-around.

Installation

The easiest way to install WP Enforcer is via Composer:

$ composer require --dev stevegrunwell/wp-enforcer

This will add WP Enforcer to your composer.json file and install the WP Enforcer package.

Next, you'll need to run the WP Enforcer installation script to copy the Git hooks into your local repository:

$ ./vendor/bin/wp-enforcer

If you'd like to require WP Enforcer for all developers on your project, you can add the following scripts to your composer.json file to have WP Enforcer automatically set up Git hooks on composer install and composer update (for more information, please see Composer Scripts):

{
	"scripts": {
		"post-install-cmd": [
			"wp-enforcer"
		],
		"post-update-cmd": [
			"wp-enforcer"
		]
	}
}

Writing for WordPress.com VIP

WP Enforcer includes built-in support for the WordPress.com VIP coding standards, simply add --vip when you run the wp-enforcer command (including in the post-install and post-update commands).

If you need to switch an existing project to the WordPress.com VIP coding standards, you can add the following to your project's phpcs.xml file (replacing "WordPress-Extra", if it's set):

<rule ref="WordPress-VIP" />

Using a custom ruleset

If you want to use a custom XML configuration file with PHP_CodeSniffer, add --ruleset=[FILE] when you run the wp-enforcer command.

Configuration

PHP_CodeSniffer allows you to define a custom, default ruleset by creating a phpcs.xml file in your project root. WP Enforcer will automatically create a phpcs.xml file in your project if one doesn't already exist, but you can edit this to exclude certain files/directories, ignore specific rules, or load additional rulesets.

For a complete list of configuration options, see the PHP_CodeSniffer ruleset.xml standard.

Adding to an Existing Project

Adding coding standards to an existing project can be a painful process. WP Enforcer will only run the Git hook against changed files, but if the current codebase is a mess, making even standards cleanup commits becomes a giant hassle.

If you're adding WP Enforcer to a current project, it's recommended to follow the installation instructions above in a new clean-up branch, then remove the pre-commit hook:

$ rm .git/hooks/pre-commit

Reminder: Use the rm command with care; double-check everything you're passing to it before you execute, as we'd hate to see you lose valuable repository information (or worse: your operating system).

This leaves you with a copy of PHP_CodeSniffer, a phpcs.xml file, and the WordPress Coding Standards but removes the "don't commit improperly formatted code" restrictions. While still in your clean-up branch, work through the codebase and clean up coding standards, running PHP_CodeSniffer manually as needed:

$ ./vendor/bin/phpcs

You may also run PHP Code Beautifier and Fixer, which can fix many common indentation and formatting issues automatically, using the PHP Code Beautifier and Fixer (phpcbf) command:

$ ./vendor/bin/phpcbf

Once CodeSniffer comes back clean, re-run the WP Enforcer installation script to restore the Git hook, forcing all future commits to be clean:

$ ./vendor/bin/wp-enforcer

Finally, merge your clean-up branch into master, kicking your project's coding standards compliance into high gear.

Bypassing WP Enforcer

If it's necessary to bypass WP Enforcer's sniffs for a particular commit (for instance, you're committing small chunks of a file that has older, non-compliant code) you may do so by using git commit --no-verify.

It's recommended that WP Enforcer is only bypassed when making changes in legacy files that simply haven't been cleaned up yet. For more on integrating WP Enforcer with legacy projects, please see Adding to an Existing Project.