Quick Start

Quick Start

A five-minute tour of the public API. Every snippet runs as-is once you have required vendor/autoload.php.

1. Bootstrap and start

Call createImmutable() once per request, then start():

use InitPHP\Sessions\Session;

Session::createImmutable()
    ->start();

With no adapter, PHP's default save handler is used. To store sessions elsewhere, pass an adapter — see Adapters:

use InitPHP\Sessions\Adapters\FileAdapter;

Session::createImmutable(new FileAdapter(['path' => __DIR__ . '/storage']))
    ->start();

2. Write values

set() is chainable; push() returns the value you just stored:

Session::set('username', 'admin')
    ->set('role', 'editor');

$token = Session::push('csrf', bin2hex(random_bytes(16)));

3. Read values

Session::get('username');             // 'admin'
Session::get('missing');              // null
Session::get('theme', 'light');       // 'light' (default)

Session::has('role');                 // true
Session::all();                       // ['username' => 'admin', 'role' => 'editor', ...]

A stored null is returned as-is — the default only applies to missing keys:

Session::set('nickname', null);
Session::get('nickname', 'anon');     // null, not 'anon'

4. Remove & one-shot reads

Session::remove('csrf');              // delete a key (alias: delete())

$flash = Session::pull('flash');      // read, then remove — perfect for flash data

5. Bulk writes

setAssoc() writes many string-keyed values at once. Pass true to replace the whole session instead of merging:

Session::setAssoc([
    'username' => 'admin',
    'role'     => 'editor',
]);

Session::setAssoc(['only' => 'this'], true); // wipes everything else

6. Lifecycle

Session::isStarted();        // true

Session::regenerateId(true); // rotate the id (e.g. right after login)

Session::flush();            // clear all values (session stays open)
Session::destroy();          // tear the session down entirely

Static or instance — your choice

After createImmutable(), every method works both ways, against the same session state:

$session = Session::createImmutable();
$session->start();             // instance call
Session::set('user', 'ada');   // static call — same session
echo $session->get('user');    // 'ada'

You can still use $_SESSION

The facade does not hide the superglobal:

$_SESSION['cart'] = ['sku-1', 'sku-2'];
echo count(Session::get('cart')); // 2

Where to go next

• The Session Facade — how the pieces fit together.
• Reading & Writing Values — every value method.
• Session Lifecycle — start, regenerate, flush, destroy.
• Adapters — choose a storage backend.