Introduction

babelqueue/php-sdk is the framework-agnostic PHP core: the wire-envelope codec, contracts, validation and dead-letter helpers. It is the single PHP implementation of the wire format, so the framework adapters reuse it and can never drift.

Most PHP applications don’t install this directly — they install an adapter, which pulls the core in:

• Laravel — a drop-in polyglot queue driver.
• Symfony — a Messenger serializer.

Install the core directly only for a framework-less PHP app, or to build a new adapter.

What you get

• EnvelopeCodec — build (make / fromJob), encode, decode, urn and accepts for the canonical {job, trace_id, data, meta, attempts} envelope (schema_version: 1).
• Contracts — PolyglotJob (getBabelUrn() + toPayload()), HasTraceId, InboundMessage, and a minimal Transport seam.
• EnvelopeValidator — consumer-side validation with a reason, so you can quarantine an unsupported schema_version instead of dropping it.
• Reference transports — optional framework-less RedisTransport / AmqpTransport.
• Dead-letter + unknown-URN strategies, and a dependency-free UUIDv4.

Zero heavy dependencies — PHP ^8.2 and ext-json only.

Not a worker

This core is the contract runtime, not a runtime worker: it has no broker loop and no retry. The adapters bind to each framework’s native queue (Laravel’s drop-in driver, Symfony Messenger) and reuse that framework’s worker and retry.

The envelope

{
  "job": "urn:babel:orders:created",
  "trace_id": "7b3f9c2a-e41d-4f88-9b2a-1c0d5e6f7a8b",
  "data": { "order_id": 1042 },
  "meta": { "id": "f1e2d3c4-b5a6-4789-90ab-cdef01234567", "queue": "orders", "lang": "php", "schema_version": 1, "created_at": 1749132727000 },
  "attempts": 0
}

See the full wire contract. Continue to Installation.