Module selector

This page maps what you want to build to the packages you need. Each row gives the exact composer require commands for that scenario.

Choosing your packages

• Use nexus-actors/nexus when you want the full core stack (actors + Fiber runtime + serialization) in one command.
• Use individual packages when you want precise control over what lands in your vendor directory.
• Add nexus-actors/worker-pool-swoole when you need true multi-thread actor pools via Swoole threads.
• Add nexus-actors/persistence (plus a store adapter) when your actors must survive process restarts.

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Actor system only

Spawn actors, send messages, define behaviors, supervise children. No HTTP, no persistence, no worker pool.

# core abstractions + Fiber runtime + serialization
composer require nexus-actors/nexus

Or install the pieces individually:

composer require nexus-actors/core
composer require nexus-actors/runtime-fiber
composer require nexus-actors/serialization

For static analysis:

composer require --dev nexus-actors/psalm
composer require --dev nexus-actors/runtime-step

---

Actor system + HTTP

Build HTTP handlers that delegate to actors. Requires the Swoole HTTP server.

composer require nexus-actors/nexus
composer require nexus-actors/http
composer require nexus-actors/http-server-swoole

For authentication and authorization middleware:

composer require nexus-actors/http-auth

For WebSocket support:

composer require nexus-actors/http-ws

---

Actor system + persistence

Event-sourced or durable-state actors that survive restarts. Choose one store adapter.

# Core actor stack
composer require nexus-actors/nexus

# Persistence abstractions
composer require nexus-actors/persistence

# Store adapter — pick one:
composer require nexus-actors/persistence-dbal       # DBAL (raw SQL)
composer require nexus-actors/persistence-doctrine   # Doctrine ORM

For Doctrine ORM entity behaviors:

composer require nexus-actors/doctrine-dbal
composer require nexus-actors/doctrine-orm

---

Actor system + worker pool (Swoole threads)

Scale actors across OS threads using Swoole's ZTS thread API. Requires ZTS PHP 8.5 and Swoole 6.0+ compiled with --enable-swoole-thread.

ZTS PHP required

Standard Homebrew and apt PHP builds are not ZTS. Use the Docker setup — the php-swoole service in compose.yaml ships ZTS PHP 8.5 with Swoole 6.0.

composer require nexus-actors/nexus
composer require nexus-actors/runtime-swoole
composer require nexus-actors/worker-pool
composer require nexus-actors/worker-pool-swoole

---

Full example application

The meta-package plus HTTP server plus persistence gives you everything the example app uses:

composer require nexus-actors/nexus
composer require nexus-actors/http
composer require nexus-actors/http-server-swoole
composer require nexus-actors/http-auth
composer require nexus-actors/persistence
composer require nexus-actors/persistence-doctrine
composer require nexus-actors/doctrine-orm

---

Package reference

Goal	Package	Composer name
Actor model core	nexus-core	nexus-actors/core
Fiber runtime	nexus-runtime-fiber	nexus-actors/runtime-fiber
Swoole runtime	nexus-runtime-swoole	nexus-actors/runtime-swoole
Step runtime (tests)	nexus-runtime-step	nexus-actors/runtime-step
Serialization	nexus-serialization	nexus-actors/serialization
HTTP actors	nexus-http	nexus-actors/http
HTTP Swoole server	nexus-http-server-swoole	nexus-actors/http-server-swoole
HTTP auth	nexus-http-auth	nexus-actors/http-auth
WebSockets	nexus-http-ws	nexus-actors/http-ws
HTTP toolkit	nexus-http-toolkit	nexus-actors/http-toolkit
Persistence	nexus-persistence	nexus-actors/persistence
Persistence DBAL	nexus-persistence-dbal	nexus-actors/persistence-dbal
Persistence Doctrine	nexus-persistence-doctrine	nexus-actors/persistence-doctrine
Doctrine ORM	nexus-doctrine-orm	nexus-actors/doctrine-orm
Worker pool	nexus-worker-pool	nexus-actors/worker-pool
Worker pool Swoole	nexus-worker-pool-swoole	nexus-actors/worker-pool-swoole
PSR logger bridge	nexus-logger	nexus-actors/logger
App bootstrap	nexus-app	nexus-actors/app
Psalm plugin	nexus-psalm	nexus-actors/psalm
Meta-package	nexus	nexus-actors/nexus

Next steps

• Installation — verify your setup with a smoke test.
• Quick start — build your first counter actor.
• Runtimes — choose between Fiber and Swoole for your workload.