Doctrine Instantiator
A PHP library that creates class instances without calling their constructors.doctrine/instantiator
- Stars
- 11k
- Forks
- 65
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- PHP
- Last update
- 19 days ago
- Type
- Library
What it is
Doctrine Instantiator is a PHP library that creates new objects from a class without running its constructor or using any of its own methods. It is a small utility, and the README describes it as the way Doctrine and similar tools avoid constructor logic when building objects. It is installed with Composer, PHP's standard package manager.
- Create an instance of a PHP class with $instantiator->instantiate(ClassName::class) without calling its constructor
- Build objects for tests when the constructor needs services or config that are hard to provide
Great for
- PHP developers building ORMs, serializers, or other tools that need to create objects without running constructors
- Maintainers of PHP libraries who need to rebuild objects from stored data
- Developers writing tests that need an object of a class whose constructor has side effects or hard-to-satisfy dependencies
Not ideal for
- Application developers who just need normal object creation, since skipping the constructor can leave objects with uninitialized properties
- Non-PHP projects, because it only works with PHP classes
- Teams that want a general-purpose framework rather than a single focused utility
How to get it
- 1
Install with a package manager
You'll need: PHP · Composer
Install via Composer
composer require doctrine/instantiator - 2
Run it
- Install the package with Composer.
- Create an instance of the Instantiator class.
- Call instantiate() with the fully qualified class name you want to create.
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Read the project's CONTRIBUTING.md for guidance on contributing or reporting issues.
- Check the Doctrine project homepage for documentation beyond the README.
Downloads
Strengths
- Small, focused library with a single documented entry point
- Installs with one Composer command
- Maintained under the Doctrine project and migrated from the earlier ocramius/instantiator package
Trade-offs
- Skipping the constructor can leave objects in an incomplete state, so callers must set values themselves
- The README is brief and does not document edge cases or limitations in detail
- Its use is niche and mainly aimed at library and framework authors
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.