rectorphp/rector · error · ShouldNotHappenException

"%s" is deprecated as risky change that does not handle enum

Error message

"%s" is deprecated as risky change that does not handle enum usage across the whole context. Handle it via IDE with full context, manually, or a custom rule instead

What it means

EnumCaseToPascalCaseRector used to rename enum cases and their usages to PascalCase. It is deprecated because the rename is risky when done by a rule that sees one file at a time — enum cases are referenced via Case-sensitive ::class-style fetches across the whole project, and Rector's file-local view cannot guarantee a complete, consistent rename. refactor() now throws ShouldNotHappenException on Enum_ and ClassConstFetch nodes; the rule does nothing but abort.

Source

Thrown at rules/CodingStyle/Rector/Enum_/EnumCaseToPascalCaseRector.php:50

{
    case Pending;
    case Published;
    case InReview;
    case WaitingForApproval;
}
CODE_SAMPLE
)]);
    }
    public function getNodeTypes(): array
    {
        return [Enum_::class, ClassConstFetch::class];
    }
    /**
     * @param Enum_|ClassConstFetch $node
     */
    public function refactor(Node $node): ?Node
    {
        throw new ShouldNotHappenException(sprintf('"%s" is deprecated as risky change that does not handle enum usage across the whole context. Handle it via IDE with full context, manually, or a custom rule instead', self::class));
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 408fcb0ff1)

Solutions

Remove EnumCaseToPascalCaseRector::class from rector.php / imported sets and re-run vendor/bin/rector dry-run
Rename enum cases in your IDE with full-project rename (Refactor -> Rename Symbol), which updates every usage safely
If automation is required, write a custom rule that loads references project-wide, or run the rename in a dedicated commit verified by tests
Audit shared set bundles for the deprecated rule name

Example fix

// before (rector.php)
->withRules([
    \Rector\CodingStyle\Rector\Enum_\EnumCaseToPascalCaseRector::class,
]);
// code:
enum Status {
    case in_progress;
}

// after (rector.php)
// rule removed; renamed via IDE full-project rename:
enum Status {
    case InProgress;
}
// all Status::in_progress references updated to Status::InProgress by the IDE

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

$deprecated = ['EnumCaseToPascalCaseRector'];
foreach (glob(__DIR__ . '/rector*.php') as $config) {
    $src = file_get_contents($config);
    foreach ($deprecated as $rule) {
        if (str_contains($src, $rule)) {
            fwrite(STDERR, "Remove deprecated rule {$rule} from {$config}\n");
            exit(1);
        }
    }
}

Prevention

Rename symbols with IDE project-wide refactor, never a file-local rule
Decide enum case naming (PascalCase vs snake_case) before the first enum lands, in a coding standard
Run tests after any enum rename to catch missed case references
Remove deprecated rules from config on every Rector upgrade

When it happens

Trigger: Registering rules/CodingStyle/Rector/Enum_/EnumCaseToPascalCaseRector.php and running rector over any file containing an enum declaration or a ClassConstFetch (any Foo::BAR constant/case access — extremely common). The throw fires at rules/CodingStyle/Rector/Enum_/EnumCaseToPascalCaseRector.php:50.

Common situations: Projects with snake_case enum cases (e.g. status enums like case in_progress) registered this rule to normalise naming, then upgraded rector/rector-prefixed and hit the guard. Because ClassConstFetch matches constant access everywhere, the crash triggers on nearly the first file analysed.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of rectorphp/rector@408fcb0ff1 (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/92df54b7aa3cdc60. Report an issue: GitHub.