PHP

Detailed technical documentation on using RudderStack’s PHP SDK to send your server-side events to various destinations.

RudderStack’s PHP SDK allows you to track your event data from your PHP applications and send it to your specified destinations via RudderStack.

Check out the GitHub codebase to get a more hands-on understanding of the SDK.

SDK setup requirements

To set up the RudderStack PHP SDK, the following prerequisites must be met:

• You will need to set up a RudderStack account.

• Once signed up, set up a PHP source in the dashboard. For more information, follow this guide. You should then see a Write Key for this source, as shown below:

• You will also need a data plane URL. Follow this section for more information on the data plane URL and where to get it.

Installing the PHP SDK

Install the RudderStack PHP SDK using the composer. You can also do so by running the following command:

git clone https://github.com/rudderlabs/rudder-php-sdk /my/app/folders/

Then, use the composer to install the PHP SDK by running the following command:

composer require rudderstack/rudder-php-sdk

Initializing the RudderStack client

To initialize the RudderStack client, run the following code snippet:

require_once("/path/to/lib/Rudder.php");

Rudder::init(WRITE_KEY, array(
  "data_plane_url" => DATA_PLANE_URL,
  "consumer"       => "lib_curl", // fork_curl
  "debug"          => true,
  "max_queue_size" => 10000,
  "batch_size"     => 100,
  "ssl"            => true // defaults to true
));

RudderStack accepts the DATA_PLANE_URL with or without the protocol. If the protocol is missing, RudderStack automatically prepends it to the URL based on whether the ssl option is set to true or false.

RudderStack accepts the following data plane URL formats:

SSL	Data Plane URL
true	https://example.dataplane.com
true	example.dataplane.com
false	http://example.dataplane.com
false	example.dataplane.com

While initializing the RudderStack client, the ssl field is optional if you are using the HTTPS protocol. If included, its value must be set to true.

In case of the HTTP protocol, ssl is a required field and must always be set to false.

Sending events from the RudderStack client

Once the RudderStack client is initialized, you can use it to send relevant customer events.

RudderStack does not store the user state in any of the server-side SDKs. Unlike the client-side SDKs that deal with only a single user at a given time, the server-side SDKs deal with multiple users at the same time. Therefore, for any of the calls supported by the PHP SDK, you need to specify either userId or anonymousId every time.

A sample track call is shown in the following code snippet:

Rudder::track(array(
  "userId" => "f4ca124298",
  "event" => "Signed Up",
  "properties" => array(
    "plan" => "Enterprise"
  )
));

Identify

The identify call lets you identify a visiting user and capture any related information such as their name, email address, etc.

A sample identify call is as shown:

Rudder::identify(array(
  "userId" => "2sfjej334",
  "traits" => array(
    "email" => "[e-mail]",
    "name" => "test name",
    "friends" => 25
  )
));

The identify method parameters are as described below:

Field	Type	Presence	Description
anonymousId	String	Optional	Sets the user ID for cases where there is no unique identifier for the user. Either userId or anonymousId is required.
userId	String	Optional, if anonymousId is already set	Unique identifier for a particular user in your database.
context	Object	Optional	Dictionary of information that provides context about a message. However, it is not directly related to the API call.
integrations	Object	Optional	A dictionary containing the destinations to be either enabled or disabled.
timestamp	Date	Optional	The timestamp of the message's arrival.
traits	Object	Optional	Dictionary of the traits associated with the user, such as nameor email

Track

The track call lets you record the user actions along with their associated properties. Each user action is called an event.

A sample track call is shown below:

Rudder::track(array(
  "userId" => "f4ca124298",
  "event" => "Article Bookmarked",
  "properties" => array(
    "title" => "Snow Fall",
    "subtitle" => "The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek",
    "author" => "John Branch"
  )
));

The track method parameters are as described below:

Name	Type	Presence	Description
user_id	String	Required	The developer identification for your user
event	String	Required	Name of the event being performed by the user
properties	Object	Optional	Dictionary of the properties associated with a particular event.
context	Object	Optional	Dictionary of information that provides context about a message. However, it is not directly related to the API call.
timestamp	Date	Optional	The timestamp of the message's arrival.
anonymous_id	String	Optional	Sets the user ID for cases where there is no unique identifier for the user. Either userId or anonymousId is required.
integrations	Object	Optional	A dictionary containing the destinations to be either enabled or disabled.

Page

The page call allows you to record the page views on your website along with the other relevant information about the viewed page.

A sample page call is as shown:

Rudder::page(array(
  "userId" => "f4ca124298",
  "category" => "Docs",
  "name" => "PHP library",
  "properties" => array(
    "url" => "https://segment.com/libraries/php/"
  )
));

The page method parameters are as described below:

Field	Type	Presence	Description
anonymousId	String	Optional	Sets the user ID for cases where there is no unique identifier for the user. Either userId or anonymousId is required.
userId	String	Optional, if anonymousId is already set	Unique identifier for a particular user in your database.
context	Object	Optional	Dictionary of information that provides context about a message. However, it is not directly related to the API call.
integrations	Object	Optional	A dictionary containing the destinations to be either enabled or disabled.
name	String	Required	Name of the page being viewed.
properties	Object	Optional	Dictionary of the properties associated with the page being viewed, such as url and referrer
timestamp	Date	Optional	The timestamp of the message's arrival.

Screen

The screen call is the mobile equivalent of the page call. It allows you to record the screen views on your mobile app along with the other relevant information about the app screen.

A sample screen call is as shown:

Rudder::screen(array(
  "userId" => "f4ca124298",
  "category" => "Docs",
  "name" => "PHP library",
  "properties" => array(
    "name" => "HomeScreen"
  )
));

The screen method parameters are as described below:

Field	Type	Presence	Description
anonymousId	String	Optional	Sets the user ID for cases where there is no unique identifier for the user. Either userId or anonymousId is required.
userId	String	Optional, if anonymousId is already set	Unique identifier for a particular user in your database.
context	Object	Optional	Dictionary of information that provides context about a message. However, it is not directly related to the API call.
integrations	Object	Optional	A dictionary containing the destinations to be either enabled or disabled.
name	String	Required	Name of the screen being viewed.
properties	Object	Optional	Dictionary of the properties associated with the page being viewed, such as url and referrer
timestamp	Date	Optional	The timestamp of the message's arrival.

Group

The group call lets you associate an identified user to a group - either a company, project or a team and record any custom traits or properties associated with that group.

A sample group call is as shown:

Rudder::group(array(
  "userId" => "2sfjej334",
  "groupId" => "2sfjej334erresd",
  "traits" => array(
    "email" => "[e-mail]",
    "name" => "test name",
    "friends" => 25
  )
));

The group method parameters are as follows:

Field	Type	Presence	Description
anonymousId	String	Optional	Sets the user ID for cases where there is no unique identifier for the user. Either userId or anonymousId is required.
userId	String	Optional, if anonymousId is already set	Unique identifier for a particular user in your database.
context	Object	Optional	Dictionary of information that provides context about a message. However, it is not directly related to the API call.
integrations	Object	Optional	A dictionary containing the destinations to be either enabled or disabled.
groupId	String	Required	Unique identifier of the group, as present in your database.
traits	Object	Optional	Dictionary of the properties or traits associated with the group, such as email or name.
timestamp	Date	Optional	The timestamp of the message's arrival.

Alias

The alias call allows you to associate one identity with another.

alias is an advanced method that lets you change the tracked user's ID explicitly. This method is useful when managing user identities for some of the downstream destinations.

A sample alias call is as shown:

Rudder::alias(array(
  "previousId" => "previousId",
  "userId" => "2sfjej334",
));

The alias method parameters are as mentioned below:

Field	Type	Presence	Description
userId	String	Optional, if anonymousId is already set	Unique identifier for a particular user in your database.
context	Object	Optional	Dictionary of information that provides context about a message. However, it is not directly related to the API call.
integrations	Object	Optional	A dictionary containing the destinations to be either enabled or disabled.
previousId	String	Required	The previous unique identifier of the user.
traits	Object	Optional	Dictionary of the properties or traits associated with the group, such as email or name.
timestamp	Date	Optional	The timestamp of the message's arrival.

For a detailed explanation of the alias call, refer to our RudderStack API Specification guide.

Contact us

For any queries on any of the sections covered in this guide, you can contact us, or start a conversation on our Slack channel.

If you come across any issues while using the PHP SDK, you can open a new issue on our GitHub Issues page.