I tried to write a CLI tool for orchestration by wrapping some sub-processes. I found PHP very limited in its ability to handle subprocesses (streams, error handling, signal forwarding). I tried to avoid using frameworks, but eventually used Symfony's "Process" lib. It helped with Linux but Windows support is very limited.

This experience was pretty disappointing, but also pretty niche. Overall I agree with the general sentiment that PHP is very nice to use nowadays, especially for web development.