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).

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

Custom Pattern	TYPO3 API Replacement
Manual DB queries ($connection->executeQuery(...))	QueryBuilder with named parameters
$GLOBALS['TYPO3_REQUEST']	Inject ServerRequestInterface via middleware/controller
new FlashMessage(...) + manual queue	FlashMessageService via DI
Manual JSON response construction	JsonResponse from PSR-7
GeneralUtility::makeInstance()	Constructor injection via Services.yaml
$GLOBALS['TSFE']->id	$request->getAttribute('routing')->getPageId()
$GLOBALS['BE_USER']	Inject Context or BackendUserAuthentication
ObjectManager::get()	Constructor DI
Manual file path resolution	PathUtility, Environment::getPublicPath()
Custom caching with globals	CacheManager via DI with cache configuration
BackendUtility::getRecord() for single field	QueryBuilder selecting only needed columns
Manual page tree traversal	RootlineUtility or PageRepository
GeneralUtility::_GP() / _POST() / _GET()	$request->getQueryParams() / getParsedBody()
$GLOBALS['TYPO3_CONF_VARS']['EXTCONF'] writes	PSR-14 events or ExtensionConfiguration
Manual link generation	UriBuilder (backend) or ContentObjectRenderer::typoLink()

Replace Deprecated Patterns (v14)

Deprecated	v14 Replacement
ext_localconf.php hook arrays	#[AsEventListener] on PSR-14 events
$GLOBALS['TYPO3_CONF_VARS']['SC_OPTIONS'] hooks	PSR-14 events
ext_tables.php module registration	Configuration/Backend/Modules.php
XCLASS	PSR-14 events or DI decoration
switchableControllerActions	Separate plugins per action
$querySettings->setRespectStoragePage(false) in repo	Set in controller, not repository
Signal/Slot	PSR-14 events
AbstractPlugin (pi_base)	Extbase controller or middleware
TCA eval for required,trim,null	Dedicated TCA keys: required, nullable
renderType => 'inputDateTime'	'type' => 'datetime'
'type' => 'input', 'eval' => 'int'	'type' => 'number'
items with numeric array keys	items with label/value keys

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

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

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

Version Fallbacks

When simplifying for v12/v13 compatibility:

• 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]

Pattern	Simplification
$GLOBALS['TSFE'] access	Replace with $request->getAttribute('frontend.page.information')
Extbase annotations (@validate)	Replace with #[Validate] PHP attribute
MailMessage->send()	Replace with Mailer::send()
FlexFormService usage	Replace with FlexFormTools
Bootstrap Modal JS	Replace with native <dialog> pattern
TCA ctrl.searchFields	Replace with per-column 'searchable' => true
Custom localization parsers	Remove, use Symfony Translation Component
GeneralUtility::createVersionNumberedFilename()	Remove, use System Resource API

---

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 (MIT License)

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