CloudInit PHP

Generate your cloud-init files dynamically with PHP.

Requires PHP 8.5 or later.

Installation

composer require vinhais/cloud-init.php

Quick start

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use CloudInit\CloudInit;

$config = CloudInit::make()
    ->setHostname('web-01')
    ->setTimezone('UTC')
    ->setPackageUpdate()
    ->appendPackages(['nginx', 'curl'])
    ->appendRunCommand(['systemctl', 'enable', '--now', 'nginx']);

echo $config->renderString();

#cloud-config
hostname: web-01
timezone: UTC
package_update: true
packages:
  - nginx
  - curl
runcmd:
  - [systemctl, enable, '--now', nginx]

Commands accept a shell string or an argument list:

$config->appendRunCommand('echo "Ready" > /var/tmp/status');
$config->appendRunCommand(['systemctl', 'restart', 'nginx']);

Package helpers

$config = CloudInit::make()
    ->appendSudo()
    ->appendCurlAndWget()
    ->appendQemuGuestAgent();

These helpers append sudo, curl, wget, and qemu-guest-agent to packages, preserving existing entries and duplicates. They only request package installation; they do not configure sudo permissions or add service commands.

Output

$yaml = $config->renderString();
$path = $config->renderYaml(__DIR__, 'user-data.yaml');

renderString() returns the YAML string. renderYaml($directory, $filename) writes it and returns the absolute path. The directory must exist; existing files are overwritten. render() is an alias for renderString().

Users and files

use CloudInit\CloudInit;
use CloudInit\File;
use CloudInit\User;

$config = CloudInit::make()
    ->appendDefaultUser()
    ->appendUser(
        User::make('deploy')
            ->setShell('/bin/bash')
            ->setGroups(['www-data'])
            ->setSshKeys([trim(file_get_contents(__DIR__ . '/deploy.pub'))])
            ->setLockPassword(true)
    )
    ->appendFile(
        File::make('/var/www/html/index.html', "<h1>Server provisioned</h1>\n")
            ->setOwner('www-data:www-data')
            ->setPermissions('0644')
            ->setDefer()
    );

echo $config->renderString();

This example reads an SSH public key from deploy.pub. To add keys for the default user, use $config->appendSshKeys($keys).

set* methods replace values; append* methods add entries. Builders also support when(), unless(), and tap().

User-data, meta-data, and network-config

Build and save each NoCloud document separately:

use CloudInit\MetaData;
use CloudInit\Network\Ethernet;
use CloudInit\NetworkConfig;
use CloudInit\UserData;

$userData = UserData::make()
    ->setHostname('web-01')
    ->appendPackages(['nginx']);

$metaData = MetaData::make()
    ->setInstanceId('iid-web-01')
    ->setLocalHostname('web-01');

$networkConfig = NetworkConfig::make()
    ->setEthernet(Ethernet::make('eth0')->setDhcp4());

$userData->renderYaml(__DIR__, 'user-data');
$metaData->renderYaml(__DIR__, 'meta-data');
$networkConfig->renderYaml(__DIR__, 'network-config');

CloudInit and UserData expose the same API. Only user-data includes the #cloud-config header. Metadata requires an instance ID. Network configuration uses Version 2 and supports Ethernet interfaces, DHCP, static addresses, DNS, and routes.

Single-file package

Use chunk() to package user-data, meta-data, and network-config in one YAML file:

$chunk = $userData->chunk($metaData, $networkConfig);

$yaml = $chunk->renderString();
$path = $chunk->renderYaml(__DIR__, 'cloud-init.yaml');

user-data: |
  #cloud-config
  hostname: web-01
  packages:
    - nginx
meta-data: |
  instance-id: iid-web-01
  local-hostname: web-01
network-config: |
  version: 2
  ethernets:
    eth0:
      dhcp4: true

The package stores snapshots of all three documents, with #cloud-config only in user-data. This is an application transport format, not a cloud-init input format. For NoCloud, extract the strings returned by $chunk->toArray() into their named files before provisioning.

Datasources

• LXD: user-data, vendor-data, and network-config in an LXD configuration fragment.
• MAAS: cloud-config and base64-encoded user_data for deployment requests.
• WSL: per-instance user-data and optional meta-data files.
• NoCloud: separate user-data, meta-data, and network-config files.

Other adapters are WIP. See datasource examples and support.

Validation and exceptions

Invalid values throw specific exceptions, such as SshKeyInvalidException, extending CloudInit\Exceptions\ValidationException. File and serialization failures throw FileWriteException and YamlRenderException.

See the API reference for supported options and exception types.

To validate generated user-data on a system with cloud-init installed:

cloud-init schema --config-file user-data.yaml

Examples

php examples/web-server.php
php examples/chunk.php
php examples/lxd.php
php examples/maas.php
php examples/nocloud.php
php examples/wsl.php

NoCloud and WSL preview their documents by default; pass an existing output directory to write files. Use php examples/maas.php --base64 for the MAAS deployment value.

Development

composer install
composer validate --strict
composer check

License

MIT.