amund/pdo-silo

A silo to store and link resources, via a simple API.

1.0.2 2026-05-17 17:55 UTC

Requires

• php: >=8.1
• ext-pdo: *

Requires (Dev)

• phpstan/phpstan: ^2.1
• phpunit/phpunit: ^11.0

Suggests

• ext-pdo_pgsql: Required to use the PostgreSQL driver

MIT

• Dimitri Avenel

• orm
• persistence
• storage
• pdo
• Simple

README

PDO-Silo

A silo to store and link resources, via a simple API.

License: MIT
PHP: 8.1+
Drivers: MySQL, SQLite, PostgreSQL

Installation

composer require amund/pdo-silo

Quick Overview

use Silo\Silo;

// 1. Connect and create tables
$pdo = new \PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=mydb;charset=utf8', 'login', 'password');
$silo = new Silo($pdo, 'test');
$silo->create();

// 2. Create resources (returns their ids)
$john  = $silo->set('person', ['firstname' => 'John', 'lastname' => 'Doe']);
$cynth = $silo->set('person', ['firstname' => 'Cynthia', 'lastname' => 'Doe']);
$regis = $silo->set('person', ['firstname' => 'Régis', 'lastname' => 'Doe']);
// $john = 1, $cynth = 2, $regis = 3

// 3. Read a resource
$silo->get($john);
// => ['id' => 1, 'class' => 'person', 'firstname' => 'John', 'lastname' => 'Doe']

// 4. Modify an attribute
$silo->setAttr($john, 'gender', 'M');

// 5. Link resources
$silo->link($john, $cynth, 'married_to');
$silo->link($regis, $john, 'son_of');

// 6. Read with links
$silo->get($john, links: true);
// => ['id' => 1, 'class' => 'person', ..., 'links' => [
//       'from' => ['married_to' => [2]],      // people linked TO John
//       'to'   => ['son_of' => [3]],           // people John links TO
//     ], 'lists' => [
//       'from' => [],                           // ordered lists John belongs to
//       'to'   => [],                           // ordered lists John owns
//     ]]

// 7. Search (accepts int values natively)
$silo->search(['where' => $silo->filter('age', '>=', 18)]);

$silo->search(['where' => $silo->filter('lastname', 'LIKE', '%Doe%')]);
// => ['total' => 3, 'results' => [1, 2, 3], 'duration' => '0.000123']

// 8. Ordered lists
$tagA = $silo->set('tag');
$tagB = $silo->set('tag');
$silo->setList($john, 'tags', [$tagA, $tagB]);
$silo->getList($john, 'tags'); // => [$tagA, $tagB]

API

Silo lifecycle

Method	Description
__construct(\PDO $pdo, string $prefix = 'resource')	Create a Silo instance.
create(): void	Create the 4 database tables (PREFIX_meta, PREFIX_attribute, PREFIX_link, PREFIX_cache)
destroy(): void	Drop all 4 tables

Resources

Method	Description
set(string $class, array $attributes = [], bool $get = false): int|array	Create a resource. Returns its id (or full resource if $get is true).
get(int $id, bool $links = false, bool $getLinks = false): ?array	Retrieve a resource by id. Optionally include its links.
getMeta(int $id): ?array	Returns ['id', 'class'] or null.
setMeta(?int $id, string $class): int	Create ($id = null) or update a resource class. Returns the resource id.
getAttr(int $id, string $attr): ?string	Returns the attribute value, or null.
setAttr(int $id, string $attr, mixed $value): mixed	Set/update/delete an attribute. null and '' delete the attribute. '0' and 0 are stored.
getAttributes(int $id): array	Returns all attributes as ['name' => 'value', ...].
setAttributes(int $id, ?array $attributes): ?array	Replace all attributes, or pass null to delete them all.

Links

Method	Description
link(int $from, int $to, ?string $attribute = null): bool	Create a link. Default attribute = target class name.
unlink($from, $to): bool	Remove a specific link, all links from, all links to, or all links for an id.
linkFrom(int $id, bool $get = false): array	Get child links, grouped by attribute.
linkTo(int $id, bool $get = false): array	Get parent links, grouped by attribute.
getList(int $parent, string $attribute): array	Get an ordered list of linked resources (by position).
setList(int $parent, string $attribute, array $children): void	Replace an ordered list.
listFrom(int $id, bool $get = false): array	Get list children, grouped by attribute.
listTo(int $id, bool $get = false): array	Get list parents, grouped by attribute.

Search

Method	Description
search(array $arg = [], bool $get = false, bool $links = false, bool $getLinks = false): array	Search resources. Returns ['total', 'results', 'duration']. Supports where, order, limit, and offset keys.
filter(string $field, string $operator, string|int|float|array $value): string	Build a WHERE clause fragment. Operators: =, !=, <, >, <=, >=, LIKE, IN. int/float values produce numeric comparisons.
group(string $operator, string ...$filters): string	Combine filters with AND or OR.

Cache

Method	Description
emptyCache(): void	Clear all cached resources.

Running Tests

composer test          # runs vendor/bin/phpunit

Tests use SQLite :memory:. Each test creates and destroys its own silo.

Static Analysis

composer phpstan       # runs vendor/bin/phpstan analyse
composer check         # runs phpstan + tests

Requirements

• PHP 8.1 or higher
• ext-pdo (required)
• ext-pdo_mysql (for MySQL), ext-pdo_sqlite (for SQLite), or ext-pdo_pgsql (for PostgreSQL)

About

The idea behind PDO-Silo is to provide a minimal persistence layer for PHP projects — a nano ORM / DBAL. It is simple, small, fast, and fun to use.

Built by Dimitri Avenel. Originally created in 2016.