Working With Directories

Example Layout

config/
|- app.php
|- database.php
`- local/
   `- overrides.php

Example file contents:

// config/app.php
return [
    'app' => [
        'name' => 'Example App',
    ],
];

// config/database.php
return [
    'database.host' => 'localhost',
    'database.port' => 3306,
];

Loading Top-Level Files Only

use function FastForward\Config\configDir;

$config = configDir(__DIR__ . '/config');

This reads files directly inside config/ and ignores subdirectories.

Loading Recursively

use function FastForward\Config\config;
use function FastForward\Config\configDir;

$explicit = configDir(__DIR__ . '/config', recursive: true);
$implicit = config(__DIR__ . '/config');

Both examples load nested PHP files. The second form is useful when you want config() to combine directories with arrays or providers in a single call.

Adding A Cache File

Both configDir() and DirectoryConfig support an optional cache file path through Laminas ConfigAggregator. Cache generation also requires a truthy ConfigAggregator::ENABLE_CACHE (config_cache_enabled ) value in the merged configuration. Add this file to the directory being loaded:

<?php
// config/cache.php
use Laminas\ConfigAggregator\ConfigAggregator;

return [ConfigAggregator::ENABLE_CACHE => true];

Create the cache file's parent directory and make it writable by the PHP process. Store generated cache files outside config/ so they are not scanned as inputs:

use function FastForward\Config\configDir;

$cacheDirectory = __DIR__ . '/var/cache';
if (!is_dir($cacheDirectory)) {
    mkdir($cacheDirectory, 0775, true);
}

$config = configDir(
    __DIR__ . '/config',
    recursive: true,
    cachedConfigFile: $cacheDirectory . '/config.php',
);

$data = $config->toArray();

An existing cache file is read before configuration files are loaded. Disabling ENABLE_CACHE prevents generating a missing cache file; it does not ignore an existing one. Pass cachedConfigFile: null to bypass file caching, or remove the old cache file before rebuilding it. See Caching.

Tips

• Keep each file focused on one topic such as app.php , database.php , or queue.php .
• Use recursive loading when you want subdirectories like local/ or modules/ .
• Combine directories with arrays or providers when you need local overrides or package defaults.