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Introduction

laravel/pao is an agent-optimized output library for PHP development tools. PAO (PHP Agent-Optimized output) automatically converts the verbose, human-readable output of PHPUnit, Pest, Paratest, PHPStan, and Laravel Artisan into compact, structured JSON when running inside an AI agent. As AI agents like GitHub Copilot move to token-based pricing, reducing tool output directly translates to lower costs. PAO was designed to solve this problem and is planned to be included as a default dependency in the Laravel starter kits.

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Why it matters

As AI agents become deeply integrated into development workflows, the token count of tool output has a direct impact on cost and response speed. A project with 1,000 tests produces thousands of lines of PHPUnit output, but what an AI agent actually needs is just: pass/fail, count, and failure details. PAO compresses this to a single-digit JSON object.
  • Test output: up to 99.8% token reduction
  • PHPStan output: structured JSON with only the necessary information
  • Artisan output: strips ANSI codes, box-drawing characters, and excess whitespace — up to 75% reduction

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Installation

Requires PHP 8.3+, and works with PHPUnit 12-13, Pest 4-5, Paratest, PHPStan, and Laravel 12+. 
composer require laravel/pao --dev
That is all. PAO hooks into PHPUnit, Pest, Paratest, and PHPStan automatically through Composer’s autoloader. In Laravel projects, a service provider is auto-discovered to clean Artisan command output.
PAO only activates when it detects an AI agent environment. When you or your team run tools directly in the terminal, output is completely unchanged — same colours, same formatting, same experience.

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Supported AI agents

PAO automatically detects the following AI agents.
AgentDetection method
GitHub CopilotCOPILOT_MODEL and related env vars
Claude CodeCLAUDECODE or CLAUDE_CODE
CursorCURSOR_AGENT
Gemini CLIGEMINI_CLI
Devin/opt/.devin file exists
CodexCODEX_SANDBOX and related env vars

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Before & After

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Test output (PHPUnit / Pest)

A test suite with 1,000 tests is transformed like this. Before (without PAO) 
PHPUnit 12.5.14 by Sebastian Bergmann and contributors.

.............................................................   61 / 1002 (  6%)
.............................................................  122 / 1002 ( 12%)
...
..........................                                    1002 / 1002 (100%)

Time: 00:00.321, Memory: 46.50 MB

OK (1002 tests, 1002 assertions)
After (with PAO) 
{
  "tool": "phpunit",
  "result": "passed",
  "tests": 1002,
  "passed": 1002,
  "duration_ms": 321
}
The output is constant-size regardless of how many tests you have. When tests fail, file paths, line numbers, and failure messages are included.

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Plugin output (coverage, profile)

Extra output from Pest plugins such as --coverage or --profile is captured, cleaned of ANSI codes and decorations, and included as a raw array. 
{
  "tool": "pest",
  "result": "passed",
  "tests": 1002,
  "passed": 1002,
  "duration_ms": 1520,
  "raw": [
    "Http/Controllers/Controller 100.0%",
    "Models/User 0.0%",
    "Total: 33.3 %"
  ]
}

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PHPStan output

{
  "tool": "phpstan",
  "result": "failed",
  "errors": 2,
  "error_details": {
    "/app/Http/Controllers/Controller.php": [
      {
        "line": 9,
        "message": "Method Controller::index() should return int but returns string.",
        "identifier": "return.type"
      },
      {
        "line": 14,
        "message": "Call to an undefined method Controller::doesNotExist().",
        "identifier": "method.notFound"
      }
    ]
  }
}

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Laravel Artisan output

Commands like php artisan about have ANSI codes, box-drawing characters, dot separators, and excess whitespace stripped. Before (without PAO) — 2,111 characters 
  Environment ................................................................
  Application Name ................................................... Laravel
  Laravel Version ..................................................... 13.3.0
  PHP Version .......................................................... 8.5.4
  Debug Mode ......................................................... ENABLED
After (with PAO) — 535 characters 
 Environment ..
 Application Name .. Laravel
 Laravel Version .. 13.3.0
 PHP Version .. 8.5.4
 Debug Mode .. ENABLED
Commands like about, db:show, and migrate:status benefit most, with up to 75% fewer tokens.

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Integration with Laravel starter kits

PAO is planned to be included as a default dependency in the Laravel starter kits. New projects created with the starter kit will have PAO installed automatically, so token-efficient AI agent development is available from the very first commit.

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Summary

laravel/pao requires no configuration and only activates in AI agent environments, meaning it has zero impact on existing development workflows. If you are using an AI agent to work on a PHP or Laravel project, installing PAO is a straightforward way to reduce token costs and speed up agent responses.

laravel/pao repository

Source code and the latest list of supported tools and agents.
Last modified on April 28, 2026