Quick Start

Get started with Hexagonal Maker Bundle in 2 minutes.

Installation 

composer require ahmed-bhs/hexagonal-maker-bundle --dev

The bundle auto-registers via Symfony Flex. If not using Flex, add to config/bundles.php:

return [
    // ...
    AhmedBhs\HexagonalMakerBundle\HexagonalMakerBundle::class => ['dev' => true],
];

First Module: User Registration

Let’s build a complete User Registration module with all hexagonal layers.

Step 1: Domain Layer (Pure Business Logic) 

# Create User entity (pure PHP, no Doctrine annotations)
bin/console make:hexagonal:entity user/account User

# Create Email value object
bin/console make:hexagonal:value-object user/account Email

# Create business exception
bin/console make:hexagonal:exception user/account InvalidEmailException

Generated:

src/User/Account/
├── Domain/
│   ├── Model/
│   │   └── User.php                    # Pure PHP entity
│   ├── ValueObject/
│   │   └── Email.php                   # Immutable value object
│   └── Exception/
│       └── InvalidEmailException.php   # Business exception

Step 2: Repository (Port + Adapter) 

# Generate repository interface + Doctrine implementation
bin/console make:hexagonal:repository user/account User

Generated:

src/User/Account/
├── Domain/Port/
│   └── UserRepositoryInterface.php           # Interface (Port)
└── Infrastructure/Persistence/Doctrine/
    ├── DoctrineUserRepository.php            # Implementation (Adapter)
    └── Orm/Mapping/
        └── User.orm.yml                      # Doctrine YAML mapping

Step 3: Application Layer (Use Cases) 

# Generate registration command with factory
bin/console make:hexagonal:command user/account register --factory

# Generate query to find user
bin/console make:hexagonal:query user/account find-by-id

Generated:

src/User/Account/Application/
├── Register/
│   ├── RegisterCommand.php           # Command DTO
│   ├── RegisterCommandHandler.php    # Handler with business logic
│   └── UserFactory.php               # Factory for creating users
└── FindById/
    ├── FindByIdQuery.php             # Query DTO
    ├── FindByIdQueryHandler.php      # Query handler
    └── FindByIdResponse.php          # Response DTO

Step 4: UI Layer (Controllers) 

# Generate web controller
bin/console make:hexagonal:controller user/account RegisterUser /users/register

# Generate Symfony form
bin/console make:hexagonal:form user/account User

Generated:

src/User/Account/UI/
└── Http/Web/
    ├── Controller/
    │   └── RegisterUserController.php   # Web controller
    └── Form/
        └── UserType.php                 # Symfony form

Configure Doctrine Mapping

Add YAML mapping configuration to config/packages/doctrine.yaml:

doctrine:
    dbal:
        url: '%env(resolve:DATABASE_URL)%'

    orm:
        auto_generate_proxy_classes: true
        naming_strategy: doctrine.orm.naming_strategy.underscore_number_aware
        auto_mapping: true
        mappings:
            UserAccount:
                is_bundle: false
                type: yml
                dir: '%kernel.project_dir%/src/User/Account/Infrastructure/Persistence/Doctrine/Orm/Mapping'
                prefix: 'App\User\Account\Domain\Model'
                alias: UserAccount

Complete the Implementation

1. Edit User Entity 

// src/User/Account/Domain/Model/User.php
<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

namespace App\User\Account\Domain\Model;

use App\User\Account\Domain\ValueObject\Email;

final class User
{
    private string $id;
    private Email $email;
    private string $passwordHash;
    private \DateTimeImmutable $createdAt;

    public function __construct(
        string $id,
        Email $email,
        string $passwordHash
    ) {
        $this->id = $id;
        $this->email = $email;
        $this->passwordHash = $passwordHash;
        $this->createdAt = new \DateTimeImmutable();
    }

    public function getId(): string
    {
        return $this->id;
    }

    public function getEmail(): Email
    {
        return $this->email;
    }

    // Business methods...
    public function changeEmail(Email $newEmail): void
    {
        $this->email = $newEmail;
    }
}

2. Complete Email Value Object 

// src/User/Account/Domain/ValueObject/Email.php
<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

namespace App\User\Account\Domain\ValueObject;

use App\User\Account\Domain\Exception\InvalidEmailException;

final readonly class Email
{
    private string $value;

    public function __construct(string $value)
    {
        if (!filter_var($value, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL)) {
            throw new InvalidEmailException("Invalid email: $value");
        }

        $this->value = strtolower($value);
    }

    public function getValue(): string
    {
        return $this->value;
    }

    public function __toString(): string
    {
        return $this->value;
    }
}

3. Complete Doctrine Mapping 

# src/User/Account/Infrastructure/Persistence/Doctrine/Orm/Mapping/User.orm.yml
App\User\Account\Domain\Model\User:
    type: entity
    repositoryClass: App\User\Account\Infrastructure\Persistence\Doctrine\DoctrineUserRepository
    table: user

    id:
        id:
            type: string
            length: 36

    fields:
        email:
            type: string
            length: 180
            unique: true
            # Email VO will be stored as string

        passwordHash:
            type: string
            length: 255
            column: password_hash

        createdAt:
            type: datetime_immutable
            column: created_at

4. Implement Handler 

// src/User/Account/Application/Register/RegisterCommandHandler.php
<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

namespace App\User\Account\Application\Register;

use App\User\Account\Domain\Port\UserRepositoryInterface;
use Symfony\Component\Messenger\Attribute\AsMessageHandler;

#[AsMessageHandler]
final readonly class RegisterCommandHandler
{
    public function __construct(
        private UserFactory $factory,
        private UserRepositoryInterface $repository,
    ) {
    }

    public function __invoke(RegisterCommand $command): void
    {
        // Use factory to create user
        $user = $this->factory->create(
            email: $command->email,
            password: $command->password
        );

        // Save via repository
        $this->repository->save($user);
    }
}

Generate Database Schema 

# Validate mapping
bin/console doctrine:schema:validate

# Generate migration
bin/console doctrine:migrations:diff

# Execute migration
bin/console doctrine:migrations:migrate

Test Your Module

Option 1: Web Interface

Create a controller action:

// src/User/Account/UI/Http/Web/Controller/RegisterUserController.php
use Symfony\Component\Messenger\MessageBusInterface;

#[Route('/users/register', name: 'user_register', methods: ['GET', 'POST'])]
public function register(Request $request, MessageBusInterface $commandBus): Response
{
    $form = $this->createForm(UserType::class);
    $form->handleRequest($request);

    if ($form->isSubmitted() && $form->isValid()) {
        $data = $form->getData();

        $command = new RegisterCommand(
            email: $data['email'],
            password: $data['password']
        );

        $commandBus->dispatch($command);

        return $this->redirectToRoute('user_success');
    }

    return $this->render('user/register.html.twig', [
        'form' => $form,
    ]);
}

Option 2: CLI Command 

bin/console make:hexagonal:cli-command user/account RegisterUser app:user:register

Then test:

bin/console app:user:register --email=test@example.com --password=secret

What’s Next?

You’ve built a complete hexagonal module! Next steps:

  1. Add more use cases - Update, Delete, List
  2. Add tests - Unit and integration tests
  3. Add validation - Input DTOs with constraints
  4. Add domain events - Event-driven architecture
  5. Generate complete CRUD - Use the CRUD maker

Quick CRUD Alternative

Want to skip manual generation? Use the CRUD maker:

bin/console make:hexagonal:crud user/account User --with-tests --with-id-vo

This generates everything in one command:

  • Entity + Repository + ValueObjects
  • 5 Use Cases (Create, Update, Delete, Get, List)
  • 5 Controllers + Form
  • All tests

Learn more about CRUD maker →

Troubleshooting

Doctrine mapping not found

Error: Class "App\User\Account\Domain\Model\User" sub class of "X" is not a valid entity or mapped super class.

Solution: Add mapping configuration to config/packages/doctrine.yaml (see Configure Doctrine Mapping above)

Entity not persisted

Error: A new entity was found through the relationship...

Solution: Add cascade: ['persist'] in your YAML mapping or call $entityManager->persist() explicitly

Service autowiring failed

Error: Cannot autowire service "X": argument "$repository" references interface "UserRepositoryInterface" but no such service exists.

Solution: Configure service alias in config/services.yaml:

services:
    App\User\Account\Domain\Port\UserRepositoryInterface:
        class: App\User\Account\Infrastructure\Persistence\Doctrine\DoctrineUserRepository

Or use _defaults: autowire: true with bind for automatic resolution.

Next Steps