Cache
Cache
Using a cache is a great way of making your application run quicker. The Symfony cache component ships with many adapters to different storages. Every adapter is developed for high performance.
The following example shows a typical usage of the cache:
use Symfony\Contracts\Cache\ItemInterface;
// The callable will only be executed on a cache miss.
$value = $pool->get('my_cache_key', function (ItemInterface $item) {
$item->expiresAfter(3600);
// ... do some HTTP request or heavy computations
$computedValue = 'foobar';
return $computedValue;
});
echo $value; // 'foobar'
// ... and to remove the cache key
$pool->delete('my_cache_key');
Symfony supports Cache Contracts, PSR-6/16 and Doctrine Cache interfaces. You can read more about these at the component documentation.
Configuring Cache with FrameworkBundle
When configuring the cache component there are a few concepts you should know of:
Pool
This is a service that you will interact with. Each pool will always have its own namespace and cache items. There is never a conflict between pools.
Adapter
An adapter is a template that you use to create pools.
Provider
A provider is a service that some adapters use to connect to the storage. Redis and Memcached are example of such adapters. If a DSN is used as the provider then a service is automatically created.
There are two pools that are always enabled by default. They are cache.app
and cache.system
. The system cache is used for things like annotations, serializer, and validation. The cache.app
can be used in your code. You can configure which adapter (template) they use by using the app
and system
key like:
YAML
# config/packages/cache.yaml
framework:
cache:
app: cache.adapter.filesystem
system: cache.adapter.system
XML
<!-- config/packages/cache.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:framework="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services
https://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd
http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony
https://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony/symfony-1.0.xsd">
<framework:config>
<framework:cache app="cache.adapter.filesystem"
system="cache.adapter.system"
/>
</framework:config>
</container>
PHP
// config/packages/cache.php
use Symfony\Config\FrameworkConfig;
return static function (FrameworkConfig $framework) {
$framework->cache()
->app('cache.adapter.filesystem')
->system('cache.adapter.system')
;
};
The Cache component comes with a series of adapters pre-configured:
- cache.adapter.apcu
- cache.adapter.array
- cache.adapter.doctrine
- cache.adapter.filesystem
- cache.adapter.memcached
- cache.adapter.pdo
- cache.adapter.psr6
- cache.adapter.redis
- cache.adapter.redis_tag_aware (Redis adapter optimized to work with tags)
New in version 5.2: cache.adapter.redis_tag_aware
has been introduced in Symfony 5.2.
Some of these adapters could be configured via shortcuts. Using these shortcuts will create pools with service IDs that follow the pattern cache.[type]
.
YAML
# config/packages/cache.yaml
framework:
cache:
directory: '%kernel.cache_dir%/pools' # Only used with cache.adapter.filesystem
# service: cache.doctrine
default_doctrine_provider: 'app.doctrine_cache'
# service: cache.psr6
default_psr6_provider: 'app.my_psr6_service'
# service: cache.redis
default_redis_provider: 'redis://localhost'
# service: cache.memcached
default_memcached_provider: 'memcached://localhost'
# service: cache.pdo
default_pdo_provider: 'doctrine.dbal.default_connection'
XML
<!-- config/packages/cache.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:framework="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services
https://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd
http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony
https://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony/symfony-1.0.xsd">
<framework:config>
<!--
default_doctrine_provider: Service: cache.doctrine
default_psr6_provider: Service: cache.psr6
default_redis_provider: Service: cache.redis
default_memcached_provider: Service: cache.memcached
default_pdo_provider: Service: cache.pdo
-->
<!-- "directory" attribute is only used with cache.adapter.filesystem -->
<framework:cache directory="%kernel.cache_dir%/pools"
default_doctrine_provider="app.doctrine_cache"
default_psr6_provider="app.my_psr6_service"
default_redis_provider="redis://localhost"
default_memcached_provider="memcached://localhost"
default_pdo_provider="doctrine.dbal.default_connection"
/>
</framework:config>
</container>
PHP
// config/packages/cache.php
use Symfony\Config\FrameworkConfig;
return static function (FrameworkConfig $framework) {
$framework->cache()
// Only used with cache.adapter.filesystem
->directory('%kernel.cache_dir%/pools')
// Service: cache.doctrine
->defaultDoctrineProvider('app.doctrine_cache')
// Service: cache.psr6
->defaultPsr6Provider('app.my_psr6_service')
// Service: cache.redis
->defaultRedisProvider('redis://localhost')
// Service: cache.memcached
->defaultMemcachedProvider('memcached://localhost')
// Service: cache.pdo
->defaultPdoProvider('doctrine.dbal.default_connection')
;
};
Creating Custom (Namespaced) Pools
You can also create more customized pools:
YAML
# config/packages/cache.yaml
framework:
cache:
default_memcached_provider: 'memcached://localhost'
pools:
# creates a "custom_thing.cache" service
# autowireable via "CacheInterface $customThingCache"
# uses the "app" cache configuration
custom_thing.cache:
adapter: cache.app
# creates a "my_cache_pool" service
# autowireable via "CacheInterface $myCachePool"
my_cache_pool:
adapter: cache.adapter.filesystem
# uses the default_memcached_provider from above
acme.cache:
adapter: cache.adapter.memcached
# control adapter's configuration
foobar.cache:
adapter: cache.adapter.memcached
provider: 'memcached://user:[email protected]'
# uses the "foobar.cache" pool as its backend but controls
# the lifetime and (like all pools) has a separate cache namespace
short_cache:
adapter: foobar.cache
default_lifetime: 60
XML
<!-- config/packages/cache.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:framework="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services
https://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd
http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony
https://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony/symfony-1.0.xsd">
<framework:config>
<framework:cache default-memcached-provider="memcached://localhost">
<!-- creates a "custom_thing.cache" service
autowireable via "CacheInterface $customThingCache"
uses the "app" cache configuration -->
<framework:pool name="custom_thing.cache" adapter="cache.app"/>
<!-- creates a "my_cache_pool" service
autowireable via "CacheInterface $myCachePool" -->
<framework:pool name="my_cache_pool" adapter="cache.adapter.filesystem"/>
<!-- uses the default_memcached_provider from above -->
<framework:pool name="acme.cache" adapter="cache.adapter.memcached"/>
<!-- control adapter's configuration -->
<framework:pool name="foobar.cache" adapter="cache.adapter.memcached"
provider="memcached://user:[email protected]"
/>
<!-- uses the "foobar.cache" pool as its backend but controls
the lifetime and (like all pools) has a separate cache namespace -->
<framework:pool name="short_cache" adapter="foobar.cache" default-lifetime="60"/>
</framework:cache>
</framework:config>
</container>
PHP
// config/packages/cache.php
use Symfony\Config\FrameworkConfig;
return static function (FrameworkConfig $framework) {
$cache = $framework->cache();
$cache->defaultMemcachedProvider('memcached://localhost');
// creates a "custom_thing.cache" service
// autowireable via "CacheInterface $customThingCache"
// uses the "app" cache configuration
$cache->pool('custom_thing.cache')
->adapters(['cache.app']);
// creates a "my_cache_pool" service
// autowireable via "CacheInterface $myCachePool"
$cache->pool('my_cache_pool')
->adapters(['cache.adapter.filesystem']);
// uses the default_memcached_provider from above
$cache->pool('acme.cache')
->adapters(['cache.adapter.memcached']);
// control adapter's configuration
$cache->pool('foobar.cache')
->adapters(['cache.adapter.memcached'])
->provider('memcached://user:[email protected]');
$cache->pool('short_cache')
->adapters(['foobar.cache'])
->defaultLifetime(60);
};
Each pool manages a set of independent cache keys: keys from different pools never collide, even if they share the same backend. This is achieved by prefixing keys with a namespace that’s generated by hashing the name of the pool, the name of the cache adapter class and a configurable seed that defaults to the project directory and compiled container class.
Each custom pool becomes a service whose service ID is the name of the pool (e.g. custom_thing.cache
). An autowiring alias is also created for each pool using the camel case version of its name - e.g. custom_thing.cache
can be injected automatically by naming the argument $customThingCache
and type-hinting it with either Symfony\Contracts\Cache\CacheInterface
or Psr\Cache\CacheItemPoolInterface
:
use Symfony\Contracts\Cache\CacheInterface;
// from a controller method
public function listProducts(CacheInterface $customThingCache)
{
// ...
}
// in a service
public function __construct(CacheInterface $customThingCache)
{
// ...
}
Tip
If you need the namespace to be interoperable with a third-party app, you can take control over auto-generation by setting the namespace
attribute of the cache.pool
service tag. For example, you can override the service definition of the adapter:
YAML
# config/services.yaml
services:
app.cache.adapter.redis:
parent: 'cache.adapter.redis'
tags:
- { name: 'cache.pool', namespace: 'my_custom_namespace' }
XML
<!-- config/services.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services
https://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd">
<services>
<service id="app.cache.adapter.redis" parent="cache.adapter.redis">
<tag name="cache.pool" namespace="my_custom_namespace"/>
</service>
</services>
</container>
PHP
// config/services.php
namespace Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\Loader\Configurator;
return function(ContainerConfigurator $configurator) {
$services = $configurator->services();
$services->set('app.cace.adapter.redis')
->parent('cache.adapter.redis')
->tag('cache.pool', ['namespace' => 'my_custom_namespace']);
};
Custom Provider Options
Some providers have specific options that can be configured. The RedisAdapter allows you to create providers with the options timeout
, retry_interval
. etc. To use these options with non-default values you need to create your own \Redis
provider and use that when configuring the pool.
YAML
# config/packages/cache.yaml
framework:
cache:
pools:
cache.my_redis:
adapter: cache.adapter.redis
provider: app.my_custom_redis_provider
services:
app.my_custom_redis_provider:
class: \Redis
factory: ['Symfony\Component\Cache\Adapter\RedisAdapter', 'createConnection']
arguments:
- 'redis://localhost'
- { retry_interval: 2, timeout: 10 }
XML
<!-- config/packages/cache.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:framework="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services
https://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd
http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony
https://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony/symfony-1.0.xsd">
<framework:config>
<framework:cache>
<framework:pool name="cache.my_redis" adapter="cache.adapter.redis" provider="app.my_custom_redis_provider"/>
</framework:cache>
</framework:config>
<services>
<service id="app.my_custom_redis_provider" class="\Redis">
<factory class="Symfony\Component\Cache\Adapter\RedisAdapter" method="createConnection"/>
<argument>redis://localhost</argument>
<argument type="collection">
<argument key="retry_interval">2</argument>
<argument key="timeout">10</argument>
</argument>
</service>
</services>
</container>
PHP
// config/packages/cache.php
use Symfony\Component\Cache\Adapter\RedisAdapter;
use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\ContainerBuilder;
use Symfony\Config\FrameworkConfig;
return static function (ContainerBuilder $container, FrameworkConfig $framework) {
$framework->cache()
->pool('cache.my_redis')
->adapters(['cache.adapter.redis'])
->provider('app.my_custom_redis_provider');
$container->register('app.my_custom_redis_provider', \Redis::class)
->setFactory([RedisAdapter::class, 'createConnection'])
->addArgument('redis://localhost')
->addArgument([
'retry_interval' => 2,
'timeout' => 10
])
;
};
Creating a Cache Chain
Different cache adapters have different strengths and weaknesses. Some might be really quick but optimized to store small items and some may be able to contain a lot of data but are quite slow. To get the best of both worlds you may use a chain of adapters.
A cache chain combines several cache pools into a single one. When storing an item in a cache chain, Symfony stores it in all pools sequentially. When retrieving an item, Symfony tries to get it from the first pool. If it’s not found, it tries the next pools until the item is found or an exception is thrown. Because of this behavior, it’s recommended to define the adapters in the chain in order from fastest to slowest.
If an error happens when storing an item in a pool, Symfony stores it in the other pools and no exception is thrown. Later, when the item is retrieved, Symfony stores the item automatically in all the missing pools.
YAML
# config/packages/cache.yaml
framework:
cache:
pools:
my_cache_pool:
default_lifetime: 31536000 # One year
adapters:
- cache.adapter.array
- cache.adapter.apcu
- {name: cache.adapter.redis, provider: 'redis://user:[email protected]'}
XML
<!-- config/packages/cache.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:framework="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services
https://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd">
<framework:config>
<framework:cache>
<framework:pool name="my_cache_pool" default-lifetime="31536000">
<framework:adapter name="cache.adapter.array"/>
<framework:adapter name="cache.adapter.apcu"/>
<framework:adapter name="cache.adapter.redis" provider="redis://user:[email protected]"/>
</framework:pool>
</framework:cache>
</framework:config>
</container>
PHP
// config/packages/cache.php
use Symfony\Config\FrameworkConfig;
return static function (FrameworkConfig $framework) {
$framework->cache()
->pool('my_cache_pool')
->defaultLifetime(31536000) // One year
->adapters([
'cache.adapter.array',
'cache.adapter.apcu',
['name' => 'cache.adapter.redis', 'provider' => 'redis://user:[email protected]'],
])
;
};
Using Cache Tags
In applications with many cache keys it could be useful to organize the data stored to be able to invalidate the cache more efficiently. One way to achieve that is to use cache tags. One or more tags could be added to the cache item. All items with the same key could be invalidated with one function call:
use Symfony\Contracts\Cache\ItemInterface;
use Symfony\Contracts\Cache\TagAwareCacheInterface;
class SomeClass
{
private $myCachePool;
// using autowiring to inject the cache pool
public function __construct(TagAwareCacheInterface $myCachePool)
{
$this->myCachePool = $myCachePool;
}
public function someMethod()
{
$value0 = $this->myCachePool->get('item_0', function (ItemInterface $item) {
$item->tag(['foo', 'bar']);
return 'debug';
});
$value1 = $this->myCachePool->get('item_1', function (ItemInterface $item) {
$item->tag('foo');
return 'debug';
});
// Remove all cache keys tagged with "bar"
$this->myCachePool->invalidateTags(['bar']);
}
}
The cache adapter needs to implement Symfony\Contracts\Cache\TagAwareCacheInterface
to enable this feature. This could be added by using the following configuration.
YAML
# config/packages/cache.yaml
framework:
cache:
pools:
my_cache_pool:
adapter: cache.adapter.redis
tags: true
XML
<!-- config/packages/cache.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:framework="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services
https://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd
http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony
https://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony/symfony-1.0.xsd">
<framework:config>
<framework:cache>
<framework:pool name="my_cache_pool" adapter="cache.adapter.redis" tags="true"/>
</framework:cache>
</framework:config>
</container>
PHP
// config/packages/cache.php
use Symfony\Config\FrameworkConfig;
return static function (FrameworkConfig $framework) {
$framework->cache()
->pool('my_cache_pool')
->tags(true)
->adapters(['cache.adapter.redis'])
;
};
Tags are stored in the same pool by default. This is good in most scenarios. But sometimes it might be better to store the tags in a different pool. That could be achieved by specifying the adapter.
YAML
# config/packages/cache.yaml
framework:
cache:
pools:
my_cache_pool:
adapter: cache.adapter.redis
tags: tag_pool
tag_pool:
adapter: cache.adapter.apcu
XML
<!-- config/packages/cache.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:framework="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services
https://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd">
<framework:config>
<framework:cache>
<framework:pool name="my_cache_pool" adapter="cache.adapter.redis" tags="tag_pool"/>
<framework:pool name="tag_pool" adapter="cache.adapter.apcu"/>
</framework:cache>
</framework:config>
</container>
PHP
// config/packages/cache.php
use Symfony\Config\FrameworkConfig;
return static function (FrameworkConfig $framework) {
$framework->cache()
->pool('my_cache_pool')
->tags('tag_pool')
->adapters(['cache.adapter.redis'])
;
$framework->cache()
->pool('tag_pool')
->adapters(['cache.adapter.apcu'])
;
};
Note
The interface Symfony\Contracts\Cache\TagAwareCacheInterface
is autowired to the cache.app
service.
Clearing the Cache
To clear the cache you can use the bin/console cache:pool:clear [pool]
command. That will remove all the entries from your storage and you will have to recalculate all the values. You can also group your pools into “cache clearers”. There are 3 cache clearers by default:
cache.global_clearer
cache.system_clearer
cache.app_clearer
The global clearer clears all the cache items in every pool. The system cache clearer is used in the bin/console cache:clear
command. The app clearer is the default clearer.
To see all available cache pools:
$ php bin/console cache:pool:list
Clear one pool:
$ php bin/console cache:pool:clear my_cache_pool
Clear all custom pools:
$ php bin/console cache:pool:clear cache.app_clearer
Clear all caches everywhere:
$ php bin/console cache:pool:clear cache.global_clearer
Encrypting the Cache
New in version 5.1: The Symfony\Component\Cache\Marshaller\SodiumMarshaller
class was introduced in Symfony 5.1.
To encrypt the cache using libsodium
, you can use the Symfony\Component\Cache\Marshaller\SodiumMarshaller
.
First, you need to generate a secure key and add it to your secret store as CACHE_DECRYPTION_KEY
:
$ php -r 'echo base64_encode(sodium_crypto_box_keypair());'
Then, register the SodiumMarshaller
service using this key:
YAML
# config/packages/cache.yaml
# ...
services:
Symfony\Component\Cache\Marshaller\SodiumMarshaller:
decorates: cache.default_marshaller
arguments:
- ['%env(base64:CACHE_DECRYPTION_KEY)%']
# use multiple keys in order to rotate them
#- ['%env(base64:CACHE_DECRYPTION_KEY)%', '%env(base64:OLD_CACHE_DECRYPTION_KEY)%']
- '@Symfony\Component\Cache\Marshaller\SodiumMarshaller.inner'
XML
<!-- config/packages/cache.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:framework="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services
https://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd
http://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony
https://symfony.com/schema/dic/symfony/symfony-1.0.xsd">
<!-- ... -->
<services>
<service id="Symfony\Component\Cache\Marshaller\SodiumMarshaller" decorates="cache.default_marshaller">
<argument type="collection">
<argument>env(base64:CACHE_DECRYPTION_KEY)</argument>
<!-- use multiple keys in order to rotate them -->
<!-- <argument>env(base64:OLD_CACHE_DECRYPTION_KEY)</argument> -->
</argument>
<argument type="service" id="Symfony\Component\Cache\Marshaller\SodiumMarshaller.inner"/>
</service>
</services>
</container>
PHP
// config/packages/cache.php
use Symfony\Component\Cache\Marshaller\SodiumMarshaller;
use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\ChildDefinition;
use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\Reference;
// ...
$container->setDefinition(SodiumMarshaller::class, new ChildDefinition('cache.default_marshaller'))
->addArgument(['env(base64:CACHE_DECRYPTION_KEY)'])
// use multiple keys in order to rotate them
//->addArgument(['env(base64:CACHE_DECRYPTION_KEY)', 'env(base64:OLD_CACHE_DECRYPTION_KEY)'])
->addArgument(new Reference(SodiumMarshaller::class.'.inner'));
Caution
This will encrypt the values of the cache items, but not the cache keys. Be careful not the leak sensitive data in the keys.
When configuring multiple keys, the first key will be used for reading and writing, and the additional key(s) will only be used for reading. Once all cache items encrypted with the old key have expired, you can remove OLD_CACHE_DECRYPTION_KEY
completely.
This work, including the code samples, is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 license.