fix: PHP 8.3 TypeError on Articles admin page (v2.5.1) (#32)

Squash-merge of PR #32 — QA APPROVED (2026-06-17 SHA 5c483fdc)

Agent-Session: 2026-06-17-phase1-vps-runner-deploy-500fixes

tests/unit/ArticlesListTotalCastTest.php

@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * Test that articles list total count is cast to int.
+ *
+ * @package Peptide_News
+ */
+
+use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
+
+class ArticlesListTotalCastTest extends TestCase {
+    /**
+     * Verify that $wpdb->get_var returning a numeric string does not
+     * cause a TypeError in number_format() (PHP 8.3 strict typing).
+     */
+    public function test_total_cast_prevents_type_error() {
+        $total_as_string = '451'; // what $wpdb->get_var() returns
+        $total = (int) $total_as_string;
+        $this->assertIsInt( $total );
+        $this->assertSame( 451, $total );
+        // This should not throw TypeError on PHP 8.3
+        $formatted = number_format( $total );
+        $this->assertSame( '451', $formatted );
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Verify null return (missing table) results in 0, not a TypeError.
+     */
+    public function test_null_total_cast_to_zero() {
+        $total = (int) null;
+        $this->assertSame( 0, $total );
+        $formatted = number_format( $total );
+        $this->assertSame( '0', $formatted );
+    }
+}