Add Deprecated attribute with GUID tracking and structured metadata

[Copilot]

Replaces unstructured @deprecated DocBlocks with a type-safe PHP 8 attribute supporting GUID-based tracking and programmatic access via Reflection API.

Implementation

New Deprecated attribute (app/Attributes/Deprecated.php)

• Required: guid (unique identifier, e.g., DEP-2026-001), message (deprecation reason)
• Optional: since (version/date), alternative (replacement), removeIn (removal version)
• Supports: classes, methods, properties, constants
• Methods: getFormattedMessage(), toArray()

Usage example:

use App\Attributes\Deprecated;

#[Deprecated(
    guid: 'DEP-2026-001',
    message: 'Customers no longer identified by operator_level',
    since: 'v1.0.0 (2026-01-30)',
    alternative: 'is_subscriber flag',
    removeIn: 'v2.0.0'
)]
public const OPERATOR_LEVEL_CUSTOMER = 100;

Reflection API access:

$reflection = new ReflectionMethod(User::class, 'networkUser');
$attrs = $reflection->getAttributes(Deprecated::class);
$deprecated = $attrs[0]->newInstance();
echo $deprecated->getFormattedMessage();
// "DEPRECATED [DEP-2026-002] since v1.0.0 - Network credentials now stored directly on User model..."

Deliverables

• Attribute class with 11 passing unit tests (36 assertions)
• 383-line README: usage guide, GUID conventions, migration from @deprecated, Reflection examples
• Updated DEPRECATED.md with v3.3 section and migration guide
• Sample implementation in User model (2 deprecated elements)

Benefits

• Structured data: Programmatically queryable vs free-form text
• GUID tracking: Unique IDs for deprecation inventory and tooling
• Type safety: Compile-time validation vs runtime parsing
• Backwards compatible: Can coexist with @deprecated during transition

Original prompt

Generate doc and guid for Deprecated

---

💬 We'd love your input! Share your thoughts on Copilot coding agent in our 2 minute survey.