Fast Forward PSR-7 HTTP Message utility classes

Create an API Response

JsonResponse is the default choice for JSON APIs:

use FastForward\Http\Message\JsonResponse;
use FastForward\Http\Message\StatusCode;

$response = (new JsonResponse([
    'id' => 42,
    'name' => 'Ada',
]))
    ->withStatus(StatusCode::Created->value)
    ->withHeader('Location', '/users/42');

The response body is JSON, the payload stays accessible, and the object remains a normal PSR-7 response.

Serve HTML or Plain Text

Use HTML or text responses when JSON would be unnecessary:

use FastForward\Http\Message\HtmlResponse;
use FastForward\Http\Message\TextResponse;

$page = new HtmlResponse('<h1>Welcome back</h1>');
$text = new TextResponse('Maintenance mode is enabled.');

Return No Body on Success

If the client only needs to know that the operation succeeded, return EmptyResponse :

use FastForward\Http\Message\EmptyResponse;

$response = new EmptyResponse([
    'X-Deleted-Id' => '42',
]);

This keeps your intent explicit and automatically uses HTTP 204.

Redirect After a Form Submission

Use RedirectResponse for 301 and 302, then refine the status if your workflow needs a different redirect code:

use FastForward\Http\Message\RedirectResponse;
use FastForward\Http\Message\StatusCode;

$response = (new RedirectResponse('/orders/42'))
    ->withStatus(StatusCode::SeeOther->value);

This pattern is useful for "POST, then redirect" flows where HTTP 303 is the better semantic match.

Negotiate the Best Response Type

Accept helps you choose between multiple response formats:

use FastForward\Http\Message\Header\Accept;
use FastForward\Http\Message\HtmlResponse;
use FastForward\Http\Message\JsonResponse;

$bestMatch = Accept::getBestMatch(
    'text/html;q=0.8, application/json;q=0.9',
    [Accept::ApplicationJson, Accept::TextHtml],
);

$response = match ($bestMatch) {
    Accept::TextHtml => new HtmlResponse('<h1>User profile</h1>'),
    default => new JsonResponse(['user' => 'Ada']),
};

Inspect Authorization in Middleware

Authorization converts raw header strings into structured credential objects:

use FastForward\Http\Message\Header\Authorization;
use FastForward\Http\Message\Header\Authorization\BearerCredential;

$credential = Authorization::fromHeaderCollection([
    'Authorization' => 'Bearer my-secret-token',
]);

if ($credential instanceof BearerCredential) {
    $token = $credential->token;
}

Check Compression Support

Use ContentEncoding to decide whether a compressed response is acceptable:

use FastForward\Http\Message\Header\ContentEncoding;

if (ContentEncoding::isSupported(ContentEncoding::Brotli, 'gzip, br')) {
    // You can safely serve Brotli-compressed content.
}

Use Cases