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Engineering,
taught &
leadership, practised.

I'm Steven — CTO at Digitonic, a PHP engineer since 2010 and a keen golfer with a terrible handicap. This is where I write it all down.

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Order.php

// app/Domain/Trading
final class Order extends AggregateRoot
{
    public function place(Money $total)
    {
        $this->recordThat(new OrderPlaced(
            total: $total->amount(),
        ));

        return $this;
    }
}

● all tests passing PHPStan level 10 Laravel 13

Steven Richardson

CTO, Digitonic · Laravel Certified

HCP 18

The Irvine Golf Club

Shipped with —

…and a few friends I can't name.

THE WRITING

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FEATURED livewire

Fix Child Components That Won't Update with Livewire 4 #[Reactive] Props

Livewire props aren't reactive by default, so a parent can change a value and the child never notices. Here's the one-attribute fix, and when events are the better call.

June 21st, 2026 · 6 min read

php

Stop Looping: array_find, array_any and array_all in PHP 8.4

PHP 8.4 adds array_find, array_find_key, array_any and array_all — the readable way to search arrays and retire foreach-with-flag loops.

June 20th, 2026 · 6 min

laravel

Test AI Features Without Calling the API: Agent::fake() in the Laravel AI SDK

You shipped an agent and wrote zero tests for it, because hitting a real model is slow, costs tokens, and needs a key in CI. The Laravel AI SDK's fake() fixes all three.

June 19th, 2026 · 8 min

/NOW

Currently shipping, reading, and thinking about.

See the full Now page

Building

A SaaS product on Laravel Cloud for Investor Relations teams.

Writing

A series of AI engineering articles.

Reading

"Life 3.0 - Being human in the age of artificial intellegence" by Max Tegmark.

Golfing

The Irvine Golf Club on Sundays, regardless of weather.

Engineering, taught & leadership, practised.