CLI Reference

All commands and options available in bin/phpspec.

Commands

Command	Description
`run [files] [options]`	Load and execute specs and features
`describe <class> [-e method]`	Generate a spec file
`exemplify <class> <method>`	Add a method example to a spec
`pair [--prompt "..."]`	Interactive AI pair programming REPL
`next`	AI suggests what to describe or specify next
`refactor <target>`	AI-powered behaviour-preserving refactoring

Run examples

$ bin/phpspec run                                  # all specs in spec/
$ bin/phpspec run spec/App/Calculator.spec.php      # single spec
$ bin/phpspec run spec/App/Console                  # directory
$ bin/phpspec run features/                         # all features
$ bin/phpspec run features/greeting.feature          # single feature

Output format

Option	Description
`-f`, `--format=FORMAT`	`pretty` (default), `dot`, `tap`, `junit`
`-v`	Verbose — shows per-example duration
`-q`	Quiet — suppresses all output
`--profile[=N]`	Show the N slowest examples (default: 10)

Pretty (default)

phpspec run

Once you spec, you never go back!

Calculator
  Calculator
    ✓ adds two numbers
    ✓ subtracts two numbers

1 spec
2 examples (2 passes)
Finished in 0.0042 seconds

Dot

One character per example: . pass, F failure, P pending, E error, S skipped.

$ bin/phpspec run --format dot

TAP

Test Anything Protocol output:

$ bin/phpspec run --format tap

JUnit XML

For CI integration:

$ bin/phpspec run --format junit > results.xml

Filtering & execution control

Option	Description
`--filter=PATTERN`	Only run specs whose path contains PATTERN
`--stop-on-failure`	Stop after first failure or error
`--stop-on-error`	Stop after first error
`--stop-on-warning`	Stop after first warning
`--stop-on-deprecation`	Stop after first deprecation
`--stop-on-notice`	Stop after first notice
`--stop-on-skipped`	Stop after first skip
`--stop-on-problems`	Stop on any non-pass result
`--order=ORDER`	`default` or `random`
`--seed=SEED`	Seed for reproducible random order
`--story`	Run only feature files
`--all`	Run specs and features together

$ bin/phpspec run --filter Calculator
$ bin/phpspec run --stop-on-failure
$ bin/phpspec run --order random --seed 42

Bootstrap

Option	Description
`-b`, `--bootstrap=FILE`	PHP file to require before running specs

$ bin/phpspec run --bootstrap tests/bootstrap.php

Code generation

Option	Description
`--fake`	Generate method bodies with hardcoded return values from expectations

Code coverage

Option	Description
`--coverage`	Text coverage report in terminal
`--coverage-html=DIR`	HTML coverage report
`--coverage-clover=FILE`	Clover XML for CI
`--coverage-min=PCT`	Fail if coverage is below threshold (0–100)

Coverage requires the xdebug extension with xdebug.mode=coverage.

Parallel execution

Option	Description
`--parallel[=N]`	Run specs across N worker processes (Fiber-based)

$ bin/phpspec run --parallel
$ bin/phpspec run --parallel=4

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
`0`	All examples passed
`1`	One or more examples failed or errored

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