usage.md

Environment Usage

For most application code, use the helpers.

Reading an environment value

$appName = env('APP_NAME', 'Quantum');
$dbHost = env('DB_HOST', '127.0.0.1');

This works only after the shared Environment instance has been loaded during bootstrap.

Inspecting the active environment

$environment = environment();

if ($environment->isProduction()) {
    // production-only behavior
}

You can also read the raw environment name with getAppEnv().

Updating a loaded environment file

$environment = environment();
$environment->setMutable(true);
$environment->updateRow('APP_NAME', 'Quantum 3');

Use this carefully:

• mutability is off by default
• the target file must already have been selected and loaded
• updates modify the real .env file under App::getBaseDir()

Reading request metadata

$server = server();

$method = $server->method();
$uri = $server->uri();
$contentType = $server->contentType(true);
$ip = get_user_ip();

Reading normalized headers

$headers = server()->getAllHeaders();
$requestId = $headers['x-request-id'] ?? null;

Remember that the keys are normalized to lowercase hyphenated names.

Recommended usage patterns

• treat Environment as bootstrap-loaded configuration state, not as a reloadable store
• use env() for reads and keep direct Environment mutation limited to tooling or controlled setup flows
• use server() when you want one shared request metadata object instead of touching $_SERVER directly
• be careful with Server::ip() behind proxies because it prefers client-supplied forwarding headers