- How do I install the Boxalino Client SDK for PHP in a Laravel app?
- Install it with Composer using composer require boxalino/boxalino-client-sdk-php. In Laravel, publish any package configuration the service provider exposes, then add your Boxalino account credentials and environment settings. Keep SDK calls behind a service, facade, or dedicated integration class rather than calling Boxalino directly from models or controllers.
- Which Laravel and PHP versions does boxalino/boxalino-client-sdk-php support?
- The package overview does not publish a Laravel or PHP version matrix. Check the composer.json require block for the supported PHP version and Laravel framework constraints. Before production, confirm compatibility with your Laravel 10 or 11 stack and whether the underlying Boxalino SDK version is pinned or floating.
- What is the Boxalino Client SDK used for in an ecommerce Laravel site?
- It wraps Boxalino's AI-powered search, navigation, recommendations, personalization, and tracking APIs. You use it to fetch personalized product search results, recommendation blocks, and, in v1.5, narrative content for templates. Treat it as a vendor integration layer for product discovery, not as part of your domain model.
- How do Boxalino narratives work in v1.5, and are they safe to render?
- v1.5 is described as the first version with Boxalino CPO Narratives, which return per-visitor HTML or text blocks for injection into templates. Because narratives are vendor-authored markup, treat them as untrusted third-party content and apply explicit escaping, sanitization, and CSP controls. Confirm the documented sanitization contract before rendering narratives in production.
- Does boxalino/boxalino-client-sdk-php work with Laravel response caching?
- Per-visitor personalization and narratives conflict with shared page or response caching. Misconfiguration can leak one user's personalized content to another, which is both a correctness and a privacy incident. Cache only non-personalized fragments, or key caches by user or session, and ensure narrative responses are excluded from shared cache layers.
- How do I send tracking events for Boxalino personalization?
- The SDK includes tracking so interaction events can improve search, recommendation, and narrative relevance. Wire tracking into the relevant request or middleware path and verify events are emitted before relying on personalization, otherwise narratives may silently degrade to generic or empty output. Also confirm how consent and GDPR signals are propagated to Boxalino.
- Is v1.5 backward compatible with v1.4 of the Boxalino SDK?
- The release note for v1.5 does not include a changelog, migration notes, or a public API diff, so backward compatibility is not confirmed. Before upgrading, test config keys, facade methods, and the client constructor against a staging application. Treat v1.5 as an additive pilot behind a feature flag rather than a drop-in upgrade.
- What are the production risks of using Boxalino narratives in Laravel?
- The main risks are unproven feature maturity, vendor-authored HTML injection, personalization soft failures when tracking is incomplete, cache leakage, and remote dependency latency. Each narrative render is a remote call unless cached, so define a p95 latency budget and a fallback path. Start with a low-traffic template behind a feature flag.
- How should I test a Laravel integration with boxalino/boxalino-client-sdk-php?
- Unit tests can mock SDK responses, but you should also confirm whether the package provides integration tests against a Boxalino sandbox. Test search, recommendations, narrative rendering, tracking emission, and cache behavior with realistic user contexts. Include tests for empty or degraded narrative responses so templates fail gracefully.
- What alternatives or integration approaches exist to the Boxalino PHP SDK?
- Alternatives include calling Boxalino APIs directly, building a thin BFF endpoint for SPA or headless front ends, or using a different search and personalization vendor. The SDK is a good fit for Laravel Blade applications that can render per-visitor content server-side, but a poor fit for heavily cached static or API-only front ends. Evaluate whether you need the SDK wrapper or only a small API client.