README

A lightweight, zero-dependency PHP tracing utility compatible with the Scout APM Core Agent. Designed for legacy PHP applications (CakePHP 1.3, Laravel 5.x, custom stacks) running PHP 5.6+.

No Composer bloat, no framework magic. Just trace your code and send to the agent.

✨ Features

• ✅ Works with PHP 5.6+
• ✅ Compatible with Scout APM Core Agent
• ✅ Flush-safe in environments using exit() and die()
• ✅ Tracks controller actions, SQL queries, and custom code spans
• ✅ Automatically redacts SQL values
• ✅ Simple API for instrumentation
• ✅ Fully buffered and flushed in a single atomic write
• ✅ Measures request queue time (when available)

📦 Installation

Via Composer:

composer require assetplan/scout-lite-apm

🚀 Quick Start

use AssetPlan\ScoutLiteAPM\TraceSession;

// Bootstrap (registers your app + configures socket path)
TraceSession::bootstrap('YourAppName', 'your-agent-key');

// Start the request
TraceSession::startRequest();

// Optionally measure queue time automatically

// Custom lifecycle span (e.g. beforeFilter in CakePHP)
$lifecycle = TraceSession::startCustom('Lifecycle/beforeFilter');
// ...
TraceSession::endCustom($lifecycle);

// Instrument a controller span
$controller = TraceSession::startController('UserController', 'index');
// ...
TraceSession::endController($controller);

// Instrument SQL (automatically redacted)
$sqlSpan = TraceSession::startSql('SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = 123');
// ...
TraceSession::endSql($sqlSpan);

// Finish the request
TraceSession::endRequest();

// Flush (optional — you can also register a shutdown handler)
TraceSession::flush();

🔐 Requirements

• PHP 5.6 or greater
• Scout APM Core Agent running and listening via UNIX or TCP socket

⚙️ Configuration

By default, the Core Agent is expected at tcp://127.0.0.1:6590. To override the socket path or API version:

TraceSession::bootstrap('YourApp', 'your-key', '/tmp/scout-agent.sock');
// or
TraceSession::register('YourApp', 'your-key', '/tmp/scout-agent.sock', '1.0');

💡 Tips

• Calling flush() multiple times is safe — only one send will occur.

• If any span is left open, or FinishRequest is missing, flush will be aborted.

• Custom instrumentation can be added using startCustom() / endCustom() or instrument().

• Queue time will be included if headers like X-Request-Start are available.

• You can inspect internals via:

  • TraceSession::getOpenSpans()
  • TraceSession::getEventBuffer()
  • TraceSession::getRequestId()

🤝 License

MIT © AssetPlan

🧠 Authors

Crafted by humans who deal with legacy PHP and still want great observability.

• Cristian Fuentes (@cfuentessalgado)