Winter Libraries: Ecosystem Overview and Selection Guide

The Winter library ecosystem is a set of optional packages that extend the Winter Boot framework with integrations for databases, message queues, object storage, search, and distributed infrastructure. Every library implements the framework’s module system contract and registers beans automatically, so once you enable a module in application.yml you can #[Autowired] its templates and clients anywhere in your code.

Choose a library

Match your use case to a library and package.

Need	Use	Package
Relational database with ORM entities	Doctrine	`suvera/winter-doctrine`
Redis client for cache or key/value work	Redis	`suvera/winter-modules`
Memcached client for lightweight caching	Memcache	`suvera/winter-modules`
Embedded in-memory DB launched with the app (Redis, Ignite, Memcached, Hazelcast)	Memdb	`suvera/winter-memdb`
Event streaming and pub/sub	Kafka	`suvera/winter-modules`
Managed AWS message queue	SQS	`suvera/winter-modules`
S3-compatible object storage	S3	`suvera/winter-modules`
Full-text search and analytics	OpenSearch	`suvera/winter-modules`
Background task orchestration across nodes	DTCE	`suvera/winter-modules`
Service discovery (Consul or Netflix Eureka)	Eureka	`suvera/winter-eureka`
Application security policies	Security (planned)	`suvera/winter-modules`

Grouped by domain

Data

Client libraries that connect to external data stores.

Doctrine ORM & DBAL

Doctrine entities, DBAL connections, and multi-tenant datasource routing.

Redis Client

PhpRedis templates for singles, clusters, arrays, sentinels, and Dynomite token rings.

Memcached Client

Memcached and Memcache extension clients for lightweight remote caching.

Messaging

Apache Kafka

Producer and consumer integration for event streaming pipelines.

Amazon SQS

SQS producer and consumer with IAM role and EKS IRSA support.

Storage & search

Amazon S3

Upload, download, and manage S3-compatible object storage from any bean.

OpenSearch

OpenSearch indexing and querying with basic auth or AWS SigV4 signing.

Distributed systems

Service Discovery

Distributed Tasks (DTCE)

Cross-node background task orchestration with pluggable queue and store backends.

Embedded in-memory servers EXPERIMENTAL

Libraries where the framework launches and manages the server process as part of the app lifecycle.

Winter Memdb

Auto-start Redis, Apache Ignite, Memcached, or Hazelcast alongside the application.

Planned

Security

Reserved for the upcoming security module. Not yet released; see the page for interim guidance.

Installation patterns

Winter libraries are distributed as three separate composer packages so you install only what you need:

Install patterns

# Framework only
composer require suvera/winter-boot

# Framework plus one standalone library
composer require suvera/winter-boot suvera/winter-doctrine

# Framework plus the 8-module monorepo
composer require suvera/winter-boot suvera/winter-modules

The library composer files do not currently declare suvera/winter-boot as a dependency, so you must install it explicitly. Every library uses framework classes at runtime.

PHP extension matrix

Some libraries require additional PHP extensions. Install them before enabling the module.

Library	Required extensions	Optional
Doctrine	one of `pdo_sqlite`, `pdo_mysql`, `pdo_pgsql`, `pdo_sqlsrv`, `pdo_oci`
Redis	`redis` (phpredis)
Memcache	`memcached` or `memcache`
Memdb	`swoole`, `posix`; plus the engine’s own binary on `PATH`	`redis`, `memcached`
Kafka	`swoole`, `rdkafka`
SQS	`swoole`
S3	none (uses `aws/aws-sdk-php`)
OpenSearch	none (uses `opensearch-project/opensearch-php`)
DTCE	`swoole`; plus `redis` or `rdkafka` depending on backend
Eureka	`swoole`

Enabling a library

Every library plugs in through the same module system. Declare the module class in your application.yml under modules::

application.yml

modules:
    - module: 'dev\winterframework\kafka\KafkaModule'
      enabled: true
      configFile: 'config/kafka-config.yml'

Read The Module System for the full contract, load order, and how to build your own modules.

Overview

Data

Messaging

Storage & Search

Distributed Systems

Planned

Winter Libraries: Ecosystem Overview and Selection Guide

Choose a library

Grouped by domain

Data

Doctrine ORM & DBAL

Redis Client

Memcached Client

Messaging

Apache Kafka

Amazon SQS

Storage & search

Amazon S3

OpenSearch

Distributed systems

Service Discovery

Distributed Tasks (DTCE)

Embedded in-memory servers EXPERIMENTAL

Winter Memdb

Planned

Security

Installation patterns

PHP extension matrix

Enabling a library

​Choose a library

​Grouped by domain

​Data

Doctrine ORM & DBAL

Redis Client

Memcached Client

​Messaging

Apache Kafka

Amazon SQS

​Storage & search

Amazon S3

OpenSearch

​Distributed systems

Service Discovery

Distributed Tasks (DTCE)

​Embedded in-memory servers EXPERIMENTAL

Winter Memdb

​Planned

Security

​Installation patterns

​PHP extension matrix

​Enabling a library

Choose a library

Grouped by domain

Data

Messaging

Storage & search

Distributed systems

Embedded in-memory servers EXPERIMENTAL

Planned

Installation patterns

PHP extension matrix

Enabling a library