@uses

The @uses tag documents that the described element uses — depends on — the referenced one. Where @see is a loose "read also" pointer, @uses (together with its inverse, @used-by) is meant to express a real dependency relationship worth tracking: if the referenced element changes behavior, the element carrying @uses may break. This makes the relationship visible from the dependent side, even when the referenced element carries no annotation of its own.

"@uses" <Reference> [ <Description> ]

Parsing a @uses tag produces a ReferenceTag instance narrowed to a CodeReference (a class, function, method, constant, property, or variable — never an external URI), exposing $reference.

final class UsesTag extends ReferenceTag
{
    // extends ReferenceTag<CodeReference>
    // directly; adds nothing beyond the
    // inherited $reference, $name and
    // $description.
}

Defined by the PSR-19 draft (FIG proposed PHPDoc Tags, §5.17) and by phpDocumentor, which also documents its inverse, @used-by, on the same page.

05 July 2026