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# Static Reflection and Autoload
Rector is using static reflection to load code without running it since version 0.10. That means your classes are found **without composer autoload and without running them**. Rector will find them and work with them as you have PSR-4 autoload properly setup. This comes very useful in legacy projects or projects with custom autoload.
Do you want to know more about it? Continue here:
- [From Doctrine Annotations Parser to Static Reflection](https://getrector.org/blog/from-doctrine-annotations-parser-to-static-reflection)
- [Legacy Refactoring made Easy with Static Reflection](https://getrector.org/blog/2021/03/15/legacy-refactoring-made-easy-with-static-reflection)
- [Zero Config Analysis with Static Reflection](https://phpstan.org/blog/zero-config-analysis-with-static-reflection) - from PHPStan
```php
use Rector\Config\RectorConfig;
return static function (RectorConfig $rectorConfig): void {
// Rector is using static reflection to load code without running it - see https://phpstan.org/blog/zero-config-analysis-with-static-reflection
$rectorConfig->autoloadPaths([
// discover specific file
__DIR__ . '/file-with-functions.php',
// or full directory
__DIR__ . '/project-without-composer',
]);
```
## Include Files
Do you need to include constants, class aliases or custom autoloader? Use bootstrap files:
```php
use Rector\Config\RectorConfig;
return static function (RectorConfig $rectorConfig): void {
$rectorConfig->bootstrapFiles([
__DIR__ . '/constants.php',
__DIR__ . '/project/special/autoload.php',
]);
};
```
Listed files will be executed like:
```php
include $filePath;
```
## Troubleshooting
Sometime, when we run Rector to class that detect children class, like `\Rector\Privatization\Rector\Class_\FinalizeClassesWithoutChildrenRector`, we may experience that parent class changed to final while it has children class, it because of the `PHPStan\Reflection\ReflectionProvider` cannot get all classes on scanning it on usage via `FamilyRelationsAnalyzer` service.
To avoid this issue, you may dump all classes via composer:
```bash
composer dump-autoload -o
```
before run the rector.
If the false positive still happen, you can skip the rule applied as last resort to do:
```php
use Rector\Privatization\Rector\Class_\FinalizeClassesWithoutChildrenRector;
$rectorConfig->skip([
FinalizeClassesWithoutChildrenRector::class => [
// classes that has children, and not detected even with composer dump-autoload -o
__DIR__ . '/src/HasChildClass.php',
],
]);
```
## Dealing with "Class ... was not found while trying to analyse it..."
Sometimes you may encounter this error ([see here for an example](https://github.com/rectorphp/rector/issues/6688)) even if the class is there and it seems to work properly with other tools (e.g. PHPStan).
In this case you may want to try one of the following solutions:
### Register
```php
$rectorConfig->autoloadPaths([
// the path to the exact class file
__DIR__ . '/vendor/acme/my-custom-dependency/src/Your/Own/Namespace/TheAffectedClass.php',
// or you can specify a wider scope
__DIR__ . '/vendor/acme/my-custom-dependency/src',
// WARNING: beware of performances, try to narrow down the path
// as much as you can or you will slow down each run
]);
```
### Register the path of the class to composer.json's `"files"` config, eg:
```javascript
"autoload-dev": {
"files": [
"vendor/acme/my-custom-dependency/src/Your/Own/Namespace/TheAffectedClass.php"
]
}
```
After that, run:
```bash
composer dump-autoload
```
and re-run the rector.
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