Build PHP apps with Microsoft Graph

2025-06-11

This tutorial teaches you how to build a PHP console app that uses the Microsoft Graph API to access data on behalf of a user.

Note

To learn how to use Microsoft Graph to access data using app-only authentication, see this app-only authentication tutorial.

In this tutorial, you will:

Tip

As an alternative to following this tutorial, you can download the completed code through the quick start tool, which automates app registration and configuration. The downloaded code works without any modifications required.

You can also download or clone the GitHub repository and follow the instructions in the README to register an application and configure the project.

Prerequisites

Before you start this tutorial, you should have PHP and Composer installed on your development machine.

You should also have a Microsoft work or school account with an Exchange Online mailbox. If you don't have a Microsoft 365 tenant, you might qualify for one through the Microsoft 365 Developer Program; for details, see the FAQ. Alternatively, you can sign up for a one-month free trial or purchase a Microsoft 365 plan.

Note

This tutorial was written with PHP version 8.1.5 and Composer version 2.3.5. The steps in this guide might work with other versions, but that hasn't been tested.

Register an application for user authentication

Register an application that supports user authentication using device code flow. You can register an application using the Microsoft Entra admin center, or by using the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK.

Microsoft Entra admin center
PowerShell

Open a browser and navigate to the Microsoft Entra admin center and sign in using a Global administrator account.
Select Microsoft Entra ID in the left-hand navigation, expand Identity, expand Applications, then select App registrations.
Select New registration. Enter a name for your application, for example, Graph User Auth Tutorial.

Set Supported account types as desired. The options are:

Option	Who can sign in?
Accounts in this organizational directory only	Only users in your Microsoft 365 organization
Accounts in any organizational directory	Users in any Microsoft 365 organization (work or school accounts)
Accounts in any organizational directory ... and personal Microsoft accounts	Users in any Microsoft 365 organization (work or school accounts) and personal Microsoft accounts

Leave Redirect URI empty.
Select Register. On the application's Overview page, copy the value of the Application (client) ID and save it. You'll need it in the next step. If you chose Accounts in this organizational directory only for Supported account types, also copy the Directory (tenant) ID and save it.
Select Authentication under Manage. Locate the Advanced settings section and change the Allow public client flows toggle to Yes, then choose Save.

To use PowerShell, you need the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK. If you don't have it, see Install the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK for installation instructions.

Important

The PowerShell script requires a work/school account with the Application administrator, Cloud application administrator, or Global administrator role. If your account has the Application developer role, you can register in the Microsoft Entra admin center.

Create a new file named RegisterAppForUserAuth.ps1 and add the following code.

param(
  [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,
  HelpMessage="The friendly name of the app registration")]
  [String]
  $AppName,

  [Parameter(Mandatory=$false,
  HelpMessage="The sign in audience for the app")]
  [ValidateSet("AzureADMyOrg", "AzureADMultipleOrgs", `
  "AzureADandPersonalMicrosoftAccount", "PersonalMicrosoftAccount")]
  [String]
  $SignInAudience = "AzureADandPersonalMicrosoftAccount",

  [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)]
  [Switch]
  $StayConnected = $false
)

# Tenant to use in authentication.
# See https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/active-directory/develop/v2-oauth2-device-code#device-authorization-request
$authTenant = switch ($SignInAudience)
{
  "AzureADMyOrg" { "tenantId" }
  "AzureADMultipleOrgs" { "organizations" }
  "AzureADandPersonalMicrosoftAccount" { "common" }
  "PersonalMicrosoftAccount" { "consumers" }
  default { "invalid" }
}

if ($authTenant -eq "invalid")
{
  Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red "Invalid sign in audience:" $SignInAudience
  Exit
}

# Requires an admin
Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "Application.ReadWrite.All User.Read" -UseDeviceAuthentication -ErrorAction Stop

# Get context for access to tenant ID
$context = Get-MgContext -ErrorAction Stop

if ($authTenant -eq "tenantId")
{
  $authTenant = $context.TenantId
}

# Create app registration
$appRegistration = New-MgApplication -DisplayName $AppName -SignInAudience $SignInAudience `
 -IsFallbackPublicClient -ErrorAction Stop
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Cyan "App registration created with app ID" $appRegistration.AppId

# Create corresponding service principal
if ($SignInAudience -ne "PersonalMicrosoftAccount")
{
  New-MgServicePrincipal -AppId $appRegistration.AppId -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue `
   -ErrorVariable SPError | Out-Null
  if ($SPError)
  {
    Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red "A service principal for the app could not be created."
    Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red $SPError
    Exit
  }

  Write-Host -ForegroundColor Cyan "Service principal created"
}

Write-Host
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Green "SUCCESS"
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Cyan -NoNewline "Client ID: "
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Yellow $appRegistration.AppId
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Cyan -NoNewline "Auth tenant: "
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Yellow $authTenant

if ($StayConnected -eq $false)
{
  Disconnect-MgGraph | Out-Null
  Write-Host "Disconnected from Microsoft Graph"
}
else
{
  Write-Host
  Write-Host -ForegroundColor Yellow `
   "The connection to Microsoft Graph is still active. To disconnect, use Disconnect-MgGraph"
}

Save the file.
Open PowerShell and change the current directory to the ___location of RegisterAppForUserAuth.ps1.

Run the following command, replacing <audience-value> with the desired value (see the following table).

.\RegisterAppForUserAuth.ps1 -AppName "Graph User Auth Tutorial" -SignInAudience <audience-value>

SignInAudience value	Who can sign in?
`AzureADMyOrg`	Only users in your Microsoft 365 organization
`AzureADMultipleOrgs`	Users in any Microsoft 365 organization (work or school accounts)
`AzureADandPersonalMicrosoftAccount`	Users in any Microsoft 365 organization (work or school accounts) and personal Microsoft accounts
`PersonalMicrosoftAccount`	Only personal Microsoft accounts

Follow the prompt to open https://microsoft.com/devicelogin in a browser, enter the provided code, and complete the authentication process.
Copy the Client ID and Auth tenant values from the script output. You'll need these values in the next step.
```
SUCCESS
Client ID: 2fb1652f-a9a0-4db9-b220-b224b8d9d38b
Auth tenant: common
```

Note

Notice that you didn't configure any Microsoft Graph permissions on the app registration. The sample uses dynamic consent to request specific permissions for user authentication.

Create a PHP console app

Begin by initializing a new Composer project. Open your command-line interface (CLI) in a directory where you want to create the project. Run the following command.

composer init

Answer the prompts. You can accept the defaults for most questions, but respond n to the following questions:

Would you like to define your dependencies (require) interactively [yes]? n
Would you like to define your dev dependencies (require-dev) interactively [yes]? n
Add PSR-4 autoload mapping? Maps namespace "Microsoft\Graphtutorial" to the entered relative path. [src/, n to skip]: n

Install dependencies

Before moving on, add dependencies that you use later.

Microsoft Graph SDK for PHP to make calls to the Microsoft Graph.
vlucas/phpdotenv for reading environment variables from .env files.

To install the dependencies, run the following command in your CLI.

composer require microsoft/microsoft-graph vlucas/phpdotenv

Load application settings

Next, add the details of your app registration to the project.

Create a file in the root directory of your project named .env and add the following code.

CLIENT_ID=YOUR_CLIENT_ID_HERE
TENANT_ID=common
GRAPH_USER_SCOPES='user.read mail.read mail.send'

Update the values according to the following table.

Setting	Value
`CLIENT_ID`	The client ID of your app registration
`TENANT_ID`	If you chose the option to only allow users in your organization to sign in, change this value to your tenant ID. Otherwise leave as `common`.

Important

If you're using source control such as git, now would be a good time to exclude the .env file from source control to avoid inadvertently leaking your app ID.

Design the app

Continue by creating a simple console-based menu.

Create a file in the root directory of your project named main.php. Add the opening and closing PHP tags.
```
<?php
?>
```

Add the following code between the PHP tags.

// Enable loading of Composer dependencies
require_once realpath(__DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php');
require_once 'GraphHelper.php';

print('PHP Graph Tutorial'.PHP_EOL.PHP_EOL);

// Load .env file
$dotenv = Dotenv\Dotenv::createImmutable(__DIR__);
$dotenv->load();
$dotenv->required(['CLIENT_ID', 'TENANT_ID', 'GRAPH_USER_SCOPES']);

initializeGraph();

greetUser();

$choice = -1;

while ($choice != 0) {
    echo('Please choose one of the following options:'.PHP_EOL);
    echo('0. Exit'.PHP_EOL);
    echo('1. Display access token'.PHP_EOL);
    echo('2. List my inbox'.PHP_EOL);
    echo('3. Send mail'.PHP_EOL);
    echo('4. Make a Graph call'.PHP_EOL);

    $choice = (int)readline('');

    switch ($choice) {
        case 1:
            displayAccessToken();
            break;
        case 2:
            listInbox();
            break;
        case 3:
            sendMail();
            break;
        case 4:
            makeGraphCall();
            break;
        case 0:
        default:
            print('Goodbye...'.PHP_EOL);
    }
}

Add the following placeholder methods at the end of the file before the closing PHP tag. You implement them in later steps.

function initializeGraph(): void {
    // TODO
}

function greetUser(): void {
    // TODO
}

function displayAccessToken(): void {
    // TODO
}

function listInbox(): void {
    // TODO
}

function sendMail(): void {
    // TODO
}

function makeGraphCall(): void {
    // TODO
}

This implements a basic menu and reads the user's choice from the command line.

Next step

Add user authentication

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Build PHP apps with Microsoft Graph

Prerequisites

Register an application for user authentication

Create a PHP console app

Install dependencies

Load application settings

Design the app

Next step

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