# Technology Stack

**Analysis Date:** 2026-02-04

## Languages

**Primary:**
- PHP 8.1+ - Core application language for WinterCMS framework, all plugins, and controllers

**Secondary:**
- Twig - Template engine for frontend themes and email templates
- JavaScript - Frontend interactions and AJAX handlers

## Runtime

**Environment:**
- PHP 8.1 or higher (required)
- Laravel 9.x runtime via Winter Storm abstraction layer

**Package Manager:**
- Composer 2.x - PHP dependency management
- Lockfile: Present (composer.lock managed by Composer merge plugin)

## Frameworks

**Core:**
- Winter CMS 1.2.x - Complete CMS/CMF platform based on Laravel 9
- Laravel Framework 9.1+ - HTTP framework and application foundation
- Winter Storm (~1.2.0) - Winter's buffer layer between Laravel and Winter plugins

**Key Modules (Winter Core):**
- `winter/wn-system-module` - Core system functionality, models, migrations
- `winter/wn-backend-module` - Admin interface, backend forms, list views
- `winter/wn-cms-module` - Frontend CMS page management and publishing

**Testing:**
- PHPUnit 9.5.8+ - Unit and functional testing
- Mockery 1.4.4+ - Mock object framework
- FakerPHP 1.9.2+ - Test data generation

**Build/Dev:**
- Laravel Artisan - CLI framework for commands and migrations
- Wikimedia Composer Merge Plugin 2.1.0 - Automatic plugin composer.json merging

## Key Dependencies

**Critical:**
- `winter/storm` - Storm library providing DI container, filesystem abstraction, validation framework
- `laravel/framework` - HTTP kernel, routing, middleware, database ORM (Eloquent), queue system
- `php-open-source-saver/jwt-auth` - JWT token generation and validation for API authentication
- `keios/moneyright` - Financial calculations with precise decimal arithmetic (no floats)
- `keios/apparatus` - Scenario-based workflow engine, DI container enhancements, backend utilities
- `keios/laravel-apparatus` - Laravel integration for Apparatus framework

**Infrastructure:**
- `wikimedia/composer-merge-plugin` - Enables modular plugin architecture with separate composer.json per plugin

**Code Quality:**
- `squizlabs/php_codesniffer` - PSR-1/PSR-2/PSR-4 code standard checking
- `php-parallel-lint/php-parallel-lint` - Syntax checking
- `dms/phpunit-arraysubset-asserts` - Extended assertions for arrays in tests

## Configuration

**Environment:**
- `.env.example` template in project root
- Environment variables control all external service integration and deployment settings
- Runtime configuration values:
  - `APP_NAME`, `APP_KEY`, `APP_DEBUG`, `APP_URL` - Application settings
  - `DB_CONNECTION`, `DB_HOST`, `DB_PORT`, `DB_DATABASE`, `DB_USERNAME`, `DB_PASSWORD` - Database
  - `CACHE_DRIVER`, `SESSION_DRIVER`, `QUEUE_CONNECTION` - Cache/session/queue backends
  - `REDIS_HOST`, `REDIS_PASSWORD`, `REDIS_PORT` - Redis connection (optional)
  - `MAIL_MAILER`, `MAIL_HOST`, `MAIL_PORT`, `MAIL_USERNAME`, `MAIL_PASSWORD` - Mail configuration
  - `AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID`, `AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY`, `AWS_DEFAULT_REGION`, `AWS_BUCKET` - AWS S3 (optional)

**Build:**
- `composer.json` - Project dependencies and scripts
- `phpunit.xml` - PHPUnit testing configuration
- `phpcs.xml` - PHP CodeSniffer configuration
- `.editorconfig` - Editor formatting standards (PSR-compliant)
- `artisan` - Artisan CLI entry point script
- `index.php` - HTTP request entry point

**Laravel Config Files (in `config/`):**
- `app.php` - Application name, debug mode, timezone
- `database.php` - Database connections (MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, SQL Server, Redis)
- `cache.php` - Cache stores (file, Redis, Memcached, DynamoDB)
- `queue.php` - Queue backends (sync, database, beanstalkd, SQS, Redis)
- `mail.php` - Mail drivers (SMTP, Mailgun, Postmark, SES, Sendmail, Log)
- `auth.php` - Authentication throttling configuration
- `session.php` - Session configuration
- `filesystems.php` - Storage disk configuration
- `services.php` - Third-party service credentials (Mailgun, Postmark, AWS SES)
- `database.php` - Multiple database connection types

**Plugin-Specific Config:**
- JWT configuration publishes to `config/jwt.php` and `config/auth.php` (User plugin)
- Each plugin manages its own configuration in `plugins/golem15/*/config/`

## Platform Requirements

**Development:**
- PHP 8.1+ installed and available in PATH (use `php-legacy` command per project CLAUDE.md)
- Composer 2.x
- MySQL 5.7+ OR PostgreSQL 9.5+ OR SQLite OR SQL Server (at least one required)
- Optional: Redis 5+ (for caching, sessions, queues)
- Optional: Memcached (for caching)

**Production:**
- PHP 8.1+ with common extensions (PDO, OpenSSL, Fileinfo, Tokenizer, MBSTRING)
- MySQL 5.7+ OR PostgreSQL 9.5+ OR SQL Server database
- Redis (recommended for performance)
- Web server: Apache with mod_rewrite OR Nginx
- Cron job setup for Laravel scheduler (see CLAUDE.md)

**Optional Services:**
- AWS S3 (for file storage, requires AWS SDK)
- Stripe (payment processing, requires stripe-php SDK)
- OpenAI API (AI integration, requires OpenAI PHP SDK)
- Perplexity API (AI integration alternative)
- Mailgun/Postmark/AWS SES (transactional email)
- GitHub API (Git integration via GitHub plugin)

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*Stack analysis: 2026-02-04*