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Session Driver Configuration Analyzer ​

Analyzer IDCategorySeverityTime To Fix
session-driver⚡ PerformanceCritical30 minutes

What This Checks ​

Validates that Laravel's session driver is appropriate for production scalability - Redis or database for multi-server setups, avoiding file-based sessions in load-balanced environments.

Why It Matters ​

  • Scalability: File sessions only work on single servers
  • Performance: Redis sessions are 10-100x faster than file/database
  • User Experience: Lost sessions cause unexpected logouts

File-based sessions store data locally. In load-balanced environments, users may be routed to different servers where their session doesn't exist, causing unexpected logouts.

How to Fix ​

Quick Fix (5 minutes) ​

bash
# Set Redis as session driver
# .env
SESSION_DRIVER=redis
REDIS_HOST=127.0.0.1

Proper Fix (30 minutes) ​

Install Redis:

bash
sudo apt-get install redis-server php-redis
php artisan session:table  # If using database

Configure:

ini
SESSION_DRIVER=redis
SESSION_LIFETIME=120
SESSION_ENCRYPT=false
SESSION_CONNECTION=default

ShieldCI Configuration ​

This analyzer is automatically skipped in CI environments ($runInCI = false).

Why skip in CI?

  • Session backends (Redis, database) may not be available or configured in CI pipelines
  • CI environments typically use the array or file session driver, which would trigger false warnings
  • Session driver choice is a deployment concern that doesn't need to be gated in CI

API-only / Stateless applications: This analyzer is also skipped for stateless applications (detected via middleware analysis). If your app has no session middleware registered, session driver checks do not apply.

When to run this analyzer:

  • ✅ Local development: Confirms your session driver matches your production setup
  • ✅ Staging/Production servers: Ensures a scalable driver (Redis, database) is configured for multi-server deployments
  • ❌ CI/CD pipelines: Skipped automatically (session backends typically unavailable)
  • ❌ API-only apps: Skipped automatically (no session middleware detected)

References ​

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