Vim Configuration for Back-end Development

A comprehensive Vim setup optimized for back-end development, featuring modern plugins, efficient workflows, and a well-organized development environment with special focus on PHP development.

🚀 Features

Core Development Tools

• Code Completion: YouCompleteMe for intelligent autocompletion
• Syntax Checking: Syntastic and ALE for real-time error detection
• File Navigation: NERDTree with Git integration
• Fuzzy Finding: FZF for lightning-fast file and content search
• Git Integration: GitGutter for real-time diff visualization

PHP Development Environment

• PHPactor: Advanced PHP language server with intelligent code completion
• PHP Code Sniffer: PSR-12 and custom coding standards enforcement
• PHPStan: Static analysis for error detection and code quality
• PHP CS Fixer: Automatic code formatting and style fixing
• Custom Configuration: Pre-configured PHPactor settings for optimal workflow

Language Support

• PHP: Full PHP development with PHPactor, PHPStan, and code quality tools
• Go: Complete Go development environment with vim-go
• Rust: Rust language support with rust.vim
• TypeScript: TypeScript/JavaScript support with yats.vim
• General: EditorConfig for consistent coding standards

Development Experience

• Status Bar: Airline with themes for enhanced status information
• Debugging: Vdebug for remote debugging capabilities
• Tag Navigation: Tagbar for code structure overview
• Auto-tagging: Automatic tag generation for various languages
• GitHub Copilot: AI-powered code suggestions

Terminal Integration

• Tmux Configuration: Seamless tmux integration with vim-like navigation
• Custom Scripts: Utility scripts for enhanced workflow
• Bash Integration: Optimized shell configuration

📦 Installation

Prerequisites

• Vim 8.0+ or Neovim
• vim-plug plugin manager
• Git
• Composer (for PHP tools)
• PHP 7.4+ (for PHP development)

Quick Setup

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/vimrc.git ~/.vimrc-repo

2. Install the configuration:

   # Backup existing config (optional)
   mv ~/.vimrc ~/.vimrc.backup
   
   # Install new configuration
   ln -s ~/.vimrc-repo/.vimrc ~/.vimrc
   ln -s ~/.vimrc-repo/.tmux.conf ~/.tmux.conf
   
   # Source the bashrc instead of replacing it
   echo "source ~/.vimrc-repo/.bashrc" >> ~/.bashrc

3. Install plugins:

   :PlugInstall

4. Install custom scripts:

   cp ~/.vimrc-repo/bin/* ~/bin/
   chmod +x ~/bin/*

PHP Development Setup

1. Install PHP tools via Composer:

   # Create composer_stuff directory
   mkdir -p ~/bin/composer_stuff
   cd ~/bin/composer_stuff
   
   # Install PHP development tools
   composer require --dev \
     squizlabs/php_codesniffer \
     phpstan/phpstan \
     friendsofphp/php-cs-fixer

2. Create symlinks for easy access:

   # Create symlinks to ~/bin for all PHP tools
   for binary in $(find ~/bin/composer_stuff/vendor/bin -type f -printf "%f\n"); do
     ln -s ~/bin/composer_stuff/vendor/bin/${binary} ~/bin/${binary}
   done

3. Install PHPactor configuration:

   # Create PHPactor config directory
   mkdir -p ~/.config/phpactor
   
   # Copy configuration (update paths in phpactor.json for your system)
   cp ~/.vimrc-repo/.config/phpactor/phpactor.json ~/.config/phpactor/

4. Set up PHPStan configuration:

   # Choose one of the PHPStan configuration options below

   📋 PHPStan Configuration Options:

   Option A: Use base configuration with inheritance (recommended)

   # Copy base config to your project
   cp ~/.vimrc-repo/config_templates/phpstan-base.neon ~/your-project/
   
   # Create your project config that inherits from base
   cat > ~/your-project/phpstan.neon << 'EOF'
   includes:
       - phpstan-base.neon
   
   parameters:
       level: 6
       paths:
           - src
           - tests
   EOF

   Option B: Use framework-specific configuration

   # For Laravel projects
   cp ~/.vimrc-repo/config_templates/phpstan-laravel.neon ~/your-project/phpstan.neon

   Option C: Create a minimal configuration from scratch

   # Create a simple phpstan.neon file
   cat > ~/your-project/phpstan.neon << 'EOF'
   parameters:
       level: 6
       paths:
           - src
           - tests
       excludePaths:
           - vendor/*
   EOF

🛠️ Configuration Files

File	Purpose
.vimrc	Main Vim configuration with plugins and settings
.tmux.conf	Tmux configuration with vim-like navigation
.bashrc	Bash configuration with development aliases
.editorconfig	Consistent coding standards across editors
.config/phpactor/phpactor.json	PHPactor language server configuration
config_templates/	Template configurations for various tools

| config_templates/phpstan-base.neon | Base PHPStan configuration for inheritance | | config_templates/phpstan-laravel.neon | Laravel-specific PHPStan configuration | | bin/ | Custom utility scripts |

🎯 Key Mappings

Navigation

• <Ctrl-a>: Tmux prefix (instead of <Ctrl-b>)
• <Alt+hjkl>: Navigate between tmux panes
• <Ctrl-p>: FZF file finder
• <Ctrl-g>: FZF grep search

Development

• <F8>: Toggle tagbar
• <Ctrl-n>: Toggle NERDTree
• <Leader>gd: Go to definition (YouCompleteMe)
• <Leader>gr: Go to references (YouCompleteMe)

PHP Development (PHPactor)

• <Leader>u: Transform class
• <Leader>m: Generate method
• <Leader>n: Navigate to class
• <Leader>i: Import class
• <Leader>c: Complete constructor

🔧 Customization

This configuration is designed to be a solid foundation. You can easily customize it by:

1. Adding plugins: Edit the call plug#begin() section in .vimrc
2. Modifying keybindings: Update the mapping sections
3. Adjusting settings: Modify the set commands to match your preferences
4. PHPactor configuration: Edit ~/.config/phpactor/phpactor.json for PHP-specific settings
5. PHPStan configuration: Choose from multiple configuration options (see PHPStan Configuration Options above)

📝 Project Structure

vimrc/
├── .vimrc                    # Main Vim configuration
├── .tmux.conf               # Tmux configuration
├── .bashrc                  # Bash configuration
├── .editorconfig            # Editor standards
├── .config/
│   └── phpactor/
│       └── phpactor.json    # PHPactor language server config
├── config_templates/
│   ├── phpstan-base.neon    # Base configuration for inheritance
│   └── phpstan-laravel.neon # Laravel-specific configuration
├── bin/                     # Custom utility scripts
│   ├── brave               # Brave browser launcher
│   ├── kcalc               # Calculator shortcut
│   ├── mate-screenshot     # Screenshot tool
│   └── tmux-vim            # Vim + tmux wrapper
└── README.md               # This file

🐘 PHP Development Workflow

This setup provides a complete PHP development environment:

Code Quality Tools

• PHPStan: Static analysis with configurable levels (1-9)
• PHP Code Sniffer: PSR-12 and custom coding standards
• PHP CS Fixer: Automatic code formatting and style fixing

Language Server Features

• Intelligent Completion: Context-aware code suggestions
• Go to Definition: Navigate to class/method definitions
• Refactoring: Transform classes, generate methods, import classes
• Error Detection: Real-time syntax and logic error highlighting

Configuration

• PHPactor: Configured for optimal PHP development workflow
• PHPStan: Multiple configuration options with inheritance support
• Tools Integration: All PHP tools accessible via ~/bin/ symlinks

PHPStan Configuration Inheritance

This setup provides a flexible PHPStan configuration system:

🔄 How Inheritance Works:

• Base Configuration (phpstan-base.neon): Common settings for all PHP projects
• Framework Configs (phpstan-laravel.neon): Framework-specific settings that inherit from base
• Project Configs: Your actual phpstan.neon can inherit from either base or framework configs

📋 Configuration Behavior:

• Simple values (level, memoryLimit): Later values override earlier ones
• Arrays (ignoreErrors, excludePaths): Values are merged, not replaced
• Nested objects: Deep merge combines all properties

🎯 Usage Examples:

# Simple project using base config
includes:
    - phpstan-base.neon
parameters:
    level: 6
    paths: [src, tests]

# Laravel project using framework config
includes:
    - phpstan-laravel.neon
parameters:
    level: 7  # Override Laravel's default level

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• vim-plug for plugin management
• PHPactor for advanced PHP language server
• All the amazing Vim plugin authors
• The Vim community for inspiration and support

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Note: This configuration is optimized for back-end development workflows with special emphasis on PHP development. While it works well for other use cases, it's specifically tailored for server-side development, database work, and API development.