Getting Started

dereuromark/cakephp-menu is a composable menu builder and renderer for CakePHP applications. It has no runtime dependencies beyond CakePHP itself, and cleanly separates three concerns: building a menu tree, resolving per-request state (active item, visibility) onto it, and rendering it to HTML (or JSON).

This is for CakePHP 5.3+ and PHP 8.2+.

See it in action

Prefer to explore first? The live sandbox lets you build a menu and preview every renderer. New to the plugin? Read Concepts for the mental model behind it.

Installation

composer require dereuromark/cakephp-menu

Load the plugin:

bin/cake plugin load Menu

Load the helper in your AppView:

use Cake\View\View;

class AppView extends View
{
    public function initialize(): void
    {
        parent::initialize();

        $this->loadHelper('Menu.Menu');
    }
}

Quick Start

Build a menu and render it from a template:

use Menu\Menu;

$menu = Menu::create(['class' => 'nav']);
$menu->addItem('Dashboard', ['controller' => 'Dashboard', 'action' => 'index']);

$account = $menu->addItem('Account', '#');
$account->getSubMenu()->addItem('Profile', ['controller' => 'Users', 'action' => 'profile']);
$account->getSubMenu()->addItem('Logout', ['controller' => 'Users', 'action' => 'logout']);

echo $this->Menu->render($menu);

The helper resolves the active item automatically and restores the menu's original state after each render.

Where to next

• Concepts — the build → resolve → render pipeline and the core types.
• Building Menus — items, nesting, headers, icons/badges, import/export, database-backed menus.
• Resolvers & Active State — how the active item is matched, and the available resolvers.
• Rendering — the helper, renderer options, and the bundled renderers.
• Renderer Gallery — every bundled renderer with real output.
• Recipes — role-based menus (TinyAuth), caching, breadcrumbs, and more.
• Extending — custom renderers and resolvers, plus testing tips.
• FAQ & Troubleshooting — common active-state and URL gotchas.
• Reference — every renderer/item/helper option and an API cheat sheet.