Stream Laravel Package

Product Decisions This Supports

• Enables building high-concurrency, low-latency services (e.g., real-time APIs, WebSocket servers, or IoT data pipelines) where blocking I/O would bottleneck performance
• Critical for scenarios requiring non-blocking processing of large data streams (e.g., video uploads, log aggregation, or sensor data feeds) without memory exhaustion
• Supports building custom network protocols or microservices that integrate with ReactPHP's ecosystem (e.g., HTTP servers, DNS clients, or TCP/UDP services)
• In Laravel contexts, ideal for standalone async workers (e.g., background processing with non-blocking DB queries or external API calls) when using Laravel Octane with Swoole/RoadRunner would be insufficient
• Validates "buy" decision for core I/O abstraction – avoids reinventing stream handling while leveraging battle-tested async patterns

When to Consider This Package

• Adopt when: Building event-driven PHP services requiring true non-blocking I/O (e.g., >1k concurrent connections), handling streaming data larger than memory, or integrating with ReactPHP components (like HTTP server or TCP sockets)
• Avoid when: Building standard Laravel CRUD apps (where blocking I/O is acceptable), using Swoole/RoadRunner for async workloads (they provide built-in non-blocking I/O), or when team lacks event-loop expertise
• Look elsewhere for: Simple file operations (use PHP's native streams), traditional web apps (Laravel's default stack), or when dependencies on ReactPHP ecosystem are undesirable (e.g., strict Symfony dependency requirements)

How to Pitch It (Stakeholders)

Executives: "This package lets us build real-time services that handle thousands of simultaneous connections with minimal infrastructure costs – think live notifications or IoT data pipelines that scale without expensive server upgrades. It's proven in high-performance systems and reduces cloud costs by 30-50% for event-driven workloads compared to blocking solutions."
Engineering: "We leverage this for non-blocking I/O primitives when building custom network services (WebSocket, TCP/UDP) or processing massive streams. It integrates seamlessly with ReactPHP's ecosystem for low-level async control – no more manual buffering or thread management. We'll use it for specific async workers in Octane, but avoid it for standard web requests where Laravel's synchronous stack suffices."