README

A robust starter project using Slim Framework 4 with PHP 8.2, PHP-DI, Eloquent ORM, Symfony Validator, Rector, and Docker.

Folder Structure

.
├── app/                # Main application source code
│   ├── Action/         # API Actions (ADR Pattern — invokable classes)
│   ├── Commands/       # CLI Commands (Symfony Console)
│   ├── Database/       # Migration & Seeder infrastructure
│   ├── Exception/      # Custom exception classes
│   ├── Handler/        # Custom error handler (JSON error responses)
│   ├── Middleware/     # PSR-15 Middleware (CORS, JWT, Rate Limit)
│   ├── Model/          # Eloquent Models
│   ├── Traits/         # Reusable Traits (ResponseTrait, TransformTrait)
│   ├── Transformer/    # Fractal resource transformers
│   └── Validation/     # Request validation wrapper (Symfony Validator)
├── config/             # Configuration (Routes, Container, Settings, DB)
├── db/                 # Database Migrations & Seeds
├── public/             # Document root (Entry point index.php)
├── storage/            # Local storage (Logs, Caches, etc.)
│   ├── logs/           # Rotating application log files
│   └── rate-limit/     # Rate limiter cache files
├── tests/              # Automated testing (PHPUnit)
├── rector.php          # Rector 2 configuration
├── slim                # Executable CLI tool (Symfony Console)
├── Dockerfile          # PHP 8.2-FPM image configuration
├── docker-compose.yml  # Orchestration App & Web Server (Nginx)
└── nginx.conf          # Nginx Configuration

Key Features & Technologies

PHP 8.2
Slim Framework 4 & Slim PSR-7
PHP-DI 7 (Dependency Injection)
Eloquent ORM (Database Management)
Illuminate Database (Database Migrations & Schema Builder)
Symfony Validator (Request Validation & DTO Validation)
Symfony Console (Custom CLI Generator)
Monolog (Rotating File-based Error Logging)
Rector 2 (Automated Code Refactoring & Quality Checks)
Laravel Pint (Code Styling & Formatting)
PHPUnit (Testing)
Docker & Nginx
Health Check Endpoint (GET /health) — Database ping & storage writability check

How to Run

Clone/Download this project.
Start the container with Docker Compose:
```
docker compose up -d --build
```
Install dependencies using composer (inside the container):
```
docker exec -it slim_app composer install
```
Access the API at URL: http://localhost:8080

Request Validation

This starter features App\Validation\Validator built on top of Symfony Validator. It supports three flexible validation styles:

Array String Rules (Laravel-style string rules for convenience):

$validated = $validator->validate((array) $request->getParsedBody(), [
    'name' => 'required|min:3|max:255',
    'email' => 'required|email',
    'password' => 'required|min:8',
]);

Symfony Constraint Objects:

use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;

$validated = $validator->validate($data, [
    'email' => [new Assert\NotBlank(), new Assert\Email()],
]);

PHP 8 Attributes on DTOs:

use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;

class UserDto
{
    public function __construct(
        #[Assert\NotBlank]
        #[Assert\Email]
        public string $email
    ) {}
}

$validator->validate($userDto);

Application Logging

This starter comes pre-configured with Monolog (RotatingFileHandler) for error and debug logging.

Any unhandled exceptions or internal Slim errors will be automatically logged to: storage/logs/app-YYYY-MM-DD.log (rotated daily, max 14 files retained)

You can inject Psr\Log\LoggerInterface into your actions to log custom messages manually:

public function __construct(private \Psr\Log\LoggerInterface $logger) {}

public function __invoke(...) {
    $this->logger->info("This is a custom log entry");
}

CLI Tool (Slim API Starter)

This project has a built-in CLI (./slim) to help accelerate the development process. All CLI commands can be executed inside the container:

docker exec -it slim_app php slim list

Generator Commands

Make a New Action: Generates an Action class in PascalCase format and automatically uses ResponseTrait.
```
php slim make:action User/LoginAction
```
Make a New Model: Generates an Eloquent Model with the appropriate format.
```
php slim make:model User
```
Run Migrations: Runs all pending database migrations.
```
php slim migrate
```

Rollback Migrations: Rolls back the last batch of migrations.

php slim migrate:rollback
php slim migrate:rollback 3   # rollback 3 batches

Make a New Migration: Generates a new migration class using Illuminate Schema Builder.
```
php slim make:migration CreateUsersTable
```
Run Seeders: Runs all database seeders.
```
php slim seed:run
```
Create a Seeder: Generates a new database seeder class.
```
php slim seed:create UsersTableSeeder
```

Code Quality, Refactoring & Styling

This project uses Rector for automated code refactoring and Laravel Pint for PSR-12 code styling.

Check Code Quality & Style:

docker exec -it slim_app composer fix:check

Automatically Apply Refactoring & Code Fixes:
```
docker exec -it slim_app composer fix
```

Testing

All test files are placed in the tests/ directory and tested using PHPUnit.

docker exec -it slim_app composer test

Architectural Notes

ADR Pattern (Action-Domain-Response)

This project uses the ADR pattern as an alternative to conventional MVC for API endpoints:

Each class in app/Action acts independently with Single Responsibility.
Classes are implemented as invokables (using the __invoke() magic method) so they can be routed dynamically by Slim.
Output is standardized using ResponseTrait which centralizes JSON payload creation ($this->success() and $this->error() methods).

Common Container Commands

View App Logs (Docker): docker compose logs -f app
Enter Container Shell: docker exec -it slim_app bash
Update Composer: docker exec -it slim_app composer update
Refresh Autoloader: docker exec -it slim_app composer dump-autoload

ttpryg / slim-api-starter

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