Durable Workflow PHP SDK

The first-party, framework-neutral PHP SDK for applications and remote workers that connect to a standalone Durable Workflow server. It targets PHP 8.1 or newer and does not require Laravel or the embedded durable-workflow/workflow engine.

Install

Install the package from Packagist:

composer require durable-workflow/sdk:^0.1

To install directly from the source repository before a tagged release:

composer config repositories.durable-workflow-sdk vcs https://github.com/durable-workflow/sdk-php
composer require durable-workflow/sdk:dev-main

The SDK uses the official apache/avro package for schema parsing and binary payload encoding. Guzzle is included as the default PSR-18 transport; any PSR-18 client and PSR-17 factories can be injected instead.

Start and inspect a workflow

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

require __DIR__.'/vendor/autoload.php';

use DurableWorkflow\Client;
use DurableWorkflow\Auth\TokenAuthentication;

$client = new Client(
    'http://localhost:8080',
    new TokenAuthentication('dev-token-123'),
    namespace: 'default',
);

$handle = $client->startWorkflow(
    workflowType: 'greeter',
    workflowId: 'greeting-1',
    taskQueue: 'php-workers',
    input: ['world'],
);

$handle->signal('set-language', ['en']);
var_dump($handle->query('status'));
var_dump($handle->result(timeoutSeconds: 30));

WorkflowHandle distinguishes the stable workflow instance from a selected run. Its ordinary operations follow whichever run is current after a continue-as-new transition. The *SelectedRun() methods retain the original run guard and fail rather than silently targeting a successor.

Control-plane administration and discovery

Client::withNamespace() returns an immutable namespace selection that keeps the configured authentication, transport, and payload codec. Workflow visibility results and the newly covered administrative surfaces use SDK model types while retaining the complete server payload in each model's raw property.

use DurableWorkflow\Model\ServiceOperationOptions;

$orders = $client->withNamespace('orders-prod');

$page = $orders->listWorkflows(
    workflowType: 'orders.process',
    status: 'running',
    query: 'CustomerId = "42"',
    pageSize: 25,
);
$schedulePage = $orders->listSchedules();

$attributes = $orders->listSearchAttributes();
$orders->createSearchAttribute('OrderTotal', 'double');
$orders->deleteSearchAttribute('TemporaryField');

$orders->setNamespaceExternalStorage(
    'orders-prod',
    's3',
    thresholdBytes: 2 * 1024 * 1024,
    config: ['bucket' => 'workflow-payloads'],
);

$operation = $orders->startServiceOperation(
    'payments',
    'Cards',
    'authorize',
    ['amount' => 4200, 'currency' => 'USD'],
    new ServiceOperationOptions(idempotencyKey: 'order-42-authorization'),
);

$call = $operation->describe();
$operation->cancel('customer request');
$cluster = $orders->clusterInfo();

listSchedules() returns a typed page with schedules, nextPageToken, and the original response in raw. The current server returns the complete namespace-scoped schedule list and does not yet apply schedule-list query filters; see the protocol guide for that compatibility boundary.

startServiceOperation() explicitly starts an asynchronous call and returns a ServiceOperationHandle. executeServiceOperation() honors the catalog mode, waits for completion by default, and returns a ServiceOperationDescription. Arguments use the client's payload codec; the default is the official Apache Avro implementation.

Run a remote PHP worker

Workflow handlers may be ordinary callables or generators. Yielding a command from WorkflowContext creates a durable step; replay sends the recorded value back into the generator without repeating the external work.

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

require __DIR__.'/vendor/autoload.php';

use DurableWorkflow\Client;
use DurableWorkflow\Worker;
use DurableWorkflow\Worker\ActivityContext;
use DurableWorkflow\Worker\WorkflowContext;

$client = new Client('http://server:8080', token: 'dev-token-123');
$worker = new Worker($client, 'php-workers');

$worker->registerActivity(
    'greet',
    static fn (ActivityContext $context, string $name): string => "hello, {$name}",
);

$worker->registerWorkflow(
    'greeter',
    static function (WorkflowContext $context, string $name): Generator {
        $greeting = yield $context->activity('greet', [$name]);

        return ['greeting' => $greeting];
    },
);

$worker->run();

Call $context->heartbeat($details) from a long-running activity. It throws ActivityCancelled when the server requests cancellation. Worker::run() installs SIGINT/SIGTERM handlers when pcntl is available, stops accepting new tasks, and lets the active synchronous task settle before returning.

See examples/, the generated PHP API reference, and docs/protocol.md for the complete client, schedule, namespace, visibility, search-attribute, service-operation, discovery, authentication, worker, query, and update surfaces.

Development

composer install
composer validate --strict
composer test
composer analyse
composer docs

The dependency-boundary check rejects Laravel, Illuminate, the embedded workflow package, and the standalone server package in both declared and resolved production dependencies.