PAO: Agent-Optimized Output for PHP Testing Tools

PAO is a PHP dev tool by Nuno Maduro that detects when tests run inside AI agent environments (Claude Code, Cursor, Devin, Gemini CLI) and replaces verbose test runner output with compact JSON. This reduces token usage dramatically — up to 99.8% for Pest — keeping context windows free for code and conversation. It works with PHPUnit 12–13, Pest 4–5, and Paratest, requires PHP 8.3+, and installs via Composer with no additional configuration. The compact output is a constant ~20 tokens regardless of test suite size.