shiny/json-logic-php ✨

The most compliant PHP implementation of JSON Logic. ✨

shiny/json-logic-php is a pure PHP, zero-dependency JSON Logic implementation — the only PHP library that passes 100% of the official JSON Logic tests (in stdclass mode), with no external dependencies and PHP 8.1+ compatibility.

This is the PHP port of shiny_json_logic, the most compliant Ruby implementation of JSON Logic.

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Why shiny/json-logic-php?

This library was built as a modern, fully spec-compliant alternative to jwadhams/json-logic-php, which at the time of writing passes ~69% of the official test suite, has known vulnerabilities in its dependency tree, and has not seen active maintenance since mid-2024.

shiny/json-logic-php is designed as a drop-in replacement.

• ✅ 100% spec-compliant — the only PHP library that passes all 601 official JSON Logic tests (stdclass mode).
• 🧩 Zero runtime dependencies — stdlib only. Just plug & play.
• 🕰️ PHP 8.1+ compatible.
• 🔧 Actively maintained and aligned with the evolving JSON Logic specification.
• 🔁 Drop-in aliases: JsonLogic and JSONLogic available out of the box.

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Installation

composer require shiny/json-logic-php

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Usage

use ShinyJsonLogic\ShinyJsonLogic;

// Basic evaluation
ShinyJsonLogic::apply(['==' => [1, 1]]);
// → true

// With data
ShinyJsonLogic::apply(['var' => 'name'], ['name' => 'Luis']);
// → "Luis"

// Feature flag example
$rule = ['==' => [['var' => 'plan'], 'premium']];
$data = ['plan' => 'premium'];
ShinyJsonLogic::apply($rule, $data);
// → true

// Nested access
ShinyJsonLogic::apply(['var' => 'user.age'], ['user' => ['age' => 30]]);
// → 30

Nested logic

Rules can be nested arbitrarily:

$rule = [
    'if' => [
        ['var' => 'financing'],
        ['missing' => ['apr']],
        []
    ]
];

ShinyJsonLogic::apply($rule, ['financing' => true]);
// → ["apr"]

Drop-in aliases

JsonLogic and JSONLogic are available as aliases:

JsonLogic::apply(['>' => [['var' => 'score'], 90]], ['score' => 95]);
// → true

Working with json_decode

In PHP, json_decode parses a JSON string into either stdclass objects or associative arrays:

json_decode('{"var": "name"}');        // → stdClass { $var: "name" }
json_decode('{"var": "name"}', true);  // → ["var" => "name"]

Both modes work with this library:

// stdclass mode (recommended — full 601/601 compliance)
$rule = json_decode('{"var": "name"}');
$data = json_decode('{"name": "Luis"}');
ShinyJsonLogic::apply($rule, $data);
// → "Luis"

// arrays mode also works (600/601 — see Compatibility)
$rule = json_decode('{"var": "name"}', true);
$data = json_decode('{"name": "Luis"}', true);
ShinyJsonLogic::apply($rule, $data);
// → "Luis"

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Supported operators

Category	Operators
Data access	var, missing, missing_some, exists, val ✨
Logic	if, ?:, and, or, !, !!
Comparison	==, ===, !=, !==, >, >=, <, <=
Arithmetic	+, -, *, /, %, max, min
String	cat, substr
Array	map, filter, reduce, all, none, some, merge, in
Coalesce	?? ✨
Error handling	throw, try ✨
Utility	coalesce, preserve ✨, log

✨ = community-extended operators beyond the core spec.

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Error handling

shiny/json-logic-php uses native PHP exceptions:

// Unknown operators throw an exception
ShinyJsonLogic::apply(['unknown_op' => [1, 2]], []);
// → throws ShinyJsonLogic\Errors\UnknownOperator

// You can use try/throw for controlled error handling within rules
$rule = [
    'try' => [
        ['throw' => 'Something went wrong'],
        ['cat' => ['Error: ', ['var' => 'type']]]
    ]
];
ShinyJsonLogic::apply($rule, []);
// → "Error: Something went wrong"

Exception classes:

• ShinyJsonLogic\Errors\UnknownOperator — unknown operator in rule
• ShinyJsonLogic\Errors\InvalidArguments — invalid arguments to operator
• ShinyJsonLogic\Errors\NotANumber — NaN result in numeric operation

Or catch ShinyJsonLogic\Errors\Base to handle all library errors in one sweep.

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Compatibility

Tested against the official JSON Logic test suite (601 tests).

Mode	Passed	Notes
stdclass (json_decode without true)	601 / 601	Full compliance
arrays (json_decode with true)	600 / 601	One PHP-language limitation (see below)

The arrays mode edge case

In PHP, json_decode('{}', true) returns [] — an empty array, indistinguishable from json_decode('[]', true). This means that in arrays mode, the engine cannot tell an empty object from an empty array.

The one failing case is the + operator with an empty object passed directly as the operand list:

// stdclass mode — throws NotANumber ✅
ShinyJsonLogic::apply(json_decode('{"+" : {}}'));

// arrays mode — returns 0 instead of NaN ❌
ShinyJsonLogic::apply(json_decode('{"+" : {}}', true));

In arrays mode, {"+" : {}} is decoded as ["+" => []] — zero operands — so + returns 0 instead of NaN. In stdclass mode, {} is preserved as an EmptyObject sentinel, and the operator correctly produces NaN.

This is a PHP language limitation, not a bug in this library. The issue has been reported to the json-logic org.

For this reason, if you need full spec compliance or interoperability with other JSON Logic implementations, we strongly recommend using stdclass mode (json_decode without true).

All other 600 tests pass in both modes.

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Development

composer install
./vendor/bin/phpunit

To run the official test suite against live test data:

./run-official-tests.sh

Requires Docker and curl. Fetches the official tests at runtime from github.com/json-logic/.github.

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome — especially:

• spec alignment improvements
• missing operators
• edge-case tests

Please include tests with any change.

Repository: https://github.com/luismoyano/shiny-json-logic-php

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Related projects

• shiny_json_logic (Ruby) — 601/601 official tests, the most compliant Ruby implementation
• jsonlogicruby.com — JSON Logic playground, docs, and specification reference

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License

MIT License.

Use it. Fork it. Ship it. (:

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Shine bright like a 🐘