Getting Started

dreamfactory/df-firebird is a DreamFactory data-source connector — not a standalone Laravel database driver you'd add to a vanilla app. It plugs Firebird (version 2.5/3.0/4.0) into DreamFactory's auto-generated REST layer, so treat it like df-mysql / df-pgsql: a service provider + a BaseDbService subclass + a schema grammar over pdo_firebird.

Minimal path to first request:

# Inside the DreamFactory install root (a Laravel app)
php -m | grep -i firebird          # must show pdo_firebird
composer require dreamfactory/df-firebird

# If the provider isn't auto-discovered (check extra.laravel.providers in the package),
# register it in bootstrap/providers.php (L11) or config/app.php (older):
#   DreamFactory\Provider\Firebird\FirebirdServiceProvider::class

php artisan migrate                 # adds the `firebird` row to service_type
php artisan df:service:import      # optional: import packaged service definitions

Then in the admin UI (Services → Create → Firebird), configure:

API Namespace: fb (becomes the URL segment)
Host / Port: 127.0.0.1 / 3050
Database: either employee (aliased on server) or an absolute path like /var/lib/firebird/3.0/data/employee.fdb
Username / Password: Firebird creds (commonly SYSDBA / masterkey on dev)

First use case — prove the connection, then read a table:

# Validate the service is up and introspect
curl -s https://df.internal/api/v2/fb/_schema?refresh=true \
  -H "X-DreamFactory-Api-Key: $KEY"

# Read from a Firebird table
curl -s "https://df.internal/api/v2/fb/_table/CUSTOMERS?limit=5&fields=ID,NAME" \
  -H "X-DreamFactory-Api-Key: $KEY"

Where to look first in the repo:

composer.json — require block tells you which DreamFactory/Laravel line it targets (the 2025 releases track DF 5.x / Laravel 10–11; older DF 4.x will not resolve).
src/Providers/*ServiceProvider.php — how the service type, connection driver, and schema class are bound.
src/Services/*.php — confirms it extends DreamFactory\Core\Services\BaseDbService and which schema / getSchema() you get.
Mirror dreamfactory/df-pgsql in the same DF install as the reference implementation; the Firebird service is intentionally structured the same way.

Implementation Patterns

Expose Firebird CRUD as governed REST. The core pattern is: keep the Firebird schema untouched, put auth/roles/rate-limits in DreamFactory, and let consumers hit /api/v2/fb/_table/{table}. DreamFactory generates a full OpenAPI spec from the schema, so you get GET/POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE and single-record-by-id endpoints for free. Attach API keys to roles rather than handing out Firebird credentials.

Push business logic into Firebird stored procedures. Firebird has a mature PSQL/EXECUTE BLOCK story; DreamFactory exposes them at /api/v2/fb/_proc/{PROC}?params.... This is usually cleaner than doing multi-statement transactions through the REST layer, and lets DBAs keep logic where it belongs.

Use server-side scripts for shaping. In a scripted service or a post-process event on the Firebird service, you can call the platform API to enrich/reduce payloads:

// post-process script (V8/PHP) on a _table response
$rows = $event['response']['content']['resource'];
foreach ($rows as &$r) {
    $r['name_upper'] = mb_strtoupper($r['NAME'] ?? '');
}
$event['response']['content']['resource'] = $rows;

Filter/order/paginate with DreamFactory's URL language, not raw SQL. ?filter=NAME like 'ACME%'&order=ID DESC&limit=25&offset=50; the connector translates these. For joins use related=ORDERS when FK relationships are introspected, rather than issuing N+1 calls.

Reuse the connection from Laravel code. The service registers a Laravel database connection named after the service, so inside custom code you can usually do DB::connection('fb')->select(...). If the package ships its own Connection/QueryGrammar, run an EXPLAIN-style smoke test before relying on the grammar for subqueries and whereIn.

LLM/MCP integration. DreamFactory generates an OpenAPI spec per service; point your MCP server or LLM tool-calling config at /api/v2/fb/_openapi. Because the spec is derived from _schema, schema quality (types, enums, nullability) directly drives tool-call reliability — see the gotchas.

Gotchas and Tips

pdo_firebird is not bundled by default. composer require succeeding means nothing if php -m doesn't list it. Install with apt install php8.2-firebird (distro naming varies) or compile PHP with --with-pdo-firebird; otherwise every request throws a PDO could not find driver.
Version mismatch is the #1 install failure. The 2025-02-19 release targets current DF 5.x. Check the package's composer.json require for dreamfactory/df-core and laravel/framework; a DF 4.x host uses Laravel 5 and will refuse to resolve. Pin the exact version and re-read the changelog before upgrading — with 0 stars/0 dependents there is no community safety net.
Firebird identifier case. Unquoted identifiers are folded to UPPERCASE. A table created as "Customers" must be queried as "Customers". Schema introspection may return uppercase names — match your filter= and fields= casing against what _schema actually returns before writing client code.
No LIMIT/OFFSET. Firebird uses ROWS m TO n. The connector's grammar should rewrite limit/offset; if you drop to raw SQL in a script, write SELECT ... FROM T ROWS 10 TO 20 and remember ROWS counts from 1.
No AUTO_INCREMENT. Use generators (NEXT VALUE FOR gen_...) or EXECUTE BLOCK ... RETURNING. The connector cannot synthesize this; inserts into tables with triggers are fine, inserts expecting DB autoincrement are not.
Case-insensitive search differs. No ILIKE; use LOWER(col) LIKE LOWER(?). Filters ported from MySQL/PG will silently return zero rows.
BLOB SUB_TYPE TEXT encoding. Older Firebird DBs are WIN1252; without a UTF-8 connection charset, text blobs come back mojibake. Firebird 4 defaults to UTF8, 2.5/3.0 often don't. Verify charset in the service config and, if needed, SET NAMES UTF8.
Auth plugins. Firebird 3+ uses SRP; if you're using a legacy SYSDBA/masterkey and it fails, check AuthServer/WireCrypt in firebird.conf on the server. This is server-side, not a DreamFactory bug.
_schema completeness. Firebird views, computed columns, and BOOLEAN (only 3.0+) may not map to DreamFactory's field types cleanly. If LLM tool-calling matters, extend the schema class in a subclass rather than post-editing the OpenAPI file, and re-run _schema?refresh=true.
Debugging. Set APP_DEBUG=true and tail storage/logs/laravel.log; the service logs the failing SQL. Use a throwaway firebirdsql/firebird:3 container with a small .fdb to reproduce schema/CRUD issues before touching production.
Extension points. The clean customization seams are: subclass the service (class Foo extends \DreamFactory\...\Firebird) and rebind it in your app's provider, or override the schema class if introspection is wrong. Avoid editing vendor code — composer update will wipe it, and with a single-maintainer, zero-star package you will be patching locally.

Df Firebird Laravel Package

Getting Started

Implementation Patterns

Gotchas and Tips