PHP SDK generator from OpenAPI

Scalar can generate a Composer package in PHP from your OpenAPI document and make it installable from Packagist with nothing more than a Git tag. The PHP target is experimental. It generates working code, but it is further from GA than Java, Kotlin, Ruby, and C#, and there is no public PHP sample yet. This page sticks to what is documented: configuration, publishing, and the pagination surface, with a clear note wherever it describes what the generator targets rather than output you can inspect.

Two names that matter in PHP

PHP packages have two identities, and the PHP target keeps them separate:

• packageName is the namespace your users write in use statements, for example Acme\Api.
• composerPackageName is the vendor/package name they install, for example acme/api.

{
  "targets": {
    "php": {
      "packageName": "Acme\\Api",
      "composerPackageName": "acme/api",
      "destinations": {
        "production": { "repo": "acme/acme-php" }
      },
      "publish": { "packagist": true }
    }
  }
}

Note the escaped backslash in JSON. A third option, composerRepositoryUrl, points at a Composer repository other than the default, which matters if you distribute through a private Composer registry. The rest is in the PHP configuration reference.

What the generator targets for PHP

Pages you can foreach. The pagination guide documents that a PHP page is iterable, so walking every item is ordinary PHP:

foreach ($page as $item) {
    echo $item->id, PHP_EOL;
}

The page also exposes $page->pagingEachItem() for walking items explicitly, and $page->hasNextPage() with $page->getNextPage() for page-by-page work, such as a queue job that checkpoints between pages.

A resource tree, not one class per tag. Resources and methods come from the same configuration as the TypeScript, Python, and Go SDKs, with the same normalised verbs (list, retrieve, create), so documentation and support answers translate across languages.

The generator's shared feature set. The SDK Generator's feature list covers retries on temporary failures (twice by default: network errors, 408, 409, 429, 5xx) with Retry-After support, a 60-second default timeout, typed errors carrying status, headers, and body, and credentials from your security schemes with environment variable defaults. On an experimental target, confirm how each surfaces in PHP.

Cursor URLs are a gap. If your API returns a complete next-page URL rather than a cursor token, the PHP target stops after the first page for that scheme today. Use a cursor scheme where your API supports one.

Publishing to Packagist

This is the easiest registry Scalar publishes to. Packagist reads packages straight from Git tags, so there is no upload step and no secret to store.

1. Submit your repository's URL on packagist.org. Packagist reads composer.json and registers the package.
2. Connect Packagist's GitHub integration, or add its webhook, so new tags appear promptly. Without it, Packagist still picks up tags on its own schedule, only more slowly.
3. Merge the release pull request Scalar keeps open. The vX.Y.Z tag and GitHub Release it creates are the published version.

Your users then install with:

composer require acme/api

No release workflow is generated for PHP, because there is nothing to push. The generated sdk-ci.yml still validates and tests the package on every pull request. See Packagist publishing.

For Laravel and Symfony teams

If your API is built with Laravel, you may already be generating an OpenAPI document with a tool such as Scribe. That document can drive both your Laravel API reference and a PHP SDK for the developers who integrate with you. One description, two outputs, and no drift between what your docs say and what your client sends.

Scalar compared with OpenAPI Generator for PHP

OpenAPI Generator's php generator is stable and free. It builds on Guzzle, with a PSR-18 option in beta, and lets you set the namespace with invokerPackage, the Composer name with composerPackageName, and property naming with variableNamingConvention (default snake_case). There are also newer generators marked beta: php-nextgen and php-dt. Its petstore sample targets PHP 8.1 and later and is used by constructing an API class around a Guzzle client (adapted from its README):

$apiInstance = new OpenAPI\Client\Api\PetApi(new GuzzleHttp\Client());

If you want the SDK to sit on Guzzle specifically, or need a stable generator today, OpenAPI Generator is the practical choice.

For more on that decision, see OpenAPI Generator alternatives.

Frequently asked questions

Related

• Learn: Generate an SDK from OpenAPI · OpenAPI Generator alternatives
• Docs: PHP configuration · Publishing to Packagist
• Product: SDK Generator — see PHP output from your own OpenAPI document next to your other SDKs

OpenAPI Generator details are taken from openapi-generator.tech and the OpenAPITools/openapi-generator repository as of September 2026 (release 7.25.0). If something here is out of date, please open an issue and we will fix it.