Setup PHP CodeSniffer (WordPress) In Visual Studio Code

This guide will help you set up PHP CodeSniffer (PHPCS) in Visual Studio Code to enforce WordPress Coding Standards.

Prerequisites

• PHP 7.4 or higher
• Composer
• Visual Studio Code
• VS Code PHP extension

Installation Steps

1. Install PHP CodeSniffer and WordPress Coding Standards via Composer:

composer require --dev wp-coding-standards/wpcs

2. Configure PHPCS installed standards path:

Normally, PHPCS will automatically detect the installed standards, but if you have installed them in a custom location, you need to set it manually:

./vendor/bin/phpcs --config-set installed_paths vendor/phpcsstandards/phpcsextra,vendor/phpcsstandards/phpcsutils,vendor/wp-coding-standards/wpcs

Check installed coding standards

> ./vendor/bin/phpcs -i
The installed coding standards are MySource, PEAR, PSR1, PSR2, PSR12, Squiz, Zend, Modernize, NormalizedArrays, Universal, PHPCSUtils, WordPress, WordPress-Core, WordPress-Docs and WordPress-Extra

3. Install VS Code Extensions:
   • PHP CodeSniffer (obliviousharmony)
   • PHP Intelephense (optional, but recommended)

VS Code Configuration

1. Create or update .vscode/settings.json:

{
  "[php]": {
    "editor.formatOnSave": true,
    "editor.defaultFormatter": "obliviousharmony.vscode-php-codesniffer"
  },

   "phpCodeSniffer.standard": "Custom",
   "phpCodeSniffer.standardCustom": "WordPress",
   "phpCodeSniffer.exec.osx": "vendor/bin/phpcs",
   "phpCodeSniffer.exec.linux": "vendor/bin/phpcs"
}

2. Add .editorconfig file (already included in this project) for consistent coding style across editors.

# This file is for unifying the coding style for different editors and IDEs
# editorconfig.org

# WordPress Coding Standards
# https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/coding-standards/

root = true

[*]
charset = utf-8
end_of_line = lf
insert_final_newline = true
trim_trailing_whitespace = true
indent_style = tab
indent_size = 2

[*.{yml,yaml}]
indent_style = space
indent_size = 2

Usage

• PHPCS will automatically check your PHP files for WordPress Coding Standards compliance
• Errors and warnings will be displayed in VS Code’s Problems panel
• Many issues can be fixed automatically using the Quick Fix feature (Ctrl+. or Cmd+.)

Common Standards

The setup includes:

• WordPress Coding Standards
• PHPCSExtra (additional sniffs)
• PHPCSUtils (utility functions)

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues:

1. Ensure all dependencies are properly installed
2. Verify the PHPCS executable path in VS Code settings
3. Try reloading VS Code after configuration changes