TYPO3 Code Simplifier

Adapted from Boris Cherny's (Anthropic) code-simplifier agent for TYPO3 contexts.
Target: TYPO3 v14.x only.

Simplify and refine recently changed TYPO3 code. Preserve all functionality. Focus on
clarity over cleverness, TYPO3 API usage over custom implementations, and v14 patterns
over deprecated approaches.

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

Find custom implementations that duplicate what TYPO3 already provides.

Replace Custom Code with Core APIs

Replace Deprecated Patterns (v14)

Historical removals (pre–v14 code you may still read)

Code quality (not deprecations)

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'
• eval => trim remains supported — do not remove unless you replace trimming in another layer
• Remove 'default' => '' on string fields (already default)
• Consolidate palette definitions (remove single-field palettes)
• Remove boilerplate columns definitions auto-created from ctrl on TYPO3 v14: hidden, starttime, endtime, fe_group, sys_language_uid, l10n_parent, l10n_diffsource
• Use palettes for enablecolumns: Core uses palette key hidden for hidden, access for starttime, endtime, fe_group (verify keys in your table’s types showitem)
• Remove standard ctrl columns from ext_tables.sql when ctrl enables them (hidden, starttime, endtime, fe_group, sys_language_uid, l10n_parent, l10n_source, sorting, deleted, crdate, tstamp) — only if they are auto-managed for that table
• 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
• Remove factory: blocks when autowiring handles construction; keep factory: for non-trivial construction that autowiring cannot resolve. #[Autoconfigure] tags/configures services but does not replace factory: construction
• 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)
• Frontend plugins: ExtensionUtility::configurePlugin() in ext_localconf.php and ExtensionUtility::registerPlugin() (or TCA items) in Configuration/TCA/Overrides/tt_content.php — both are required for a complete registration
• 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\Attribute\ORM\Lazy] (replace legacy @Lazy annotation)
• Replace foreach + manual in_array() filtering with QueryBuilder WHERE IN
• Remove redundant cache:flush calls in CLI commands

Output Format

After analysis, report findings grouped by file:

## 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 — legacy items format `['Label', 'value']` → `['label' => 'Label', 'value' => 'value']`

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

Version fallbacks

When the same codebase must run on TYPO3 v13 and v14 (dual-version extensions), you may temporarily keep transitional patterns:

• Register PSR-15 middleware in Configuration/RequestMiddlewares.php (Core-supported pattern)
• Keep Services.yaml event listener config alongside #[AsEventListener]
• Keep numeric TCA items arrays alongside label/value format
• Prefer Services.yaml _defaults (autowire / autoconfigure) plus Core registration attributes (#[AsCommand], #[AsEventListener], …) over ad-hoc factory: blocks

v14-Only Simplification Targets

The following simplification opportunities are v14-specific.

v14 Simplification Patterns [v14 only]

Credits & Attribution

Adapted from Boris Cherny's (Anthropic) code-simplifier
agent and Claude Code's bundled /simplify skill for TYPO3 contexts.

Copyright (c) Anthropic — Code simplification patterns (Apache-2.0 License)

Thanks to Netresearch DTT GmbH for their contributions to the TYPO3 community.