Connector Laravel Package

Getting Started

rips/connector is a thin PHP client for the RIPS security-scanner HTTP API. It is a small, low-traffic package (4 stars, 0 dependents), so treat it as a reference wrapper rather than a maintained SDK — plan to read its source before relying on it.

1. Install:

   composer require rips/connector
   

2. Find the entry point. Open vendor/rips/connector/ and locate the primary client class (conventionally something like Connector, Client, or RipsClient under src/). The README is the fastest way to the exact class name and constructor signature; if it is sparse, the public methods on that class are your real API surface.
3. Confirm the upstream service exists for you. This package talks to the RIPS platform API, which requires an account/subscription and API credentials (usually a token or key + endpoint URL). RIPS was acquired by SonarSource in 2019, so verify that the hosted API endpoint you plan to call is still live and documented before writing any integration.
4. First use case: instantiate the client with your credentials, submit a single file or archive for analysis, and dump the raw response. Treat this as a smoke test — a successful round-trip proves connectivity and lets you inspect the real response shape, which is more reliable than any assumptions from the source.

If step 3 fails (no live endpoint), stop here: there is nothing to integrate against, and wrapping a dead API adds no value.

Implementation Patterns

Because the package is a low-level HTTP wrapper, most day-to-day leverage comes from wrapping it, not calling it directly.

Bind it as a singleton in the container. Register the client in a service provider and inject the base URL / token from config or env vars:

$this->app->singleton(RipsConnector::class, fn ($app) => new RipsConnector(
    config('services.rips.endpoint'),
    config('services.rips.token'),
));

Isolate the scan lifecycle behind your own service. RIPS-style scanners are typically submit → poll → fetch. Wrap that in a small service class (ScanService) so controllers, jobs, and CLI commands share one flow and one retry policy:

class ScanService
{
    public function __construct(private RipsConnector $client) {}

    public function scan(string $path): ScanResult
    {
        $id = $this->client->submit($path);
        return $this->pollUntilComplete($id);
    }
}

Run scans as queued jobs. Scans are slow and network-bound. Dispatch a RunRipsScan job, store the returned scan ID on an Eloquent model, and poll in a follow-up job or scheduled command. Never block a web request on a scan.

Integrate in CI/CLI before deployments. The highest-value use is a console command that submits the build artifact and fails the pipeline on high-severity findings. Map the API's severity field to an exit code for your CI step.

Normalize the response before storing it. Persist findings into your own tables (scan id, severity, file, line, description) rather than keeping opaque API payloads — this keeps your dashboards and reports independent of the API's evolving response format.

Pair with a generic Guzzle/HTTP client you control. If the packaged client's methods are too narrow, keep its config/auth handling but issue raw requests through Guzzle to the documented endpoints; you get retries, middleware, logging, and timeouts for free.

Gotchas and Tips

• The service is the real dependency — verify it first. RIPS's standalone API is legacy post-SonarSource acquisition. If the endpoint is retired, no amount of wrapper code will help; confirm reachability with a single curl before investing in integration.
• Treat the package as frozen. With ~0 dependents and very few stars, expect no fixes for upstream API drift, PHP version bumps, or abandoned transitive dependencies. Pin it in composer.json, and be prepared to fork or inline the client class (it is small enough).
• Check the transitive HTTP client. Older connectors often bundle a pinned Guzzle version; inspect composer.json for conflicts with your app and prefer updating to your own Guzzle major.
• Debug at the HTTP boundary. When calls fail ambiguously (auth, TLS, malformed payload), drop down to the transport layer: enable Guzzle's debug option or a logging middleware to see the exact request/response. Auth errors and payload-shape errors frequently present identically as generic exceptions.
• Configuration quirks: API keys are usually read in the constructor, not lazily — a missing env var may only surface at scan time, not boot time. Add an early validation check (throw in the service provider if config is empty) to fail fast.
• Never hard-code credentials or endpoints. The base URL, in particular, may differ per tenant/region; keep it in config/services.php.
• Handle timeouts and rate limits explicitly. Scans can exceed default PHP/HTTP timeouts; set generous per-request timeouts on the HTTP client and back off on 429/503. Do not rely on the package for retry logic unless you've read and verified it.
• Extension point: if the client exposes a protected HTTP method or accepts an injected HTTP client, subclass it to add logging, metrics, or custom retry behavior rather than patching vendor/.
• Validate findings before acting on them. For a security tool, a silent API error can look like "no findings" — distinguish a completed-clean scan from a failed one by asserting on the response status before reporting success.