Config Laravel Package

Getting Started

First Steps

1. Installation Add the package via Composer:

   composer require respect/config
   

   Register the service provider in config/app.php under providers:

   Respect\Config::class,
   

2. Basic Configuration Define a config file (e.g., config/app.php):

   return [
       'debug' => env('APP_DEBUG', false),
       'database' => [
           'default' => 'mysql',
           'connections' => [
               'mysql' => [
                   'driver' => 'mysql',
                   'host' => env('DB_HOST', 'localhost'),
               ],
           ],
       ],
   ];
   

3. First Usage Access config values via the Config facade:

   use Respect\Config;
   
   $debug = Config::get('debug'); // false
   $host = Config::get('database.connections.mysql.host'); // 'localhost'
   

First Use Case: Environment-Based Config Overrides

Use Config::set() to dynamically override values (e.g., in a service provider):

Config::set('debug', true); // Override for local/dev

Implementation Patterns

1. Dependency Injection (DI) with Config

Leverage Config for lightweight DI in constructors:

class UserService {
    public function __construct(
        private string $dbHost,
        private bool $debugMode
    ) {
        $this->dbHost = Config::get('database.connections.mysql.host');
        $this->debugMode = Config::get('debug');
    }
}

2. Nested Config with Dot Notation

Access deeply nested configs fluently:

$timeout = Config::get('http.client.timeouts.connect'); // 5

3. Dynamic Config Merging

Merge configs at runtime (e.g., for feature flags):

Config::merge([
    'features' => [
        'new_ui' => env('FEATURE_NEW_UI', false),
    ],
]);

4. Config Validation

Validate configs during bootstrapping (e.g., in AppServiceProvider):

$config = Config::all();
if (!isset($config['database']['connections'])) {
    throw new \RuntimeException('Database config missing!');
}

5. Environment-Specific Configs

Load environment-specific configs (e.g., config/local.php):

if (app()->environment('local')) {
    Config::merge(require __DIR__.'/local.php');
}

Gotchas and Tips

Pitfalls

1. No Caching by Default Config values are not cached between requests. For performance, cache Config::all() in a singleton or Laravel’s cache:

   $cachedConfig = Cache::remember('config', 60, fn() => Config::all());
   

2. Overwriting vs. Merging Config::set() overwrites existing keys. Use Config::merge() for partial updates:

   Config::set('debug', true); // Overwrites entirely
   Config::merge(['debug' => true]); // Preserves other keys
   

3. Dot Notation Ambiguity Avoid keys with dots (e.g., api.v1) if using Laravel’s dot notation helpers (e.g., config('api.v1')). Stick to underscores or validate paths:

   Config::get('api_v1.url'); // Safer
   

4. Thread Safety Config is not thread-safe. Avoid modifying configs in queues or parallel processes without synchronization.

Debugging Tips

1. Dump Entire Config Use Config::all() to inspect the full config tree during development:

   dd(Config::all());
   

2. Validate Paths Check for typos in config paths with:

   if (!Config::has('database.connections.mysql')) {
       throw new \InvalidArgumentException('Invalid config path');
   }
   

3. Environment Debugging Log environment-specific configs:

   \Log::debug('Current config:', ['env' => app()->environment(), 'config' => Config::all()]);
   

Extension Points

1. Custom Config Loaders Extend Respect\Config by adding a loader for remote configs (e.g., Redis, API):

   Config::extend('remote', function () {
       return json_decode(file_get_contents('https://api.example.com/config'), true);
   });
   Config::merge(Config::get('remote'));
   

2. Config Events Trigger events on config changes (e.g., for logging or analytics):

   Config::onChange(function ($key, $oldValue, $newValue) {
       \Log::info("Config changed: {$key} from {$oldValue} to {$newValue}");
   });
   

3. Integration with Laravel’s Config Bridge respect/config with Laravel’s config() helper by aliasing:

   if (!function_exists('config')) {
       function config($key = null, $default = null) {
           return Respect\Config::get($key, $default);
       }
   }