name: Ploi PHP SDK Expert description: Best practices for using the Ploi PHP SDK to interact with the Ploi.io server management API compatible_agents:

• Claude Code
• Cursor
• Windsurf
• GitHub Copilot tags:
• php
• laravel
• ploi
• server-management
• api
• sdk

Ploi PHP SDK Expert

Context

This skill covers the Ploi PHP SDK (ploi/ploi-php-sdk), a PHP wrapper around the Ploi.io server management REST API. It uses Guzzle HTTP under the hood and provides a fluent, chainable interface for managing servers, sites, databases, deployments, and more.

Scope: Initializing the SDK client, chaining resources, performing CRUD operations on all Ploi API resources, handling pagination, error handling, and understanding the resource hierarchy.

Rules

Initialization

• Always instantiate the client with an API token: $ploi = new \Ploi\Ploi($apiToken);
• The token can also be set after construction: $ploi->setApiToken($token);
• The SDK auto-configures a Guzzle client pointing at https://ploi.io/api/ with JSON content headers.

Fluent Resource Chaining

• Access resources using the fluent parent-child chain. Always start from the $ploi instance and drill down:
  • $ploi->server($serverId) to target a server
  • $ploi->server($serverId)->sites($siteId) to target a site on a server
  • $ploi->server($serverId)->sites($siteId)->certificates() to access certificates on a site
• Pass the resource ID when you first access the resource in the chain, not as a separate call.
• Singular and plural method names are interchangeable on the entry point: $ploi->server() and $ploi->servers() both return a Server resource.

Resource Hierarchy

• Server-level resources (accessed from $ploi->server($id)->): sites(), databases(), cronjobs(), daemons(), sshKeys(), services(), networkRules(), systemUsers(), opcache(), insights(), loadBalancer()
• Site-level resources (accessed from ->sites($id)->): certificates(), repository(), queues(), deployment(), app(), environment(), alias(), redirects(), fastCgi(), authUser(), robots(), tenants(), monitors(), nginxConfiguration()
• Database-level resources (accessed from ->databases($id)->): backups(), users()
• Top-level resources (accessed from $ploi->): project(), scripts(), statusPage(), user(), webserverTemplates(), fileBackup()

Fetching Data

• Use ->get() to list all resources or fetch a single one by ID.
• ->get() returns a Ploi\Http\Response object. Use ->getJson() for a stdClass, ->getData() for the data property, or ->toArray() for the full structure.
• When calling ->get($id), the ID parameter is optional if you already passed it during chaining.

Creating Resources

• Each resource has a create() method with named parameters matching the API. Always check the method signature for required vs. optional parameters.
• Pass options as method arguments, not as raw arrays (unless the method signature accepts one).

Pagination

• Resources with HasPagination support ->page($pageNumber, $perPage) and ->perPage($amount).
• Example: $ploi->server($id)->sites()->page(2, 15);

Error Handling

• Wrap API calls in try/catch blocks. The SDK throws typed exceptions based on HTTP status codes:
  • Ploi\Exceptions\Http\Unauthenticated (401)
  • Ploi\Exceptions\Http\NotFound (404)
  • Ploi\Exceptions\Http\NotAllowed (405)
  • Ploi\Exceptions\Http\NotValid (422)
  • Ploi\Exceptions\Http\TooManyAttempts (429)
  • Ploi\Exceptions\Http\InternalServerError (500)
  • Ploi\Exceptions\Http\PerformingMaintenance (503)
• A Ploi\Exceptions\Resource\RequiresId is thrown when a resource method needs an ID but none was provided.

Deployment

• Use the deployment() resource on a site: $ploi->server($id)->sites($siteId)->deployment()->deploy();
• Access and update deploy scripts: ->deployment()->deployScript() and ->deployment()->updateDeployScript($script).
• Quick deploy toggle is on the repository resource: ->repository()->toggleQuickDeploy().

API Call Options

• When making raw API calls or extending the SDK, pass body data as ['body' => json_encode([...])] (Guzzle options format).
• Only get, post, patch, and delete HTTP methods are supported.

Examples

Initialize the client

use Ploi\Ploi;

$ploi = new Ploi('your-api-token');

List all servers with pagination

$response = $ploi->servers()->page(1, 10);
$servers = $response->getData();

Get a single server

$server = $ploi->server(123)->get();
echo $server->getData()->name;

Create a site on a server

$response = $ploi->server(123)->sites()->create(
    domain: 'example.com',
    webDirectory: '/public',
    projectRoot: '/',
    systemUser: 'ploi'
);

Install a repository and deploy

$ploi->server(123)->sites(456)->repository()->install(
    provider: 'github',
    branch: 'main',
    name: 'owner/repo'
);

$ploi->server(123)->sites(456)->deployment()->deploy();

Manage SSL certificates

// List certificates
$certs = $ploi->server(123)->sites(456)->certificates()->get();

// Create a Let's Encrypt certificate
$ploi->server(123)->sites(456)->certificates()->create(
    certificate: 'example.com',
    type: 'letsencrypt'
);

Database management

// Create a database
$ploi->server(123)->databases()->create(
    name: 'my_app',
    user: 'my_user',
    password: 'secret'
);

// Set up automated backups
$ploi->server(123)->databases(789)->backups()->create(
    interval: 1440,
    type: 'to_server'
);

Queue and worker management

$ploi->server(123)->sites(456)->queues()->create(
    connection: 'redis',
    queue: 'default',
    maximumSeconds: 60,
    sleep: 30,
    processes: 3,
    maximumTries: 3
);

Update environment variables

$ploi->server(123)->sites(456)->environment()->update(
    content: "APP_ENV=production\nAPP_DEBUG=false\nAPP_KEY=base64:..."
);

Error handling

use Ploi\Exceptions\Http\NotFound;
use Ploi\Exceptions\Http\NotValid;
use Ploi\Exceptions\Http\Unauthenticated;

try {
    $server = $ploi->server(999)->get();
} catch (Unauthenticated $e) {
    // Invalid API token
} catch (NotFound $e) {
    // Server not found
} catch (NotValid $e) {
    // Validation error - check the response body for details
}

Manage daemons

// Create a daemon
$ploi->server(123)->daemons()->create(
    command: 'php artisan horizon',
    systemUser: 'ploi',
    processes: 1,
    directory: '/home/ploi/example.com'
);

// Restart a daemon
$ploi->server(123)->daemons(789)->restart();

Manage cron jobs

$ploi->server(123)->cronjobs()->create(
    command: 'php /home/ploi/example.com/artisan schedule:run',
    frequency: '* * * * *',
    user: 'ploi'
);

Service management

// Restart nginx
$ploi->server(123)->services('nginx')->restart();

// Restart MySQL
$ploi->server(123)->services('mysql')->restart();

Anti-patterns

Do not re-fetch the client for every call

// Bad - creating multiple instances
$servers = (new Ploi($token))->servers()->get();
$sites = (new Ploi($token))->server(1)->sites()->get();

// Good - reuse the client
$ploi = new Ploi($token);
$servers = $ploi->servers()->get();
$sites = $ploi->server(1)->sites()->get();

Do not manually build API URLs

// Bad - constructing URLs by hand
$ploi->makeAPICall('servers/123/sites/456/certificates', 'get');

// Good - use the fluent chain
$ploi->server(123)->sites(456)->certificates()->get();

Do not ignore typed exceptions

// Bad - catching generic exceptions
try {
    $ploi->server(123)->get();
} catch (\Exception $e) {
    echo "Something went wrong";
}

// Good - catch specific exceptions for proper handling
try {
    $ploi->server(123)->get();
} catch (TooManyAttempts $e) {
    sleep(60); // Wait and retry for rate limiting
} catch (NotFound $e) {
    // Handle missing resource
} catch (Unauthenticated $e) {
    // Handle invalid token
}

Do not pass IDs twice

// Bad - redundant ID passing
$ploi->server(123)->sites(456)->certificates()->get(789);
// And then again:
$ploi->server(123)->sites(456)->certificates(789)->get(789);

// Good - pass the ID once, either in the chain or in the method
$ploi->server(123)->sites(456)->certificates(789)->get();
// or
$ploi->server(123)->sites(456)->certificates()->get(789);

Do not access raw Guzzle responses when the SDK provides helpers

// Bad - decoding manually
$response = $ploi->servers()->get();
$body = json_decode($response->getResponse()->getBody()->getContents());

// Good - use the Response helper methods
$response = $ploi->servers()->get();
$data = $response->getData();      // Parsed data property
$json = $response->getJson();      // Full parsed JSON
$array = $response->toArray();     // Array with json + response

References

• Ploi API Documentation
• Ploi PHP SDK GitHub Repository
• Ploi.io