AI Agents in PHP — the 12-Pattern Cheatsheet

$agent = new Agent(
    llm: $llmConfig,
    systemPrompt: "You are a helpful PHP technical assistant.",
    tools: [$secretTool]
);

if (!isset($_SESSION['history'])) {
    $_SESSION['history'] = [];
}

$agent->setMemory(new FileMemory(__DIR__ . '/memory'), "user-$userId");

use NanoAgent\Memory\PdoMemory;

// SQLite file, created on first use (keep it outside your public web root):
$agent->setMemory(PdoMemory::sqlite(__DIR__ . '/memory/chat.sqlite'), "user-$userId");

$agent->stream($userMessage, function ($token) {
        echo "data: " . json_encode(['token' => $token]) . "\n\n";
        ob_flush();
        flush();
    });

callable: function (array $args) use (&$extractedData) {
        $extractedData = $args;
        return "Internal: Profile for {$args['full_name']} captured.";
    }
);

$agent = new Agent(
    llm: $cfg['llm'],                       // <-- the ONLY thing that changes
    systemPrompt: "You are testing the $name provider. Reply briefly identifying yourself."
);

$agent = new Agent(
    llm: $llmConfig,
    systemPrompt: "You are a meteorological assistant. You can retrieve real-time "
                . "weather information for any city.",
    tools: [$weatherTool]
);

$discovered = $agent->registerMcpServer($mcpClient);
$agent->enableActivityLogging();

$answer = $agent->chat("Repository: facebook/react\nQuestion: What does this repo do?");

// Not sure which names? Ask the server — registers nothing:
foreach ($mcpClient->listTools() as $tool) { echo $tool['name'], "\n"; }

// Register only the tools you need — each one costs a schema on every turn:
$discovered = $agent->registerMcpServer($mcpClient, allowlist: ['ask_question']);

$research = $researcher->chat("Research the topic: $topic");
// e.g. "1. Created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994. 2. Powers over 75% of websites..."

$post = $writer->chat("Write a post based on these facts:\n\n" . $research);

$agent = new Agent(
    llm: $llmConfig,
    tools: [$searchTool]
);

$response = $agent->chat("Can I work from Hawaii for two months?");

public function order(string $id, int $qty): string {
        if ($this->products[$id]['stock'] < $qty) return "Error: Insufficient stock.";
        $this->products[$id]['stock'] -= $qty;   // <-- the mutation
        return "Success: Ordered $qty of {$this->products[$id]['name']}.";
    }

$agent = new Agent(
    llm: $llmConfig,
    tools: [$locationTool, $weatherTool, $eventTool]
);

$response = $agent->chat(
    "Check where I am, get the weather there, and see if there are any jazz events tonight."
);