Dictionary Cache Service

Dictionary caching based on Redis-compatible stores (Redis, KeyDB, Valkey, Dragonfly, Ardb, etc.).

Contents

• Installation
• Examples
• Methods
  • Creating an object
  • Setup scope for cache
  • Set data provider
  • Set cache Time To Live (TTL)
  • Get cache Time To Live (TTL)
  • Manually preload cache
  • Check one item in cache
  • What items from the list are in the cache
  • Get all elements from cache
  • Checking if cache is loaded
  • Manually add elements to cache
  • Manually remove element from the cache
  • Reset TTL countdown
  • Clear cache for the scope
• Supported Databases
• Requirements
• Contributing
• License

Installation

Install via Composer:

composer require alyakin/dictionary-cache-service

This package is framework-agnostic: it does not bootstrap a Redis connection on its own. Provide an implementation of Alyakin\DictionaryCache\Contracts\RedisClientInterface (or one of the bundled adapters) when constructing the service.

Available adapters:

• Alyakin\DictionaryCache\Adapters\IlluminateRedisClient - wrap Laravel's Redis::connection().
• Alyakin\DictionaryCache\Adapters\PhpRedisClient - reuse the native \Redis / \RedisCluster extension.
• Custom implementations - implement the interface if you rely on another Redis library.

Examples

flowchart LR
    A[Provider / manual wiring] --> B(DictionaryCacheService)
    B --> C[setContext / setTTL]
    B --> D[setDataProvider]
    D -->|optional| E[(Data source)]
    B --> F[RedisClientInterface]
    F --> G[IlluminateRedisClient]
    F --> H[PhpRedisClient]
    G --> I[(Laravel Redis connection)]
    H --> J[(Redis / KeyDB / Valkey / Dragonfly)]

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sequenceDiagram
    participant Client
    participant Cache as DictionaryCacheService
    participant Provider as Data provider / DB

    Client->>Cache: hasItems(ids)
    Cache-->>Client: cache miss (not initialized)
    Cache->>Provider: preload() fetch dataset
    Provider-->>Cache: array of items
    Cache-->>Client: first response (stored in Redis)

    Client->>Cache: hasItems(ids)
    Cache-->>Client: hit from Redis (no DB call)

    Client->>Cache: hasItems(ids)
    Cache-->>Client: hit from Redis (microseconds latency)

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Laravel: warm a dictionary from the database

Register the bundled service provider (auto-discovered in Laravel packages) and resolve the service from the container. The provider injects an IlluminateRedisClient that wraps Redis::connection().

use Alyakin\DictionaryCache\Adapters\PhpRedisClient;
use Alyakin\DictionaryCache\Services\DictionaryCacheService;

$cartCache = app(DictionaryCacheService::class);

$cartCache
    ->setContext("user_{$userId}", 'cart')
    ->setDataProvider(function () use ($userId) {
        return UserCart::whereUserId($userId)
            ->pluck('product_id')
            ->map(fn ($id) => (string) $id)
            ->all();
    })
    ->setTTL(3600);

$cartCache->preload();

if ($cartCache->hasItem((string) $productId)) {
    // product already in cart
}

Plain PHP: manual dictionary without a data provider

use Alyakin\DictionaryCache\Adapters\PhpRedisClient;
use Alyakin\DictionaryCache\Services\DictionaryCacheService;

$redis = new \Redis();
$redis->connect('127.0.0.1', 6379);

$flagsCache = new DictionaryCacheService(
    redisInstance: new PhpRedisClient($redis)
);

$flagsCache->setContext("tenant_{$tenantId}", 'feature_flags')
    ->setTTL(600)
    ->addItems(['new_checkout', 'promo_banner']);

$enabledFlags = $flagsCache->hasItems(['new_checkout', 'beta_feed']);

if (in_array('new_checkout', $enabledFlags, true)) {
    // enable experiment
}

$flagsCache->keepAlive(); // refresh TTL to keep feature flags hot

Methods

__construct

Initializes the service with optional context, data provider, and Redis connection.

Parameters:

• contextId (optional, string): Unique identifier for the cache.
• dataProvider (optional, Closure): Function that returns an array of items to be cached.
• redisInstance (optional, RedisClientInterface|\Redis|\RedisCluster): Provide your own Redis client or adapter. When omitted inside Laravel, the bundled service provider injects the default connection.

use Alyakin\DictionaryCache\Services\DictionaryCacheService;

// $redis is an existing \Redis or compatible connection.

$userCartCache = new DictionaryCacheService(
    contextId: $userId,
    dataProvider: $myDataProviderCallback,
    redisInstance: new PhpRedisClient($redis)
);

setContext

Sets the cache key using a context ID and an optional prefix. All class methods use the scope set by this method.

Parameters:

• contextId (required, string): Unique identifier for the context.
• key (optional, string): Prefix for the cache key (default: dictionary).

$userCartCache->setContext('user_'.$userId, 'cart');
$userFavoriteProductsCache->setContext('user_'.$userId, 'favorite_products');

setDataProvider

Sets a function that provides data for cache preloading. This method will only be called if the cache has not been initialized yet.

Parameters:

• dataProvider (required, Closure): Function returning an array of items.

$userCartCache->setDataProvider(
    function () use ($userId) {
        return UserCart::whereUserId($userId)->pluck('id')->toArray();
    }
);

setTTL

Sets the TTL (time-to-live) for the cache key.

Parameters:

• ttl (required, int): TTL in seconds (must be >= 1).

$userCartCache = new DictionaryCacheService();
$userCartCache
    ->setContext('user_'.$userId, 'cart')
    ->setDataProvider(fn () => ['19', '33', '7'])
    ->setTTL(3600 * 24);

getTTL

Retrieves the TTL of the cache key. If not set, returns default (3600).

preload

Loads data into the cache using the data provider if it is not initialized. Throws a RuntimeException when a data provider was not configured.

hasItem

Checks if a specific item exists in the cache.

Parameters:

• itemId (required, string): Item to check.

$inCart = $userCartCache->hasItem($productId);
return $inCart;

hasItems

Checks which items from the list exist in the cache.

Parameters:

• itemIds (required, array): List of item IDs.

$productList = Product::recommendedFor($productId)->get()->pluck('id')->toArray();
$productsInCart = $userCartCache->hasItems($productList);
$recommendations = array_diff($productList, $productsInCart);
return $recommendations;

getAllItems

Retrieves all cached items.

exists

Checks if the cache exists for the scope.

addItems

Adds multiple items to the cache.

public function handle(ProductAddedToCart $event): void {
    $this->cartCache->setContext("user_{$event->userId}", 'cart');
    if ($this->cartCache->exists()) {
        $this->cartCache->addItems([(string) $event->productId]);
    }
}

Parameters:

• items (required, array): Items to add.

removeItem

Removes a specific item from the cache.

Parameters:

• item (required, string): Item to remove.

$this->cartCache->removeItem((string) $event->productId);

keepAlive

Refreshes the expiration time of the cache key without modifying TTL.

$this->cartCache->removeItem((string) $event->productId)->keepAlive();

clear

Clears the cached data but keeps TTL settings.

Supported Databases

The service works with Redis-compatible databases supported by Laravel's Redis driver:

• Redis (all versions)
• KeyDB
• Valkey
• Dragonfly (tested with Redis-compatible API)
• Ardb (not covered by CI; no maintained public Docker image available)

Requirements

• PHP 7.4+
• Redis-compatible storage
• Laravel 8+ (optional, only for automatic service provider registration)

Development

Install dependencies and run the local toolchain:

composer install
composer check # runs lint + phpstan + tests

Individual commands:

• composer lint – Laravel Pint (pint --test in CI).
• composer stan – PHPStan level 9.
• composer test – PHPUnit (unit + integration; requires a running Redis-compatible server and ext-redis).

GitHub Actions (.github/workflows/ci.yml) runs a matrix of PHP 8.1–8.3 against Redis/KeyDB/Valkey/Dragonfly. Ardb is excluded because there is no publicly available Docker image; test it manually if your project relies on it.

Want to Contribute?

Read CONTRIBUTING.md for setup instructions, coding style, and testing requirements. Please follow the Code of Conduct and report security issues privately via SECURITY.md.

Check out the open issues - especially those labeled good first issue!

Feel free to fork the repo, open a PR, or suggest improvements.

License

This package is open-source and available under the MIT License.