summercms-initial-research/.planning/codebase/STACK.md

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