PHPUnit testing for PHP applications
Automated tests for PHP codebases — including the older ones where changing anything currently feels risky.
PHP testing
Chosen per project
Maintainable handover
A great many working business systems in this region are PHP applications that have grown over years, and the common complaint is not that they are slow but that nobody dares change them. That is a testing problem more than an architecture one.
PHPUnit, and Laravel’s testing layer built on it, allow the current behaviour to be pinned down before anything is altered. Once the important paths are covered, modification stops being a gamble.
What we build with PHPUnit
Establishing a safety net before modernising legacy PHP
Feature tests over Laravel routes, validation and permissions
Regression tests written alongside each bug fix
Verifying integrations with payment and messaging providers
Where it fits — and where it does not
Good fit when
Business rules — billing, discounts, eligibility, access control
Applications about to be refactored or upgraded
Anywhere the same bug has now appeared twice
Consider something else when
Legacy code with no seams, which may need small refactors before it can be tested at all
Pursuing full coverage of an old codebase in one go
Making an old codebase safe to change
Coverage is built where change is planned, not evenly across the whole application.
Find the hot spots
Where bugs and changes actually concentrate.
Pin behaviour
Feature tests over those paths as they are today.
Refactor behind them
Change internals; the tests hold the line.
Extend cover
Unit tests added as seams appear.
How we work with PHPUnit
Characterise first
On legacy code, tests are written to capture what it currently does — including the odd bits — before any change is made.
Feature tests early
HTTP-level tests over key routes give broad protection quickly, before unit-level work begins.
A real test database
Migrations and factories against a genuine database, because most PHP bugs live at that boundary.
A test per bug
Every fix ships with a test that fails without it, so the same defect cannot return unnoticed.
Our typical PHPUnit setup
| Concern | What we use |
|---|---|
| Framework | PHPUnit, or Pest where the team prefers its syntax |
| Laravel | Feature tests over routes, with factories and migrations |
| Database | A real test database, refreshed per test run |
| External calls | HTTP fakes for gateways and third-party services |
| CI | Full suite on pull requests, with coverage reported |
Frequently asked questions
With feature tests over the handful of paths the business depends on, and a test for every bug from now on. Attempting full coverage of an old codebase in one exercise rarely finishes.
Yes, and it is often the only safe way to replace it — the tests describe what the replacement must do.
Some — authorisation and validation gaps in particular, which are worth explicit tests. It does not replace a security review, but it covers the failures that recur.
Topics people search for
Services built with PHPUnit
Software Maintenance
Keeping working systems working — including ones built by somebody else.
Web Application Development
Applications that run in the browser, handle real workloads and hold up when several departments depend on them at once.
Custom Software Development
Software shaped around the way your business already works, instead of a packaged product you have to reorganise around.
E-commerce Development
Online stores where the checkout works, the stock figures are real and the order data reaches your operations team intact.
Tell us what you are trying to build
Describe the problem in plain language and we will tell you what it would take to solve it — the approach, the moving parts and the sensible order to build them in. No obligation either way.