AI support for contributors

.gitignore

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ bin/configlet.exe
 
 /vendor/
 composer.lock
+*.local.*
 
 # IDE Files
 .idea

CLAUDE.md

@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+# CLAUDE.md
+
+This file provides guidance to Claude Code (claude.ai/code) when working with code in this repository.
+
+## What this repo is
+
+This is the Exercism PHP track: the source of truth for every PHP exercise served on exercism.org. It is not an application — it's a curated set of independent exercise directories (practice + concept exercises), each containing a problem statement, a test suite, and a reference solution, plus tooling to keep them in sync with Exercism's cross-language `problem-specifications` and CI-verify that every reference solution actually passes its own tests.
+
+## Common commands
+
+```shell
+composer install         # install dependencies, fetches bin/configlet
+composer ci               # full local CI: configlet fmt + lint:check + tests:run — run before pushing
+composer test:run          # run every exercise's tests against its reference solution
+composer test:run -- book-store   # run tests for a single exercise (glob supported, e.g. "b*")
+composer lint:check         # phpcs — check PSR-12-derived style
+composer lint:fix           # phpcbf — autofix style issues
+composer configlet:fmt       # normalize exercise metadata files via configlet
+```
+
+`composer test:run` works by copying an exercise directory to a temp dir, overlaying the reference solution (`.meta/example.php` for practice exercises, `.meta/exemplar.php` for concept exercises) on top of the stub, stripping `markTestSkipped()` calls from the test file, and running PHPUnit directly (`bin/test.sh`). Always use `composer test:run -- <exercise-slug>` to test a single exercise rather than invoking `phpunit` directly — running the test file in place tests the stub, not the reference solution.
+
+## Repository layout
+
+- `exercises/practice/<slug>/` — one dir per practice exercise:
+  - `<PascalName>.php` — stub the student fills in
+  - `<PascalName>Test.php` — PHPUnit test suite (student-facing)
+  - `.docs/introduction.md`, `.docs/instructions.md` — problem statement (often generated, see below)
+  - `.meta/example.php` — reference solution used by CI (may instead be a `.meta/example/` directory when the solution needs multiple files)
+  - `.meta/tests.toml` — auto-generated by `configlet sync`; controls which canonical test cases are included/excluded (`include = false`) and lets you attach a `comment` explaining a deviation. Hand edits other than `include`/`comment` get wiped on regeneration.
+  - `.meta/config.json` — per-exercise metadata (authors, files, etc.)
+- `exercises/concept/<slug>/` — same idea but for concept exercises, which teach one specific language concept:
+  - reference solution is `.meta/exemplar.php` instead of `example.php`
+  - additional `.docs/hints.md` and `.meta/design.md` explaining pedagogical intent
+  - `.docs/introduction.md.tpl` may exist as the templated source for the generated `introduction.md`. A template pulls in one or more concepts' own `introduction.md` via `%{concept:<concept-slug>}` placeholders (see `concepts/<concept-name>/introduction.md`), and can add exercise-specific prose around those placeholders. **When a `.docs/introduction.md.tpl` exists, never hand-edit `.docs/introduction.md` directly — edit the `.tpl` and regenerate with `bin/configlet generate` (not `configlet fmt`, which will fail/overwrite it).**
+- `concepts/<concept-name>/` — the concept glossary (`about.md`, `links.md`) that concept exercises reference by slug (e.g. `basic-syntax`, `arrays`); a concept exercise's `.meta/config.json` lists which concepts it teaches and which are prerequisites.
+- `config.json` (repo root) — the master Exercism track manifest: registers every exercise, its UUID, concepts/prerequisites, difficulty, and the file-role patterns (`%{pascal_slug}.php`, etc.) `configlet` uses to generate per-exercise scaffolding.
+- `bin/configlet` — the official Exercism tool (fetched via `bin/fetch-configlet`, run through `composer` scripts) that validates `config.json` against the exercise directories and formats metadata (`configlet fmt`, `configlet sync`, `configlet create`).
+- `src/Exercism/Sniffs/` — a custom PHP_CodeSniffer sniff (`ExplainStrictTypesSniff`) enforced by `phpcs.xml` on top of PSR-12.
+- `contribution/` — auxiliary, not-fully-maintained tooling (e.g. a Symfony-based test generator, a deprecated-exercise checker); treat as separate from the main track content.
+
+## Coding standard specifics (phpcs.xml)
+
+Style is PSR-12 with these deviations:
+
+- Namespace/multiple-class-per-file rules are relaxed (exercises are single-file, namespace-free by convention).
+- `declare(strict_types=1)` is required on practice-exercise solution files but is explicitly excluded on `.meta/*.php` reference solutions, all `concept/*` exercises, and `hello-world`.
+- The custom `ExplainStrictTypesSniff` requires strict-types declarations to carry an explanatory comment; it's excluded on test files, `.meta/*.php`, `src/*`, and `contribution/*.php`.
+- `Squiz.Scope.MethodScope.Missing` is excluded for `concept/city-office` and `concept/windowing-system` (these intentionally use non-method function scope for teaching purposes).
+- `use` statements must be alphabetically sorted.
+
+## Adding/modifying exercises
+
+1. Scaffold a new practice exercise: `bin/configlet create --practice-exercise <slug>` (creates `exercises/practice/<slug>/`).
+2. Write/edit `.meta/example.php` (or `exemplar.php` for concept exercises) and the test file; mark canonical test cases you deliberately skip in `.meta/tests.toml` with `include = false` (and a `comment` explaining why).
+3. There is a WIP test generator under `contribution/generator` (Symfony console app) usable via `composer -d contribution/generator install && contribution/generator/bin/console app:create-tests '<slug>'`, followed by `composer lint:fix`.
+4. If you change an exercise's difficulty or add a practice exercise, run `bin/order-exercises.sh` to reorder `config.json` accordingly (requires `jq`).
+5. If you add a new practice exercise that should stay in sync with `problem-specifications`, add its slug to `bin/auto-sync.txt` — `bin/auto-sync.sh` reads that list and runs `configlet sync` (update mode) only for the exercises named in it, so exercises left off the list are never auto-synced.
+6. Run `composer ci` before opening a PR — this is what GitHub Actions enforces (PHP 8.2–8.4 across Linux/Windows/macOS).

README.md

@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ The `lint:check` is included in `composer ci` to run the CI checks locally.
 - Follow the [PSR-12] coding style (Exercisms PHP track uses a slightly [modified][local-file-phpcs-config] version of [PSR-12]).
 - Run `composer ci` to run CI checks locally before pushing.
 - CI is run on all pull requests, it must pass the required checks for merge.
-- CI is running all tests on PHP 8.1 to PHP 8.4 for Linux, Windows and MacOS.
+- CI is running all tests on PHP 8.2 to PHP 8.4 for Linux, Windows and MacOS.
 
 ## Generating new practice exercises
 

contribution/CLAUDE.md

@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+# CLAUDE.md
+
+This file provides guidance to Claude Code (claude.ai/code) when working with code in this directory.
+
+## Scope
+
+This applies to `contribution/` only. It's a grab-bag of standalone maintainer tooling for the Exercism PHP track (see the parent `../CLAUDE.md` for the track itself) — not part of the track content shipped to students, not covered by the root `composer.json`/`phpcs.xml`, and not exercised by `composer ci`.
+
+- `generator/` — a proof-of-concept Symfony console app that auto-generates exercise test files from `problem-specifications` canonical data, using `nikic/php-parser`. Has its own `composer.json` (PHP >=8.2, Symfony 7.0, PHPUnit 11) independent of the root project's dependencies.
+- `checkDeprecatedExercises.php` — a standalone PHP script (no dependencies) with a hardcoded list of exercise slugs; it queries GitHub for a `.deprecated` marker on each in `exercism/problem-specifications` and reports which ones should be marked deprecated in the root `config.json` and then removed from the script's own list.
+
+If a directory in here isn't listed above but shows up on disk anyway, check for a `CLAUDE.local.md` in this folder (gitignored, machine-specific) before assuming it's part of the project.
+
+## Commands
+
+```shell
+composer -d contribution/generator install                    # install the generator's own dependencies
+contribution/generator/bin/console app:create-tests '<slug>'  # generate a test file for an exercise
+composer lint:fix                                              # fix style on the generated file, from repo root
+```
+
+```shell
+php contribution/checkDeprecatedExercises.php   # list exercises that problem-specifications has deprecated
+```
+
+## Notes
+
+- The generator is explicitly a PoC ("Let me know what you think" in `generator/README.md`) — treat it as unmaintained/experimental, not a polished tool with guaranteed correctness.
+- Generated test files still need to go through the normal track workflow (write/adjust `.meta/example.php`, `.meta/tests.toml`, `composer lint:fix`, `composer test:run -- <slug>`) described in the root `CLAUDE.md`.