Getting Started

The official PHP SDK for Stream covers Chat, Video, Moderation, and Feeds. This page takes you from installing the SDK to your first API call.

Start here

Backend quickstart

Generate tokens, sync users and manage channels from your server.

Authentication and tokens

Token signing, expiry and revocation in detail.

Client-side overview

Connecting users, presence and everything else that runs in your app.

This SDK calls the Stream API from your backend, authenticated with your API secret. Your users connect from your app with a client SDK, using a token your backend signs. Anything that needs a connected user or a live WebSocket lives in the client: initialization, guest and anonymous sessions, typing indicators and presence.

flowchart LR
  app[Your app] <-->|WebSocket| api[Stream API]
  backend[Your backend] -->|REST| api
  backend -. user token .-> app

Stream CLI and Agent Skills

Manage Stream from your terminal with the Stream CLI, including scripting and AI-agent workflows. Install the CLI and the default Agent Skills:

curl -fsSL https://getstream.io/cli.sh | bash
getstream skills

Then ask your agent in plain English, for example:

/stream List recent channels in my app.

See the CLI docs and Agent Skills docs for more.

Setup


GitHub	github.com/GetStream/getstream-php
Packagist	packagist.org/packages/getstream/getstream-php

Install the SDK:

composer require getstream/getstream-php

Initialize the client with your API key and secret (available on the Dashboard):

use GetStream\ChatClient;

$client = new ChatClient("your-api-key", "your-api-secret");

Or load credentials from environment variables (STREAM_API_KEY, STREAM_API_SECRET) or a .env file:

use GetStream\ClientBuilder;

$client = ClientBuilder::fromEnv()->buildChatClient();

Server-side token

Your backend generates a user token that the client SDKs use to authenticate. A typical place to issue this token is during login or registration.

$token = $client->createUserToken("user-id");
// return the token to the client app

For token expiry and revocation details, see Authentication and tokens.

Making your first API call

Create a user, open a channel, and send a message:

use GetStream\GeneratedModels as Models;

// Upsert a user
$client->updateUsers(new Models\UpdateUsersRequest(
    users: ["john" => new Models\UserRequest(
        id: "john",
        name: "John",
    )],
));

// Create or join a channel
$client->getOrCreateChannel("messaging", "hello-world",
    new Models\ChannelGetOrCreateRequest(
        data: new Models\ChannelInput(
            createdByID: "john",
        ),
    )
);

// Send a message
$client->sendMessage("messaging", "hello-world",
    new Models\SendMessageRequest(
        message: new Models\MessageRequest(
            text: "Hello, Stream!",
            userID: "john",
        ),
    )
);