Kaizen #17 - PHP SDK
Hello everyone!
Welcome to yet another post in the Kaizen series.
PHP Software Development Kit
PHP SDK allows you to create client PHP applications that can be integrated with Zoho CRM effortlessly. It serves as a wrapper for the REST APIs, thus making it easier to use the services of Zoho CRM.
Here is a sample of how the PHP SDK acts as a middleware between Zoho CRM and Client PHP Application.
What can you do with the PHP SDK?
- You can use the PHP SDK to exchange data between Zoho CRM and the client PHP application.
- Authenticate your application easily every time you sync data between Zoho CRM and the client PHP application, as the SDK takes care of generating the access/refresh tokens automatically.
Installing the PHP SDK
You can install the PHP SDK for Zoho CRM through the Composer—a dependency manager for PHP applications.
The pre-requisites for the client PHP application, before you start using the PHP SDK are:
- The client app must have PHP 5.6 or above with a curl extension.
- The client app must have the PHP SDK installed through Composer.
- The ZCRMRestClient::initialize($configuration) function must be called once while starting the client app. It contains the configuration details as key-value pairs.
PHP SDK and the PHP client application
- Include the following line to your client application (wherever you intend to use the PHP SDK) to access all the functionalities of the PHP SDK.require ‘vendor/autoload.php’
- Include the namespaces of the class in the "use" statement. For instance, if you use the ZCRMRestclient class, you must add the following.use zcrmsdk\crm\setup\restclient\ZCRMRestClient;
How to start using the PHP SDK?
- Step-1: Prerequisite: Register your application
- Step-2: Install the PHP SDK
- Step-3: Authenticate the client application
- Step-4: Knowledge Base: Token Persistence
- Step-5: Initialization
Step-1: Prerequisite: Register your application
All the Zoho CRM APIs are authenticated by the OAuth2.0 standards. It is mandatory to authenticate the client application with Zoho.
2. Click ADD CLIENT.
3. Choose a client type. For instance, Self Client.
4. Choose the Client Type, and click CREATE.
In the case of a web-based client, you need to specify the Client Name, Homepage URL and redirect URIs. 
5. Once you successfully register your self-client, you will receive a Client ID and Client Secret.
Step-2: Install the PHP SDK
Installing Composer
As discussed earlier, you can install the PHP SDK through the Composer. To install the composer:
Operating System | Procedure |
Mac/Linux | Run the following command in your terminal: curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/doc/00-intro.md#installation-linux-unix-osx |
Windows | Click here to download the .exe file and install composer. |
Installing the PHP SDK through the Composer
- Navigate to the workspace of your client app.
- Run the following command in the workspace of your client app.composer require zohocrm/php-sdk
- Once you run this command, the system installs the PHP SDK and creates a package named vendor in the workspace of your client app.
Step-3: Authenticate the client application
You must authenticate the client PHP application before it can use the PHP SDK. To authenticate the client PHP application, pass the configuration associative array to the initialization process.
- Create $configuration associative array. It must contain the authentication credentials required.
- The configuration associative array must then be passed using the ZCRMRestClient::initialize($configuration); function.
Configuration associative array
You must add the configuration values to the PHP associative array (key-value pair) and pass it as an argument to the ZCRMRestclient::initialize($configuration); function. Below is the list of keys that are to be in the associative array.
Key | Description |
client_id, client_secret mandatory | You can get these details after registering your client. |
redirect_uri mandatory for a web based client | The redirect URI of your web-based PHP client application. |
currentUserEmail mandatory | It is the email ID of the current user. You can set it in two ways: a. Through the currentUserEmail key in the configuration associative array (or) b. Through the ZCRMRestClient::setCurrentUserEmailId({user_email_id}) line in the code. |
fileUploadUrl Mandatory when using the Bulk Write API | The value for this key must be https://content.zohoapis.com. |
applicationLogFilePath optional | The SDK automatically creates a file to store the log information. The absolute file path of the folder in which the system must create the log file must be specified. The default file name is the ZCRMClientLibrary.log. If not specified, the system creates the file inside the project. |
sandbox optional | Represents whether to make API calls from the sandbox account. true: Make the API calls from the sandbox account. false: Do not make the API calls from the sandbox account. This is the default value. |
apiBaseUrl optional | Represents the URL to make API calls. It denotes the domain of the user. The possible values are: www.zohoapis.com (default) www.zohoapis.eu www.zohoapis.com.cn |
apiVersion optional | Represents the API version. Specify the value as v2 (default). |
access_type optional | Specify the value as offline. There is no support for Online OAuth client in PHP SDK as of now. |
accounts_url optional | The accounts URL. Possible values are: https://accounts.zoho.com (default) |
persistence_handler_class optional | The implementation of ZohoOAuthPersistenceInterface |
token_persistence_path optional | The absolute path to the folder that contains zcrm_oauthtokens.txt file. This key is mandatory if you want to use file persistence. If you include this key, this method takes precedence over other persistence methods. |
persistence_handler_class_name optional | The name of the custom class for persistence. This key is available only in PHP SDK 2.0.7 and above versions. |
db_port optional | You can specify this key if you want to use DB persistence. The default value is 3306. |
db_username, db_password optional | Specify the username and password of your database. The default value for db_username is root. |
host_address optional | The address of the machine in which the MySQL server is running. The default value is 'localhost'. This key is available only in PHP SDK 2.0.7 and above versions. |
Sample containing the mandatory keys alone:
$configuration=array("client_id"=>"1000.xxxxxxxxxxx"","client_secret"=>"831bxxxxxxxxxxxx","redirect_uri"=>"","currentUserEmail"=>"patricia@zylker.com"); ZCRMRestClient::initialize($configuration); |
Sample containing all the keys:
$configuration=array("client_id"=>"1000.xxxxxxxxxxx", "client_secret"=>"831bxxxxxxxxxxxx", "redirect_uri"=>"redirect_uri", "currentUserEmail"=>"patricia@zylker.com", "applicationLogFilePath"=>"absolute/path/to/folder", "sandbox"=>"false","apiBaseUrl"=>"www.zohoapis.com", "apiVersion"=>"v2","access_type"=>"offline", "accounts_url"=>"https://accounts.zoho.com", "persistence_handler_class"=>"absolute/file/path/to/persistence/implementation", "token_persistence_path"=>"absolute/path/to/folder/zcrm_oauthtokens.txt", //should not contain "zcrm_oauthtokens.txt" "persistence_handler_class_name"=>"Persistence_class_name", "fileUploadUrl"=>"https://content.zohoapis.com"); ZCRMRestClient::initialize($configuration); |
Step-4: Token Persistence
Your application should retain tokens (grant, access, refresh tokens) to automate the process of data-sync between your PHP application and Zoho CRM.
You can persist tokens in your application in three ways:
- a. Using a Database
- b. Using a File
- c. Custom Persistence
a. Using a Database
If you prefer using database persistence, you can use the MySQL.
Prerequisites while using the database persistence
- The name of the database must be zohooauth.
- There must be a table oauthtokens with columns
a. useridentifier (varchar(100))
accesstoken (varchar(100))
refreshtoken (varchar(100))
expirytime (bigint)
b. Using a File
This type of persistence uses a file to read and write OAuth tokens. The file persists the token of a single user. So, it is best used for the 'self-client' type of authentication since it involves only one user. If you prefer using the file persistence, you must create an empty file in the local drive named zcrm_oauthtokens.txt. Further, set the file path in the token_persistence_path, of the $configuration associative array. Do not include "zcrm_oauthtokens.txt" in the path.
For example, if the file is in a folder named "TokenStorage", then
token_persistence_path="{path/to/TokenStorage}"
c. Custom Persistence
From the PHP SDK version 2.0.0, you can have your own implementation of persistence.
You must mention the name of the persistence class in the persistence_handler_class_name key of configuration associative array. Provide the file path of the PHP file that implements the custom persistence, in the persistence_handler_class key of the configuration associative array. The class must implement the ZohoOAuthPersistenceInterface.
You must write an implementation of the inbuilt ZohoPersistenceHandler interface, with the following methods:
- getOAuthTokens($userEmailId)—invoked to fetch the saved tokens. This method should return ZohoOAuthTokens object for the library to process it.
- saveOAuthData(ZohoOAuthTokens tokens)—invoked to store the tokens.
- deleteOAuthTokens($userEmailId)— invoked to delete the tokens.
Step-5: Initialization
Once you define the OAuth configuration, you can initialize the PHP client application.
You need to generate the tokens (grant/access/refresh) to run the app.
Generating the tokens
As the V2 Zoho CRM APIs follow the OAuth2.0 protocol, it is mandatory to authorize the OAuth2.0 app before using the SDK functions with an access token.
You can generate an access token from a grant token.
You can generate the grant token in two ways based on the type of client.
For Self Client Applications
- Log in to Zoho and go to Zoho Developer Console.
- Select your Self Client.
- Provide the necessary scopes separated by commas, along with the scope aaaserver.profile.READ.
- Select the Time Duration from the drop-down. This is the time the grant token is valid for.
- Provide a description for the scopes. Click GENERATE.
- Copy the grant token.
For Web-based Applications
It is the responsibility of your client app to generate the grant token for the users trying to login.
Your application's UI must have the Login with Zoho option to open the grant token URL of Zoho, which would prompt for the user's OAuth2.0 authorization.
Upon the successful login of the user, the grant token will be sent as a parameter to your registered redirect URL.
Generating an access token from the grant token
Use the below code snippet in your main class.
$configuration =array("client_id"=>"1000.xxxxxxxxxxx","client_secret"=>"831bxxxxxxxxxxxx","redirect_uri"=>"","currentUserEmail"=>"patricia@zylker.com"); ZCRMRestClient::initialize($configuration); $oAuthClient = ZohoOAuth::getClientInstance(); $grantToken = "paste_the_self_authorized_grant_token_here"; $oAuthTokens = $oAuthClient->generateAccessToken($grantToken); |
Note
- The code snippet to generate the access token from the grant token is valid only once per grant token. If the grant token expires before you generate the access token, you must generate a new grant token only.
- Generating access and refresh tokens is a one-time process. After the tokens are generated for the first time, the SDK persists them based on the keys defined in the configuration dictionary, and refreshes the access token as and when required.
App Startup
Invoke the following line of code every time you start your client app.
$configuration =array("client_id"=>"1000.xxxxxxxxxxx","client_secret"=>"831bxxxxxxxxxxxx","redirect_uri"=>"","currentUserEmail"=>"patricia@zylker.com"); ZCRMRestClient::initialize($configuration); |
Sample SDK Code
The following image shows the sample SDK code to create a new record. The downloadable sample code is attached.
For more sample codes, refer to our SDK guide.
We hope you found this post useful. Keep a tab on this series for more exciting topics!
Reach out to us at support@zohocrm.com if you have any questions, or let us know in the comment section.
We will meet you next week with another useful topic.
Cheers!
Access your files securely from anywhere
New to Zoho Recruit?
Zoho Developer Community
New to Zoho LandingPage?
Zoho LandingPage Resources
New to Zoho Survey?
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Bigin?
Topic Participants
Shylaja S
Jonathan Thirkill
Praveen Sankar
Momin
Pardha Teja M
Sticky Posts
Kaizen #152 - Client Script Support for the new Canvas Record Forms
Hello everyone! Have you ever wanted to trigger actions on click of a canvas button, icon, or text mandatory forms in Create/Edit and Clone Pages? Have you ever wanted to control how elements behave on the new Canvas Record Forms? This can be achievedKaizen #142: How to Navigate to Another Page in Zoho CRM using Client Script
Hello everyone! Welcome back to another exciting Kaizen post. In this post, let us see how you can you navigate to different Pages using Client Script. In this Kaizen post, Need to Navigate to different Pages Client Script ZDKs related to navigation A.Kaizen #210 - Answering your Questions | Event Management System using ZDK CLI
Hello Everyone, Welcome back to yet another post in the Kaizen Series! As you already may know, for the Kaizen #200 milestone, we asked for your feedback and many of you suggested topics for us to discuss. We have been writing on these topics over theKaizen #197: Frequently Asked Questions on GraphQL APIs
🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.Kaizen #198: Using Client Script for Custom Validation in Blueprint
Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – 1 More to the Big Two-Oh-Oh! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.
New to Zoho TeamInbox?
Zoho TeamInbox Resources
Zoho CRM Plus Resources
Zoho Books Resources
Zoho Subscriptions Resources
Zoho Projects Resources
Zoho Sprints Resources
Qntrl Resources
Zoho Creator Resources
Zoho CRM Resources
Design. Discuss. Deliver.
Zoho Show Resources
Get Started. Write Away!
Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.
Zoho CRM コンテンツ
-
オンラインヘルプ
-
Webセミナー
-
機能活用動画
-
よくある質問
-
Ebook
-
-
Zoho Campaigns
- Zoho サービスのWebセミナー
その他のサービス コンテンツ
Nederlandse Hulpbronnen
ご検討中の方
Recent Topics
Form name incorrectly displayed in URL
Hi, I have a form I created called "Design Request form". It displays this way everywhere I look. However, in the URL, it shows up as "DesignJobRequestFormFINAL011325PROOFV1B" and I'm not sure why. I can't find where to fix this. Does anyone have anyI can't receive mail
Hello, I can't receive e-mail. I no longer receive e-mails to the e-mail I received for my site. I also edited the DNS settings, but it doesn't work at all.1‑to‑1 invite missing post-setup (needs re-invite) vs channel invite auto-joins without business prompt
1. Zoho Cliq 1‑to‑1 external invite The inviter sent a 1‑to‑1 invite to an invitee who didn’t have a Cliq account. After the invitee completed account setup and created a business/organization, the website redirected them to Cliq, where they opened Cliq【開催報告】東京 ユーザー交流会 Vol.3 2025/10/17 Zoho サービスの活用促進を外部ツールとの連携で実現！
ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの藤澤です。 10月17日(金)に新橋で「東京 ユーザー交流会 Vol.3」を開催しました。ご参加くださったユーザーの皆さま、ありがとうございました！ この投稿では、当日のセッションの様子や使用した資料を紹介しています。残念ながら当日お越しいただけなかった方も、ぜひチェックしてみてください😊 ユーザー活用事例セッション：Zoho Flowと決済システムの連携 あみろくの岡島さんに、Zoho サービスの活用事例として、Zoho Flow を活用した外部サービスとの連携事例をご共有いただきました。received email opens in a new tab every time I log in
as per the title: since about when I first made my email account, every single time Ive logged in to view my inbox, a new tab opens for an email I viewed once as if restoring a closed session. I thought I just didnt understand the "starting up" settingsEngage with your customers at scale using WhatsApp Marketing Template messages
Hi everyone, To make it easier for organizations to communicate with customers, Desk now allows you to send individual, mass, and bulk WhatsApp template messages from both the Ticket and Contact modules. How is this going to benefit your business? WhatsAppZoho Desk iOS and Android app update: AI powered: Reply Assistance and Refine Messages on IM module.
Hello everyone! We are excited to introduce new AI powered features on the IM module of the Zoho Desk app. Reply Assistance: Reply Assistance generates suggested responses for incoming chat messages, which you can directly insert into the conversationImportation Tickets error
Hi, I'm newbie here 🤓 So, i'm importing data from csv, but when I try advance to mapping fields the importer tool show this message: Previously I try import, other data, and not show errors in this step. Some ideas? Best Regards,Missing information data Zoho inventory
there some missing data in Zoho inventory connection. pick list stock counts bin location we have requested it via mail and the support team doesn’t gove feedback. has anyone achieve to get these info or to ask other ya lesShowing description in timesheet and timelogs.
I am wondering if it’s possible in version 5 of Zoho People to have the description show by default or with a manipulation on the user’s part. Let me show you what I mean. As you can see this is the view for the users. Now if they want to see the fullDirect “Add to Google Calendar” Option in Zoho Meeting
Hello Zoho Meeting Team, Hope you are doing well. We would like to request an enhancement related to the “Add to Calendar” functionality in Zoho Meeting. Currently, when we open Zoho Meeting and view our meetings under My Calendar, there is an Add toUpdate on the client portal URL for Guest users
We’re updating the way Guest users access their Connect network. As part of this change, all client organization portals used by Guest users will now be accessible through a dedicated domain specific to each data center. The access URLs mentioned hereAdd Flexible Recurrence Options for Meeting Scheduling in Zoho Cliq (e.g., Every 2 Weeks)
Hello Zoho Cliq Team, We hope you are doing well. Currently, when scheduling a meeting inside Zoho Cliq, the recurrence options are limited to Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly. There is no ability to set a meeting to occur every X weeks — for example,Sales Order, Invoice and Payment numbers
Hi zoho friends, it is me again, the slow learner. I'm wondering if there is a way to have it so the Sales order, invoice and payment numbers are all the same? It would be easier for me if they were the same number so there is not so many reference numbersAsk the Experts 24: Analytics, data administration, and mobile experience with Zoho Desk
Hello Everyone! Welcome back to the Ask the Experts(ATE) series! We were so focused on our Autumn 2025 release that we didn't host an ATE session last month. In this month's ATE, we'd like to expand our areas for discussion: we'd like to listen to yourWorkaround: openURL in Blueprints - An alternate approach
There is a roundabout way to open a URL in blueprints after a save event. By using the 'onBeforeMandatoryFormSave' in Client Script, you can open an external URL. Now, the problem is, this is designed to be run BEFORE the blueprint is saved, not after,MTD SA in the UK
Hello ID 20106048857 The Inland Revenue have confirmed that this tax account is registered as Cash Basis In Settings>Profile I have set ‘Report Basis’ as “Cash" However, I see on Zoho on Settings>Taxes>Income Tax that the ‘Tax Basis’ is marked ‘Accrual'Migrate file from Single File Upload to Multi File Upload
Dears, I have created a new field Multi File Upload to replace the old Single File Upload field. I'd like to ask you guys what is the best way to migrate the files to the new field?Open "Live Chat" from a hyperlink?
Hi, I often write paragraphs and text on our company website, and usually say you can get in touch with us via live chat. Can the chat window be triggered to pop open without clicking the chat graphic in the bottom window, and use it in a hyperlink? ie:Zoho Sites search box
Is there a Search box that can be added to a Zoho site? It would be for searching within the site only.What stops me from packaging and shipping an order when the inventory is negative?
It seems if the inventory value is negative, that Zoho Inventory should not allow me to create a Package and Ship it. But, there seems to be nothing to stop me from doing that other than when I go to physically package the item and realize that there is no stock. There also seems to be nothing on the screen that even indicates to me that I should not package and ship. To me this is the fundamental point of an inventory system. Am I doing something wrong?Conditional formatting based on another field
Hi I have two fields on my form stage 1 complete and stage 1 deadline. I am trying to setup conditional formatting so that if stage 1 complete is after stage 1 deadline the record is highlighted in red. I need both stage 1 complete and stage 1 deadlineZoho Books | Product updates | October 2025
Hello users, We’ve rolled out new features and enhancements in Zoho Books. From iOS 26 updates to viewing reports as charts, explore the updates designed to enhance your bookkeeping experience. Zoho Books Updates for Apple Devices At WWDC 2025, AppleIs there API Doc for Zoho Survey?
Hi everyone, Is there API doc for Zoho Survey? Currently evaluating a solution - use case to automate survey administration especially for internal use. But after a brief search, I couldn't find API doc for this. So I thought I should ask here. ThanUsing IMAP configuration for shared email inboxes
Our customer service team utilizes shared email boxes to allow multiple people to view and handle incoming customer requests. For example, the customer sends an email to info@xxxx.com and multiple people can view it and handle the request. How can I configureThe sending IP (136.143.188.15) is listed on spamrl.com as a source of spam.
Hi, it just two day when i am using zoho mail for my business domain, today i was sending email and found that message "The sending IP (136.143.188.15) is listed on https://spamrl.com as a source of spam" I hope to know how this will affect the deliveryChanging a Single-Line Text field into a Multi-line Field without losing data
Is it possible to change a Single-Line Text field into a Multi-line Field without losing data. I have a module with data for which I would like to change a single-line field into a multi-line field but I'm worried it might delete the pre-existing daWebhook - Google Sheets
I have 2 forms that are both integrated with Google Sheets. I've set up a webhook to pull form 1 data from Google Sheets to prefill data in Form 2. The issue I have is that the forms name fields are First Name & Last Name but the Google sheets integrationVerified Mark Certificate
Hello Dears, Can anyone help and check my mail or direct me to the desired person who can add the verification tag to my mail https://www.zoho.com/blog/mail/email-authentication-with-bimi.htmlAppointment booking is temporarily unavailable
Embeded Zoho booking page in my WordPress website. When someone starts a booking, after choosing time and date, an error appears before payment - "Appointment booking is temporarily unavailable due to restricted settings." Used the embeded code givenCannot connect to 365 business calendar and Teams, says personal but it is not.
hi I have a number of users connected to their 365 business accounts. Adding a new user and it thinks hes got 365 personal edition. He does not.... Anyone know what's going on. Trying for days now. Bookings go into his MS calendar but as its thinks itsLimited review (/questions) for Bookings 2.0
Hi all, I'm writing this review of Bookings 2.0 for two reasons: 1) it may be of interest to others, and 2) I'd like to be corrected if I'm wrong on any points. It's a very limited review, i.e. the things that have stood out as relevant, and particularlyZoho Bookings - Reserve with Google
Does Zoho Bookings plan to to integrate with Reserve with Google?Tip #3: How to change your booking page language
Displaying your booking page in your target audience's language can greatly increase customer satisfaction. By speaking their language, you will help customers feel more comfortable scheduling with you and create a stronger connection with them. Let'sBigin Android app update: Zoho Books integration
Hello everyone! We’re excited to introduce Zoho Books integration on the Bigin Android App. Once the integration is completed in the web(bigin.zoho.com), the Zoho Books tab will be visible in detail View of Contacts, Companies, and Pipeline records. TheBigin Android app update: Alerts while creating tasks outside of working days, conflicting events and calls.
Hello everyone! In the most recent version of the Bigin Android app, we have brought in support to display an alert if task is being scheduled outside of the working days. Also, when scheduling an event or call in the Activities module, a conflict alertBigin update: Link email messages to pipeline records.
Hello everyone! In the latest version of the Bigin iOS(v1.11.9) and macOS(1.8.9) app, we have brought in support for an option to link email to pipeline records. This helps you to view emails specific to a deal, especially when a contact is associatedBigin Android app update: Custom buttons and widgets
Hello everyone! We are excited to introduce custom buttons and widgets on the Bigin Android app. Widgets: A widget is a customizable UI component in Bigin that improves efficiency and user experience. It lets businesses embed components, streamline interactions,Biometric Access Support on Zoho Vault Desktop App
Is there any plans to add biometric authentication (fingerprint, face recognition) for Vault desktop apps (Windows/macOS) to enhance security and ease of access. I would love to hear other members view on thisZoho Sheet for Desktop
Does Zoho plans to develop a Desktop version of Sheet that installs on the computer like was done with Writer?Next Page