Unlock the Power of Serverless PHP Applications with Bref
Getting Started with Bref and Serverless PHP
Bref, a revolutionary composer package, enables you to run serverless PHP applications on AWS Lambda with ease. By providing the necessary layers, Bref bridges the gap between PHP applications and Lambda, which doesn’t natively support them.
Prerequisites for Success
To follow along, ensure you have:
- PHP >= 7.2 (for the latest Bref version)
- Composer, npm, and the serverless CLI installed
- SendGrid Inbound Parse configured for your domain/subdomain
- Ngrok installed for local development
Setting Up Your Application
Create a new folder for your application (e.g., bref-email-watch) and navigate into it. Install the required dependencies, including the Bref CLI, phpdotenv, and nexylan/slack, using Composer. Initialize Bref by running ./vendor/bin/bref and selecting the HTTP option. This will generate a serverless.yml file and an index.php file.
Parsing Incoming Emails with SendGrid
Modify the index.php file to parse JSON payloads from SendGrid, extract the sender and recipient using regex and PHP’s preg_match(), and send a Slack message to the relevant channel.
Sending Slack Notifications
Implement the notifyOnSlack function, which sends the extracted data to Slack. Load the environment variables from the .env file and set up the Slack client using HTTPlug discovery services.
Testing Your Serverless Functions Locally
Start the built-in PHP server on port 3000 and open an ngrok tunnel. Update your SendGrid Inbound Parse settings with the generated URL and test your application by sending an email to the configured domain.
Configuring AWS Credentials
Create an IAM role with the necessary permissions for Bref and the Serverless CLI. Set up an IAM user with programmatic access and attach the policy to the user. Copy the Access Key ID and Secret Key to a temporary location.
Using Your AWS Credentials
Set up your AWS credentials using the serverless config command. Update the provider section in your serverless.yml file to match the specified profile and region.
Deploying to Lambda
Deploy your application by running the serverless deploy command. Update the Destination URL on your Inbound Parse settings page with the generated application URL. Test your application again by sending an email to the configured domain.
The Future of Email Processing
With Bref, you can unlock the full potential of serverless PHP applications. Explore the possibilities of receiving emails programmatically and discover the power of Bref and the serverless framework.