2025 was the year PHP and Magento development changed gear. PHP 8.5 shipped with the pipe operator, Hyvä became the undisputed default for new Magento projects, AI tools graduated from experimental to mandatory, and the blog reached 120 posts. A retrospective of what actually mattered this year.
PHP in 2025 – the pipe operator changes how we write code
<?php
// The single change that went into the most files in 2025:
$result = $items
|> array_filter(..., fn($i) => $i['active'])
|> array_map(..., fn($i) => $i['price'])
|> array_sum(...);
// This is not just syntactic sugar - it changes how you design pipelines.
// Functions are now composable in the same natural order as the data flow.
// I found myself splitting larger methods into small named functions specifically
// because they compose cleanly with the pipe operator.
Magento ecosystem in 2025
| Area | State at start of 2025 | State at end of 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Frontend | Hyvä ~60% of new projects | Hyvä ~80%, Luma rare in new work |
| PHP version | 8.3 dominant, 8.4 new | 8.4 dominant, 8.5 RC late year |
| Search | OpenSearch becoming standard | OpenSearch universal, ES gone |
| AI tooling | Useful for senior devs | Used by everyone, every day |
| FrankenPHP | Experimental, Magento incompatible | Better, Magento workarounds exist |
| Magento version | 2.4.7 current | 2.4.8 current, PHP 8.4 supported |
AI tooling – from useful to mandatory
What changed in AI tooling during 2025: 1. Context windows: 200K tokens became common - Can now send an entire Magento module for review - "Explain what this module does" is now reliable 2. Cursor IDE became mature - Multi-file refactoring that actually works - Understanding of project structure, not just single files 3. Local models (Ollama) caught up for coding tasks - Qwen2.5 Coder 32B rivals cloud models for PHP - Privacy-safe for NDA projects 4. The failure modes are now well understood: - Hallucinated Magento APIs: always verify against source - Version-specific code errors: specify the exact version - Security code: never trust AI output, always review manually 5. Workflow that emerged: - AI for scaffolding (5-10 min → 30 sec) - AI for tests (30 min → 5 min) - AI for documentation (tedious → instant) - Human for architecture, business logic, security
10 posts that resonated most in 2025
- CQRS + Event Sourcing – the architecture series generated the most discussion
- Hyvä vs Luma benchmark – concrete numbers finally in one place
- PHP 8.5 pipe operator confirmed – highest single-day traffic of the year
- Prod to dev migration with GDPR anonymisation – most practical post of the year
- GraphQL batch loading (N+1 fix) – most bookmarked
- AI tools honest assessment – most shared
- OpenTelemetry in DDEV – most useful for debugging
- Specification pattern – most “why didn’t I know this earlier” feedback
- Extension Attributes with batch loading – highest return visit rate
- PHP 8.5 RC1 pipe operator in practice – most code examples copied
By the numbers – 6.5 years of blogging
| Year | Posts | Key PHP | Key Magento |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2 | PHP 7.2 | Magento 2.2 |
| 2019 | 10 | PHP 7.4 | Magento 2.3 |
| 2020 | 12 | PHP 8.0 | Magento 2.4 |
| 2021 | 12 | PHP 8.1 | MSI, GraphQL |
| 2022 | 20 | PHP 8.2 | GoF series |
| 2023 | 24 | PHP 8.3 | Hyvä adoption |
| 2024 | 24 | PHP 8.4 | Magento 2.4.8 |
| 2025 | 16 | PHP 8.5 | Hyvä mainstream |
Plans for 2026
The blog continues at 2 posts per month. Topics confirmed for Q1: PHP 9.0 RFC details as they emerge, Magento 2.4.9 when it ships, deeper Hyvä component patterns, and a series on AI-assisted code review workflows. The same principle as always: technical, code-first, no fluff.
Summary
2025 was a year of consolidation and maturation. The PHP ecosystem has never been in better shape – modern type system, excellent tooling, strong frameworks. Magento 2 found its frontend answer in Hyvä. AI tools became part of the daily workflow, with well-understood limitations. The fundamentals remain: types, tests, patterns, performance. Happy new year – 2026 will be interesting.
