Yii3 Inertia.js Adapter

An Inertia.js adapter for Yii3 framework, providing a seamless bridge between your Yii3 backend and modern JavaScript frontend frameworks (React, Vue, Svelte).

Features

• 🚀 Simple API: Match the developer experience of inertia-laravel
• 📦 Shared Props: Share data across all Inertia responses
• 🔄 Partial Reloads: Support for partial page updates
• 🎯 Asset Versioning: Automatic version management for cache busting
• 🔌 PSR-15 Middleware: Standard middleware implementation
• 🧪 Well Tested: Comprehensive unit and integration tests
• 📚 Full Documentation: Complete usage examples and guides

Installation

Install via Composer:

composer require crenspire/yii3-inertia

Yii3 Quick Start (Plug-and-Play)

For Yii3 applications, the package provides automatic configuration via ConfigProvider:

1. Include ConfigProvider in Your Yii3 Config

// config/web.php or your main config file
return [
    // Include Inertia ConfigProvider for auto-configuration
    \Crenspire\Inertia\ConfigProvider::class,
    
    // ... your other config
];

2. Add Middleware to Your Middleware Stack

// config/web.php
return [
    'middleware' => [
        // Error handling middleware
        // Authentication middleware
        \Crenspire\Inertia\Middleware\InertiaMiddleware::class, // ← Add here
        // Routing middleware
        // Controller/Action execution
    ],
];

3. Use in Your Controllers

use Crenspire\Inertia\ControllerTrait;
use Crenspire\Inertia\ResponseFactory;
use Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface;
use Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface;

class HomeController
{
    use ControllerTrait;
    
    public function __construct(
        private ResponseFactory $responseFactory
    ) {}
    
    protected function getResponseFactory(): ResponseFactory
    {
        return $this->responseFactory;
    }
    
    public function index(ServerRequestInterface $request): ResponseInterface
    {
        return $this->inertiaRender('Home', [
            'title' => 'Welcome',
        ], $request);
    }
}

That's it! The ConfigProvider automatically configures all services. See examples/yii3-web for a complete example.

Quick Start (Manual Setup)

1. Register Middleware

Register the Inertia middleware in your application's middleware stack:

use Crenspire\Inertia\Middleware\InertiaMiddleware;
use Crenspire\Inertia\ResponseFactory;
use Nyholm\Psr7\Factory\Psr17Factory;

$psr17Factory = new Psr17Factory();
$responseFactory = new ResponseFactory($psr17Factory, $psr17Factory);
$inertiaMiddleware = new InertiaMiddleware($responseFactory, $psr17Factory);

// Add to your middleware stack
// Note: Middleware should be registered early in the stack to set up the request

2. Use in Actions/Controllers

use Crenspire\Inertia\Inertia;
use Crenspire\Inertia\ResponseFactory;
use Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface;
use Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface;

class HomeAction
{
    public function __invoke(
        ServerRequestInterface $request,
        ResponseFactory $responseFactory
    ): ResponseInterface {
        Inertia::setRequest($request);
        
        $payload = Inertia::render('Home', [
            'title' => 'Welcome',
            'user' => $user,
        ]);
        
        if (Inertia::isInertiaRequest($request)) {
            return $responseFactory->json($payload);
        }
        
        return $responseFactory->html($payload, Inertia::getRootView());
    }
}

3. Using Controller Trait

For easier usage in controllers (works with Yii3 DI):

use Crenspire\Inertia\ControllerTrait;
use Crenspire\Inertia\ResponseFactory;
use Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface;
use Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface;

class HomeController
{
    use ControllerTrait;
    
    public function __construct(
        private ResponseFactory $responseFactory
    ) {}
    
    protected function getResponseFactory(): ResponseFactory
    {
        return $this->responseFactory;
    }
    
    public function index(ServerRequestInterface $request): ResponseInterface
    {
        return $this->inertiaRender('Home', [
            'title' => 'Welcome',
        ], $request);
    }
}

Note: With Yii3 ConfigProvider, ResponseFactory is automatically injected via DI container.

4. Using InertiaAction Base Class (Recommended for Actions)

For actions, extend the InertiaAction base class to eliminate boilerplate:

use Crenspire\Inertia\Action\InertiaAction;
use Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface;

class HomeAction extends InertiaAction
{
    public function __invoke(): ResponseInterface
    {
        // Helper methods available:
        // - $this->render() - Render Inertia page
        // - $this->getRequest() - Get current request
        // - $this->getQueryParam() - Get query parameter
        // - $this->getBodyParam() - Get body parameter
        // - $this->redirect() - Create redirect response
        // - $this->isInertiaRequest() - Check if Inertia request
        
        return $this->render('Home', [
            'title' => 'Welcome',
            'page' => $this->getQueryParam('page', 1),
        ]);
    }
}

With DI Container (Yii3):

// Action is automatically instantiated with request and ResponseFactory
$action = $container->get(HomeAction::class);
return $action();

Manual instantiation:

$action = new HomeAction($request, $responseFactory);
return $action();

The base class automatically:

• Sets request in Inertia service
• Resolves ResponseFactory from DI container (if available)
• Provides helper methods for common operations

5. Setup Frontend

Install Inertia.js and your frontend framework:

npm install @inertiajs/inertia @inertiajs/inertia-react react react-dom

Create src/main.jsx:

import React from 'react';
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom/client';
import { createInertiaApp } from '@inertiajs/inertia-react';
import Home from './pages/Home';

createInertiaApp({
  resolve: (name) => {
    const pages = { Home };
    return pages[name];
  },
  setup({ el, App, props }) {
    ReactDOM.createRoot(el).render(<App {...props} />);
  },
});

API Reference

InertiaAction Base Class

The InertiaAction base class provides a convenient way to create Inertia actions with automatic request handling and helper methods.

Available Helper Methods:

• render(string $component, array $props = []): ResponseInterface - Render an Inertia page
• getRequest(): ServerRequestInterface - Get the current request
• getQueryParam(string $name, $default = null) - Get a query parameter
• getQueryParams(): array - Get all query parameters
• getBodyParam(string $name, $default = null) - Get a request body parameter
• getParsedBody(): array - Get parsed request body
• getAttribute(string $name, $default = null) - Get a request attribute
• getMethod(): string - Get request method
• isGet(): bool - Check if request is GET
• isPost(): bool - Check if request is POST
• isInertiaRequest(): bool - Check if request is an Inertia request
• redirect(string $url): ResponseInterface - Create an Inertia redirect response
• getResponseFactory(): ResponseFactory - Get the ResponseFactory instance

Example:

use Crenspire\Inertia\Action\InertiaAction;
use Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface;

class UserAction extends InertiaAction
{
    public function __invoke(): ResponseInterface
    {
        if ($this->isPost()) {
            // Handle POST request
            $name = $this->getBodyParam('name');
            // ... save user
            return $this->redirect('/users');
        }
        
        // Handle GET request
        $userId = (int) $this->getQueryParam('id', 0);
        return $this->render('User', [
            'userId' => $userId,
        ]);
    }
}

Inertia::render()

Render an Inertia page:

$payload = Inertia::render('Dashboard', [
    'users' => $users,
]);

Inertia::share()

Share data with all Inertia responses:

// Single key-value
Inertia::share('appName', 'My App');

// Multiple values
Inertia::share([
    'user' => $user,
    'flash' => $flash,
]);

// Using closures
Inertia::share('timestamp', function () {
    return time();
});

Inertia::version()

Set or get the asset version:

// String version
Inertia::version('1.0.0');

// Callback version
Inertia::version(function () {
    return filemtime('/path/to/manifest.json');
});

// Get current version
$version = Inertia::version();

Inertia::location()

Create an Inertia redirect response:

$location = Inertia::location('/dashboard');
// Returns: ['location' => '/dashboard', 'status' => 409 or 302]

The status code depends on the request type:

• Inertia requests: Returns 409 (Conflict) status
• Regular requests: Returns 302 (Found) status

You can use this in your actions:

public function store(ServerRequestInterface $request): ResponseInterface
{
    // ... save data
    
    $location = Inertia::location('/dashboard');
    $response = $responseFactory->responseFactory->createResponse($location['status']);
    
    if ($location['status'] === 409) {
        return $response->withHeader('X-Inertia-Location', $location['location']);
    }
    
    return $response->withHeader('Location', $location['location']);
}

Global Helper

You can also use the global inertia() helper function:

$payload = inertia('Home', ['title' => 'Welcome'], $request);

Partial Reloads

Inertia supports partial reloads for better performance. The client can request only specific props:

// Client sends: X-Inertia-Partial-Component: Dashboard
// Client sends: X-Inertia-Partial-Data: users,stats

// Only 'users' and 'stats' props will be returned (plus shared props)
$payload = Inertia::render('Dashboard', [
    'users' => $users,
    'stats' => $stats,
    'other' => $other, // This will be excluded
]);

Configuration

Asset Configuration (AssetConfig)

Configure Vite dev server and production asset paths via Yii3 params:

// config/params.php
return [
    'inertia' => [
        'assetConfig' => [
            'viteHost' => 'localhost',           // Vite dev server host
            'vitePort' => 5173,                  // Vite dev server port
            'viteEntryPath' => 'src/main.jsx',   // Entry point for Vite dev server
            'manifestEntryKey' => 'src/main.jsx', // Manifest entry key (matches vite.config.js input)
            'publicPath' => 'public',             // Public directory path
            'buildOutputDir' => 'dist',           // Build output directory
            'manifestFileName' => 'manifest.json', // Manifest file name
        ],
    ],
];

The AssetConfig is automatically resolved from params when using ConfigProvider. You can also inject it directly:

use Crenspire\Inertia\AssetConfig;

// Get from container
$assetConfig = $container->get(AssetConfig::class);

// Or create manually
$assetConfig = new AssetConfig(
    viteHost: 'localhost',
    vitePort: 5173,
    viteEntryPath: 'src/main.jsx',
    manifestEntryKey: 'src/main.jsx',
    publicPath: 'public',
    buildOutputDir: 'dist',
    manifestFileName: 'manifest.json'
);

Root View Path

You can configure the root view path:

Inertia::setRootView('custom-inertia');

Dependency Injection (DI) Container

For Yii3 applications, use ConfigProvider (recommended):

// config/web.php
return [
    // ConfigProvider automatically configures all services
    \Crenspire\Inertia\ConfigProvider::class,
];

Manual DI configuration (if not using ConfigProvider):

use Crenspire\Inertia\Middleware\InertiaMiddleware;
use Crenspire\Inertia\ResponseFactory;
use Psr\Http\Message\ResponseFactoryInterface;
use Psr\Http\Message\StreamFactoryInterface;

// In your DI container configuration
$container->set(ResponseFactory::class, function ($container) {
    $responseFactory = $container->get(ResponseFactoryInterface::class);
    $streamFactory = $container->get(StreamFactoryInterface::class);
    
    // Required: provide a view renderer callback
    // With Yii3 View (recommended):
    $view = $container->get(\Yiisoft\View\WebView::class);
    $viewRenderer = \Crenspire\Inertia\ResponseFactory::createViewRenderer($view);
    
    // Or custom view renderer:
    // $viewRenderer = function (string $view, array $payload): string {
    //     return $yourViewRenderer->render($view, ['page' => $payload]);
    // };
    
    return new ResponseFactory($responseFactory, $streamFactory, $viewRenderer);
});

$container->set(InertiaMiddleware::class, function ($container) {
    $responseFactory = $container->get(ResponseFactory::class);
    $psrResponseFactory = $container->get(ResponseFactoryInterface::class);
    return new InertiaMiddleware($responseFactory, $psrResponseFactory);
});

View Renderer Integration

Important: ResponseFactory now requires a view renderer. The ConfigProvider automatically configures it using Yii3's WebView or View if available.

Manual configuration:

use Crenspire\Inertia\ResponseFactory;
use Crenspire\Inertia\ViewRenderer;

// With Yii3 View
$viewRenderer = ResponseFactory::createViewRenderer($yii3View);

// Or custom view renderer
$viewRenderer = function (string $view, array $payload): string {
    // Use your view rendering system (Twig, Blade, etc.)
    return $yourViewRenderer->render($view, ['page' => $payload]);
};

$responseFactory = new ResponseFactory(
    $psr17Factory,
    $psr17Factory,
    $viewRenderer
);

Note: If yiisoft/view is not installed, you must provide a custom view renderer. The ConfigProvider will throw an exception if no view renderer is available.

Bootstrap/Initialization

For shared props that should be available on every page, set them in your application bootstrap:

Using Inertia::share() directly (recommended):

use Crenspire\Inertia\Inertia;

// In your application bootstrap or middleware
Inertia::share('user', function () use ($userService) {
    return $userService->getCurrentUser();
});

Inertia::share('app', [
    'name' => 'My App',
    'version' => '1.0.0',
]);

Using Bootstrap helper (optional convenience):

use Crenspire\Inertia\Bootstrap;

// In your application bootstrap
Bootstrap::setupSharedProps($userService, $flashService);
Bootstrap::setupVersion('/path/to/manifest.json');
Bootstrap::setupRootView('inertia');

// Or use the complete setup method
Bootstrap::setup([
    'userService' => $userService,
    'flashService' => $flashService,
    'manifestPath' => '/path/to/manifest.json',
    'rootView' => 'inertia',
    'shared' => [
        'app' => ['name' => 'My App'],
    ],
]);

Note: The Bootstrap helper is completely optional. It provides convenience methods but has zero overhead if not used. You can use Inertia::share() directly for the same result.

Version Management

Inertia.js uses version checking to ensure the frontend and backend stay in sync. When the client's version doesn't match the server's version, a full page reload is triggered.

Automatic Version Detection

By default, the version is automatically detected from your manifest.json file:

// Automatically uses manifest.json mtime if it exists
$version = Inertia::version();

Custom Version

You can set a custom version:

// String version
Inertia::version('1.0.0');

// Callback version (evaluated on each request)
Inertia::version(function () {
    return filemtime('/path/to/manifest.json');
});

Version Mismatch Handling

When a client sends an X-Inertia-Version header that doesn't match the current version, the middleware automatically returns a location redirect (409 status) to trigger a full page reload. This ensures users always have the latest assets.

Middleware Registration Order

The InertiaMiddleware should be registered early in your middleware stack, but after any authentication/authorization middleware that sets up the user context. This ensures:

1. The request is available to the Inertia service
2. Shared props can access authenticated user data
3. Version checking happens before processing

Example middleware stack order:

1. Error handling middleware
2. Authentication middleware
3. InertiaMiddleware  ← Register here
4. Routing middleware
5. Controller/Action execution

Examples

The repository includes several example applications:

Yii3 Web Application Example

Full Yii3 web application with ConfigProvider, controllers, and middleware:

cd examples/yii3-web
composer install
php -S localhost:8000 -t public

See examples/yii3-web/README.md for details.

Yii3 Minimal Example

Minimal Yii3 setup (DI + Router only):

cd examples/yii3-minimal
composer install
php -S localhost:8000 -t public

See examples/yii3-minimal/README.md for details.

Basic PSR Example

Basic PSR-7/PSR-15 example (for non-Yii3 frameworks):

# Install dependencies
cd examples/basic
composer install

# Install frontend dependencies
cd vite
npm install

# Build frontend assets
npm run build

# Or run dev server
npm run dev

# Start PHP server
cd ../public
php -S localhost:8000

Note: For Yii3 applications, use the Yii3 examples above instead.

Troubleshooting

Version Mismatch Issues

If you're experiencing frequent full page reloads:

1. Check your version callback returns a stable value
2. Verify the manifest.json file exists and is accessible
3. Ensure file permissions allow reading the manifest file

Middleware Not Working

If the middleware isn't processing requests correctly:

1. Verify middleware is registered in your middleware stack
2. Check that Inertia::setRequest() is called (middleware does this automatically)
3. Ensure the middleware receives both ResponseFactory and ResponseFactoryInterface

Redirect Not Working

If redirects aren't working as expected:

1. Ensure you're using Inertia::location() and handling the response correctly
2. Check that the request has the X-Inertia header for Inertia requests
3. Verify the response status code (409 for Inertia, 302 for regular)

Actions Not Setting Request

If you get "Request not set" errors:

1. Ensure InertiaMiddleware is registered and processes requests
2. Or manually call Inertia::setRequest($request) in your actions
3. Check middleware execution order

Testing

Run the test suite:

composer install
vendor/bin/phpunit

Requirements

• PHP ^8.1
• PSR-7, PSR-15 compatible framework

License

MIT License. See LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for a list of changes.