LdapRecord

LdapRecord is a fully-featured LDAP ORM for PHP that brings an ActiveRecord-style modeling experience to directory servers. Instead of assembling raw LDAP filters and parsing entries by hand, you work with expressive model classes and a fluent query builder, with prebuilt models for Active Directory, OpenLDAP-style DirectoryServer, and FreeIPA schemas.

Beyond querying, LdapRecord handles connection management across multiple directories, LDAP authentication, attribute casting and mutation, events, and a dedicated testing harness that lets you fake directory interactions in tests. Its API is heavily inspired by Laravel’s Eloquent, making it immediately familiar to PHP developers who have used an Eloquent-style ORM.

What You Get

• ActiveRecord-style models with attribute casting, mutators, and relationships
• A fluent, Eloquent-inspired query builder for LDAP search filters
• Prebuilt model sets for Active Directory, OpenLDAP DirectoryServer, and FreeIPA
• Multi-directory connection management via a Container/ConnectionManager
• LDAP authentication plus a Testing harness for faking directory interactions

Common Use Cases

• Authenticating application users against Active Directory or OpenLDAP
• Reading and updating directory objects (users, groups, OUs) from PHP
• Synchronizing directory data into an application’s own database

Under The Hood

Architecture — LdapRecord layers an ActiveRecord ORM over PHP’s ext-ldap. Connection and Ldap/LdapInterface wrap the raw protocol; a Container and ConnectionManager register and resolve named connections. The Models/ tree centers on a base Entry model with concerns for attributes, casting, and events, and provides schema-specific subtrees (Models/ActiveDirectory, Models/DirectoryServer, Models/FreeIPA). The Query/ builder compiles fluent method chains into LDAP search filters, an Auth/ layer handles bind-based authentication, and a Testing/ namespace provides a fake LDAP implementation for tests.

Tech Stack — PHP >=8.1 requiring ext-ldap, ext-json, and ext-iconv. It reuses Laravel components (illuminate/contracts, illuminate/collections), nesbot/carbon for dates, and PSR interfaces (psr/log, psr/simple-cache) — the Eloquent-like feel comes directly from building on Illuminate collections and contracts.

Code Quality — The tests/ directory is split into Unit and Integration suites with a shared TestCase, and the shipped Testing harness signals a strong testability focus. Error handling is granular, with a hierarchy of typed exceptions (LdapRecordException, ConnectionException, ContainerException) and a DetectsErrors/DetailedError mechanism for interpreting LDAP result codes.

API Design — The public API deliberately mirrors Eloquent — Model::query(), where(), find(), save() — so PHP developers are productive immediately. Directory-specific models encode schema knowledge (object classes, attribute names) so callers work with meaningful properties rather than raw DNs and attribute arrays.