Which project am I in, and what changes?

Applies to
  Projects:  - all
  Packages:  - none

Detect first, then apply. Guessing produces confidently wrong code that looks plausible.

The tables below describe the stock repositories' default branches as of 2026-10-30: API 7.0, Admin 7.0, Frontend 5.0, Light 1.0, Queue 2.0. Other branches and derived projects can differ — the repo in front of you wins.

Detection

Read composer.json:

grep -m1 '"name"' composer.json
grep -A 12 '"psr-4"' composer.json
grep -E 'mezzio-hal|laminas-form|dot-controller|dot-session|dot-rbac-guard|oauth2|swagger-php|dot-cli|messenger' composer.json

Then confirm with the filesystem:

ls src                                   # module names, and whether a Core layer exists
ls src/*/templates 2>/dev/null           # templates present → templated project
ls src/*/src/Controller 2>/dev/null      # controllers present → Frontend-style
ls config/autoload | grep -i authorization
ls src/*/src/OpenAPI.php 2>/dev/null     # documented API

Variant	Root namespace	Distinctive packages	Distinctive files
API	Api\ + Core\	mezzio/mezzio-hal, mezzio-authentication-oauth2, zircote/swagger-php, mezzio/mezzio-cors	src/Core/, Collection/, OpenAPI.php, authorization.global.php, documentation/command/
Admin	Admin\ + Core\	dot-session, dot-rbac-guard, dot-twigrenderer, dot-flashmessenger	src/Core/, templates/, Form/, authorization.global.php + authorization-guards.global.php
Frontend	Frontend\	dot-controller, laminas/laminas-form, dot-session, dot-rbac-guard	Controller/, templates/, Form/, Entity/ inside modules, data/doctrine/migrations/
Light	Light\	mezzio-twigrenderer and little else — no Doctrine, no session, no forms	Handler/, templates/, hand-written Factory/ classes
Queue	Queue\ (flat, src/)	dot-cli, netglue/laminas-messenger, symfony/redis-messenger	src/Swoole/Command/, src/App/Message/, no HTTP routes

A project derived from one of these keeps its parent's conventions. Infer the parent from the PSR-4 roots and installed packages.

What actually differs

Concern	API	Admin	Frontend	Light	Queue
Request entry point	handler, {Verb}{Resource}[{Sub}][{Action}]{Resource|Collection}Handler	handler, {Verb}{Action}{Resource}[Form]Handler — GetCreateAdminFormHandler, PostCreateAdminHandler	controller with an {action} route segment — UserController	handler — GetPageViewHandler	console command
Update verb	PATCH	POST (form submit)	POST (form submit)	n/a	n/a
Authorization	RBAC roles → route-name permissions, authorization.global.php	roles → permissions in authorization.global.php; route name → permission in authorization-guards.global.php	same two files; guards keyed by route and action	none	none
Unlisted route	denied	allowed — guards use POLICY_ALLOW	allowed — guards use POLICY_ALLOW	n/a — every route is public	n/a
Input	laminas-inputfilter	laminas-form (wrapping an InputFilter) + CSRF	laminas-form + CSRF	none	message payloads
Response	HAL resource/collection, ProblemDetails errors	rendered template, redirect, flash message	rendered template, redirect, flash message	rendered template	exit codes, logs
Documentation	per-module OpenAPI.php, documentation/command/*.md	none	none	none	none
Sessions/CSRF	none — stateless tokens	required	required	none	n/a
Entities	Core layer	Core layer	inside each module	none	none
Migrations	src/Core/src/App/src/Migration/	src/Core/src/App/src/Migration/	data/doctrine/migrations/	none	none
DI	#[Inject] + AttributedServiceFactory	#[Inject] + AttributedServiceFactory	#[Inject] + AttributedServiceFactory	hand-written factories	#[Inject] + AttributedServiceFactory
Scaffolding	dot-maker	dot-maker	none	none	none
Tests	test/Unit/, test/Functional/	test/Unit/, test/Functional/	test/Unit/	test/Unit/	test/App/, test/Swoole/

The documentation/ directory is the least reliable row: derived projects add or drop it freely, so check for it before writing docs there (dotkernel-feature-docs) rather than inferring it.

What is the same everywhere

• Mezzio underneath, with per-module ConfigProviders registered in config/config.php.
• Laminas Coding Standard, phpstan, phpunit; composer check. Twig-rendering projects add composer twig-cs-check.
• Evolution over versioning for anything clients depend on.
• Secrets only in *.local.php.
• UTF-8, LF, declare(strict_types=1).

Working across two projects at once

In the stock repositories only API and Admin share a Core layer — both carry the same Core\ modules over one database. A feature spanning those two means: the entity, repository and shared service go in Core once; each project gets its own handlers, routes, authorization entries and presentation. Change a Core signature and you have changed it for every project on that database — check the others before you do, and mention it (see dotkernel-core-submodule).

Frontend keeps its own entities and migrations, so a feature spanning Frontend and API means two models of the same data. Say so rather than assuming a shared Core.

Rule of thumb

Before writing a file, open the two closest existing files of the same kind in this repo and match them. That beats every table above, because it reflects the version you are actually on. When the repo contradicts a skill, follow the repo and tell the user the skill needs updating.