TYPO3 Code Simplifier

Adapted from Boris Cherny's (Anthropic) code-simplifier agent for TYPO3 contexts. Target: TYPO3 v14 (primary), v13, v12.4 LTS (fallbacks noted).

Process

1. Identify recently modified files (use

   git diff --name-only HEAD~1

   or staged changes)
2. Run three parallel review passes: Reuse, Quality, Efficiency
3. Aggregate findings, deduplicate, sort by impact
4. Apply fixes, verify no behavior change

Pass 1: TYPO3 API Reuse

Replace Custom Code with Core APIs

$connection->executeQuery(...)

QueryBuilder

$GLOBALS['TYPO3_REQUEST']

ServerRequestInterface

new FlashMessage(...)

FlashMessageService

JsonResponse

GeneralUtility::makeInstance()

Services.yaml

$GLOBALS['TSFE']->id

$request->getAttribute('routing')->getPageId()

$GLOBALS['BE_USER']

Context

BackendUserAuthentication

ObjectManager::get()

PathUtility

Environment::getPublicPath()

CacheManager

BackendUtility::getRecord()

QueryBuilder

RootlineUtility

PageRepository

GeneralUtility::_GP()

_POST()

_GET()

$request->getQueryParams()

getParsedBody()

$GLOBALS['TYPO3_CONF_VARS']['EXTCONF']

ExtensionConfiguration

UriBuilder

ContentObjectRenderer::typoLink()

Replace Deprecated Patterns (v14)

ext_localconf.php

#[AsEventListener]

$GLOBALS['TYPO3_CONF_VARS']['SC_OPTIONS']

ext_tables.php

Configuration/Backend/Modules.php

XCLASS

switchableControllerActions

$querySettings->setRespectStoragePage(false)

AbstractPlugin

eval

required

trim

null

required

nullable

renderType => 'inputDateTime'

'type' => 'datetime'

'type' => 'input', 'eval' => 'int'

'type' => 'number'

items

items

label

value

Pass 2: Code Quality

PHP Classes

• One class per file, PSR-4 autoloading

• declare(strict_types=1)

  on every PHP file

• final

  on classes not designed for inheritance

• readonly

  on immutable properties
• Constructor promotion for DI dependencies
• Explicit return types on all methods
• No unused

  use

  imports
• No suppressed errors (

  @

  )
• Guard clauses over deep nesting (early returns)
• No mixed types where specific types exist
• Replace

  array

  typehints with typed arrays or DTOs

// Before
class MyService
{
    private ConnectionPool $connectionPool;
    private Context $context;

    public function __construct(ConnectionPool $connectionPool, Context $context)
    {
        $this->connectionPool = $connectionPool;
        $this->context = $context;
    }

    public function getData($id)
    {
        // ...
    }
}

// After
final class MyService
{
    public function __construct(
        private readonly ConnectionPool $connectionPool,
        private readonly Context $context,
    ) {}

    public function getData(int $id): array
    {
        // ...
    }
}

Fluid Templates

• No inline PHP or complex ViewHelper chains
• Use

  <f:translate>

  instead of hardcoded strings
• Use

  <f:link.page>

  /

  <f:link.typolink>

  instead of manual

  <a href>

• Use

  <f:image>

  instead of manual

  <img>

  tags
• Partials for repeated markup (DRY)
• Sections for layout slots, not for reuse (use Partials)
• No

  {variable -> f:format.raw()}

  unless absolutely necessary (XSS risk)
• Variables use camelCase
• Remove empty

  <f:section>

  blocks
• Simplify nested

  <f:if>

  to

  <f:switch>

  or ternary where clearer

TCA

• Use v14

  items

  format with

  label

  /

  value

  keys
• Remove redundant

  'exclude' => true

  on fields already restricted
• Use dedicated types:

  'type' => 'email'

  ,

  'type' => 'datetime'

  ,

  'type' => 'number'

  ,

  'type' => 'link'

  ,

  'type' => 'color'

  ,

  'type' => 'json'

• Use

  'required' => true

  instead of

  'eval' => 'required'

• Use

  'nullable' => true

  instead of

  'eval' => 'null'

• Remove

  'default' => ''

  on string fields (already default)
• Consolidate palette definitions (remove single-field palettes)
• Remove boilerplate

  columns

  definitions auto-created from

  ctrl

  (v13.3+):

  hidden

  ,

  starttime

  ,

  endtime

  ,

  fe_group

  ,

  sys_language_uid

  ,

  l10n_parent

  ,

  l10n_diffsource

• Use palettes for enablecolumns:

  visibility

  for

  hidden

  ,

  access

  for

  starttime, endtime

• Remove convention fields from

  ext_tables.sql

  (auto-added to database)
• Remove unused

  showitem

  fields from types

Services.yaml

• Use autowiring (remove explicit argument definitions when type-hintable)
• Use

  _defaults: autowire: true, autoconfigure: true, public: false

• Remove manual service definitions for classes that autowiring handles
• Replace

  factory

  definitions with

  #[Autoconfigure]

  where possible
• Remove

  public: true

  unless needed for

  GeneralUtility::makeInstance()

ext_localconf.php / ext_tables.php

• Minimize code — move to

  Configuration/

  files where possible
• Plugin registration only (no business logic)
• Use

  ExtensionUtility::configurePlugin()

  (not

  registerPlugin

  for frontend)
• No

  addPageTSConfig

  — use

  Configuration/page.tsconfig

• No

  addUserTSConfig

  — use

  Configuration/user.tsconfig

• No

  addTypoScript

  — use

  Configuration/TypoScript/setup.typoscript

Pass 3: Efficiency

• QueryBuilder: select only needed columns, not

  *

• QueryBuilder: add

  setMaxResults()

  when expecting single row
• Use

  count()

  queries instead of fetching all rows to count
• Cache expensive operations with TYPO3 Caching Framework
• Avoid N+1 queries in Extbase repositories (use

  JOIN

  or batch loading)
• Use

  TYPO3\CMS\Core\Resource\ProcessedFileRepository

  not re-processing on every request
• Remove

  findAll()

  calls without pagination
• Lazy-load file references with

  @TYPO3\CMS\Extbase\Annotation\ORM\Lazy

• Replace

  foreach

  + manual

  in_array()

  filtering with QueryBuilder

  WHERE IN

• Remove redundant

  cache:flush

  calls in CLI commands

Output Format

## Classes/Controller/MyController.php

:42 — replace GeneralUtility::makeInstance(MyService::class) → constructor injection
:18 — add return type `: ResponseInterface`
:55 — deprecated: $GLOBALS['TSFE']->id → $request routing attribute
:67 — guard clause: invert condition, return early, reduce nesting

## Resources/Private/Templates/List.html

:12 — hardcoded string "No items found" → f:translate
:34 — manual <a href> → f:link.page

## Configuration/TCA/Overrides/tt_content.php

:8 — v12 items format ['Label', 'value'] → ['label' => 'Label', 'value' => 'value']

Applied 7 fixes. No behavior changes. Run tests to verify.

Version Fallbacks

• Keep

  Configuration/RequestMiddlewares.php

  alongside

  #[AsMiddleware]

• Keep

  Services.yaml

  event listener config alongside

  #[AsEventListener]

• Keep numeric TCA

  items

  arrays alongside

  label

  /

  value

  format
• Use

  #[Autoconfigure]

  only on v14+ (not available in v12)

v14-Only Simplification Targets

The following simplification opportunities are v14-specific.

v14 Simplification Patterns [v14 only]

$GLOBALS['TSFE']

$request->getAttribute('frontend.page.information')

@validate

#[Validate]

MailMessage->send()

Mailer::send()

FlexFormService

FlexFormTools

<dialog>

ctrl.searchFields

'searchable' => true

GeneralUtility::createVersionNumberedFilename()

Credits & Attribution

/simplify