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CakePHP and the Power of Artificial Intelligence

Written by Fhernandez on December 01, 2025
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This article is part of the CakeDC Advent Calendar 2025 (December 2th 2025)

Bringing smart automation to modern web development

When we talk about Artificial Intelligence today, we are not talking about the future, we are talking about tools we already use every day, such as our phones, code editors, browsers and productivity apps.

For developers, AI represents a new wave of innovation that allows us to embed intelligence directly into our projects to build smarter, more adaptive, and more valuable digital products.

At CakeDC, we’ve been exploring how CakePHP 5 can be seamlessly integrated with AI to deliver powerful, automated, and intelligent solutions.

Why combine CakePHP and AI?

Both technologies share a core philosophy: efficiency and structure. CakePHP offers a clean MVC framework, robust validation, and an ORM that keeps your data organized and secure. On the other hand, AI brings reasoning, summarization, and contextual understanding to your application.

By combining them, we can:

  • Automate repetitive processes.
  • Enhance user experience.
  • Add value to existing products.
  • Unlock new opportunities for digital innovation.

The result? Smarter apps with a strong core.

What AI means today

AI enhances productivity not by replacing people, but by amplifying human capabilities. It helps analyze data, generate content, automate workflows, and make better decisions faster. And thanks to APIs like OpenAI’s, this power is now accessible to every PHP developer.

Imagine a world where your CakePHP app can:

  • Understand natural language input.
  • Summarize uploaded reports.
  • Classify customer feedback.
  • Generate tailored content or recommendations.

That work is already here.

Real use cases with CakePHP + AI

Here are some real examples of how we’re integrating AI into CakePHP projects:

  • Document upload with automatic summaries or data extraction.
  • Customer support chatbots directly embedded in web portals.
  • Image analysis for quality control or content tagging.
  • Smart products or content recommendations.
  • Automated reporting and document generation.

Each of these features leverages the same clean CakePHP architecture (controllers, services, and models) combined with a simple AI API call.

Technical integration made simple

Here’s how easy it is to call an AI model directly from your CakePHP app:

use Cake\Http\Client;

$http = new \http\Client();
        $response = $http->post(
            'https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions',
            [
                'model' => 'gpt-4o-mini',
                'messages' => [
                    ['role' => 'system', 'content' => 'You are an assistant.'],
                    ['role' => 'user', 'content' => 'Summarize this text...'],
                ],
            ],
            [
                'headers' => [
                    'Authorization' => 'Bearer ' . Configure::Read('OPENAI_API_KEY'),
                    'Content-Type' => 'application/json',
                ],
            ],
        );

        $result = $response->getJson();

From there, you simply parse the JSON response, store or display the data, and integrate it into your workflow. The simplicity of CakePHP’s Http Client makes this process smooth and reliable.

Challenges and best practices

As with any emerging technology, integrating AI comes with responsibilities and considerations:

  • Manage API costs efficiently by batching requests or caching responses.
  • Respect user privacy and comply with GDPR, especially when handling sensitive data.
  • Implement robust error handling and retry logic for API calls.
  • Log and monitor AI interactions for transparency and quality assurance.
  • Use AI responsibly — as a tool to empower developers and users, not to replace them.

Looking ahead

The combination of CakePHP and AI opens exciting possibilities for the next generation of web applications: fast, smart, and secure.

AI is not a replacement, it’s an enhancement. And with CakePHP’s solid foundation, developers can bring these intelligent capabilities to life faster than ever.

This article is part of the CakeDC Advent Calendar 2025 (December 2th 2025)

Latest articles

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Goodbye to 2025!

Well bakers… another advent calendar is coming to an end. I hope you enjoyed all of the topics covered each day. We are also closing the year with so much gratitude.    2025 was the 20th year of CakePHP, can you believe it? We had an amazing year with our team, the community and the CakePHP core. It was great connecting with those who attended CakeFest in Madrid, and we hope to have the opportunity to see more of you in 2026.    I cannot let the year end without getting a little sentimental. There is no better way to say it… THANK YOU. Thank you to the team who worked so hard, the core team that keeps pumping out releases, and most of all … thank you to our clients that trust us with their projects. CakeDC is successful because of the strong relationships we build with our network, and we hope to continue working with all of you for many years.    There are a lot of great things still to come in year 21! Could 2026 will be bringing us CakePHP 6?! Considering 21 is the legal drinking age in the US, maybe CakePHP 6 should be beer cake? Delicious. Stay tuned to find out.    Before I go, I am leaving you with something special. A note from Larry!   As we close out this year, I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. Twenty years ago, CakePHP started as a simple idea shared by a few of us who wanted to make building on the web easier and more enjoyable. Seeing how far it has come, and more importantly, seeing how many lives and careers it has impacted, is something I never take for granted. I am deeply grateful for our team, the core contributors, the community, and our clients who continue to believe in what we do. You are the reason CakePHP and CakeDC are still here, still growing, and still relevant after two decades. Here is to what we have built together, and to what is still ahead. Thank you for being part of this journey. Larry

Written by Amanda on December 24, 2025

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Pagination of multiple queries in CakePHP

Pagination of multiple queries in CakePHP

A less typical use case for pagination in an appication is the need to paginate multiples queries. In CakePHP you can achieve this with pagination scopes.

Users list

Lest use as an example a simple users list. // src/Controller/UsersController.php class UsersController extends AppController { protected array $paginate = [ 'limit' => 25, ]; public function index() { // Default model pagination $this->set('users', $this->paginate($this->Users)); } } // templates/Users/index.php <h2><?= __('Users list') ?>/h2> <table> <thead> <tr> <th><?= $this->Paginator->sort('name', __('Name')) ?></th> <th><?= $this->Paginator->sort('email', __('Email')) ?></th> <th><?= $this->Paginator->sort('active', __('Active')) ?></th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <?php foreach ($users as $user): ?> <tr> <td><?= h($user->name) ?></td> <td><?= h($user->email) ?></td> <td><?= $user->active ? 'Yes' : 'No' ?></td> </tr> <?php endforeach; ?> </tbody> </table> <?= $this->Paginator->counter() ?> <?= $this->Paginator->prev('« Previous') ?> <?= $this->Paginator->numbers() ?> <?= $this->Paginator->next('Next »') ?>

Pagination of multiple queries

Now, we want to display two paginated tables, one with the active users and the other with the inactive ones. // src/Controller/UsersController.php class UsersController extends AppController { protected array $paginate = [ 'Users' => [ 'scope' => 'active_users', 'limit' => 25, ], 'InactiveUsers' => [ 'scope' => 'inactive_users', 'limit' => 10, ], ]; public function index() { $activeUsers = $this->paginate( $this->Users->find()->where(['active' => true]), [scope: 'active_users'] ); // Load an additional table object with the custom alias set in the paginate property $inactiveUsersTable = $this->fetchTable('InactiveUsers', [ 'className' => \App\Model\Table\UsersTable::class, 'table' => 'users', 'entityClass' => 'App\Model\Entity\User', ]); $inactiveUsers = $this->paginate( $inactiveUsersTable->find()->where(['active' => false]), [scope: 'inactive_users'] ); $this->set(compact('users', 'inactiveUsers')); } } // templates/Users/index.php <?php // call `setPaginated` first with the results to be displayed next, so the paginator use the correct scope for the links $this->Paginator->setPaginated($users); ?> <h2><?= __('Active Users') ?>/h2> <table> <thead> <tr> <th><?= $this->Paginator->sort('name', __('Name')) ?></th> <th><?= $this->Paginator->sort('email', __('Email')) ?></th> <th><?= $this->Paginator->sort('active', __('Active')) ?></th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <?php foreach ($users as $user): ?> <tr> <td><?= h($user->name) ?></td> <td><?= h($user->email) ?></td> <td><?= $user->active ? 'Yes' : 'No' ?></td> </tr> <?php endforeach; ?> </tbody> </table> <?= $this->Paginator->counter() ?> <?= $this->Paginator->prev('« Previous') ?> <?= $this->Paginator->numbers() ?> <?= $this->Paginator->next('Next »') ?> <?php // call `setPaginated` first with the results to be displayed next, so the paginator use the correct scope for the links $this->Paginator->setPaginated($inactiveUsers); ?> <h2><?= __('Inactive Users') ?>/h2> <table> <thead> <tr> <th><?= $this->Paginator->sort('name', __('Name')) ?></th> <th><?= $this->Paginator->sort('email', __('Email')) ?></th> <th><?= $this->Paginator->sort('active', __('Active')) ?></th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <?php foreach ($inactiveUsers as $inactiveUser): ?> <tr> <td><?= h($inactiveUser->name) ?></td> <td><?= h($inactiveUser->email) ?></td> <td><?= $inactiveUser->active ? 'Yes' : 'No' ?></td> </tr> <?php endforeach; ?> </tbody> </table> <?= $this->Paginator->counter() ?> <?= $this->Paginator->prev('« Previous') ?> <?= $this->Paginator->numbers() ?> <?= $this->Paginator->next('Next »') ?> And with this you have two paginated tables in the same request.

Written by Rperez on December 23, 2025

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Clean DI in CakePHP 5.3: Say Goodbye to fetchTable()

This article is part of the CakeDC Advent Calendar 2025 (December 23rd, 2025)

Introduction: The Death of the "Hidden" Dependency

For years, accessing data in CakePHP meant "grabbing" it from the global state. Whether using TableRegistry::getTableLocator()->get() or the LocatorAwareTrait’s $this->fetchTable(), your classes reached out to a locator to find what they needed. While convenient, this created hidden dependencies. A class constructor might look empty, despite the class being secretly reliant on multiple database tables. This made unit testing cumbersome, forcing you to stub the global TableLocator just to inject a mock. CakePHP 5.3 changes the game with Inversion of Control. With the framework currently in its Release Candidate (RC) stage and a stable release expected soon, now is the perfect time to explore these architectural improvements. By using the new TableContainer as a delegate for your PSR-11 container, tables can now be automatically injected directly into your constructors. This shift to explicit dependencies makes your code cleaner, fully type-hinted, and ready for modern testing standards. The Old Way (Hidden Dependency): public function execute() { $users = $this->fetchTable('Users'); // Where did this come from? } The 5.3 Way (Explicit Dependency): public function __construct(protected UsersTable $users) {} public function execute() { $this->users->find(); // Explicit and testable. }

Enabling the Delegate

Open src/Application.php and update the services() method by delegating table resolution to the TableContainer. // src/Application.php use Cake\ORM\TableContainer; public function services(ContainerInterface $container): void { // Register the TableContainer as a delegate $container->delegate(new TableContainer()); }

How it works under the hood

When you type-hint a class ending in Table (e.g., UsersTable), the main PSR-11 container doesn't initially know how to instantiate it. Because you've registered a delegate, it passes the request to the TableContainer, which then:
  1. Validates: It verifies the class name and ensures it is a subclass of \Cake\ORM\Table.
  2. Locates: It uses the TableLocator to fetch the correct instance (handling all the usual CakePHP ORM configuration behind the scenes).
  3. Resolves: It returns the fully configured Table object back to the main container to be injected.
Note: The naming convention is strict. The TableContainer specifically looks for the Table suffix. If you have a custom class that extends the base Table class but is named UsersRepository, the delegate will skip it, and the container will fail to resolve the dependency.

Practical Example: Cleaner Services

Now, your domain services no longer need to know about the LocatorAwareTrait. They simply ask for what they need. namespace App\Service; use App\Model\Table\UsersTable; class UserManagerService { // No more TableRegistry::get() or $this->fetchTable() public function __construct( protected UsersTable $users ) {} public function activateUser(int $id): void { $user = $this->users->get($id); // ... logic } } Next, open src/Application.php and update the services() method by delegating table resolution to the TableContainer. // src/Application.php use App\Model\Table\UsersTable; use App\Service\UserManagerService; use Cake\ORM\TableContainer; public function services(ContainerInterface $container): void { // Register the TableContainer as a delegate $container->delegate(new TableContainer()); // Register your service with the table as constructor argument $container ->add(UserManagerService::class) ->addArgument(UsersTable::class); }

Why this is a game changer for Testing

Because the table is injected via the constructor, you can now swap it for a mock effortlessly in your test suite without touching the global state of the application. $mockUsers = $this->createMock(UsersTable::class); $service = new UserManagerService($mockUsers); // Pure injection!

Conclusion: Small Change, Big Impact

At first glance, adding a single line to your Application::services() method might seem like a minor update. However, TableContainer represents a significant shift in how we approach CakePHP architecture. By delegating table resolution to the container, we gain:
  • True Type-Safety: Your IDE and static analysis tools now recognize the exact Table class being used. This is a massive win for PHPStan users—no more "Call to an undefined method" errors or messy @var docblock workarounds just to prove to your CI that a method exists.
  • Zero-Effort Mocking: Testing a service no longer requires manipulating the global TableRegistry state. Simply pass a mock object into the constructor and move on.
  • Standardization: Your CakePHP code now aligns with modern PHP practices found in any PSR-compliant ecosystem, making your application more maintainable and easier for new developers to understand.
If you plan to upgrade to CakePHP 5.3 upon its release, this is one of the easiest wins for your codebase. It’s time to stop fetching your tables and start receiving them. This article is part of the CakeDC Advent Calendar 2025 (December 23rd, 2025)

Written by Arusinowski on December 23, 2025

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