🚀 Sylius Days 2025: What We Learned from the Front Lines of eCommerce Innovation

on May 23, 2025

Sylius Days 2025 has just wrapped up — and what a lineup! 🎉 From AI to green performance, automation to internationalization, this year’s conference was a whirlwind of technical insights and actionable ideas for developers, product owners, and digital commerce leaders alike. Let’s break down the highlights from each speaker so you can catch up or revisit what matters most.

🤖 AI Meets Sylius — Real Projects, Real Impact

🎤 Sabrine Ferchichi & Alexandre Haroutunian (ACSEO) : LinkedIn - ACSEO
AI is no longer a buzzword — it's here, it’s practical, and it’s being deployed in Sylius! Alexandre and Sabrine walked us through concrete use cases showing how AI boosts automation, personalizes experiences, and optimizes performance in eCommerce setups. From concept to deployment, their talk served as a blueprint for AI-native Sylius projects. 🧠💡

Revolutionizing B2B E-Commerce with AI: Axio's Clara Assistant for Sylius

At the SyliusCon stage, Axio, a French digital agency with 15 years of experience, unveiled an ambitious AI integration into Sylius that is set to transform B2B e-commerce workflows. With Alexandre, the Project Director, and Sabrine, Lead Sylius Developer, at the helm, their talk explored how conversational AI can elevate user experience and drive sales by simplifying and personalizing the purchasing process.

From Chaos to Clarity: The Problem Statement

Axio painted a relatable picture: late-night bar orders scribbled on paper, fragmented messages sent to sales reps, and manual data entry into complex ERP systems. This traditional workflow is error-prone and time-consuming. The challenge was clear: streamline this chaos into a cohesive, intelligent order management system.

Meet Clara: The AI-Powered Assistant

Enter Clara, a conversational AI assistant that interfaces directly with Sylius via API. Clara recognizes customers by phone number, remembers order history, custom pricing, and suggests products based on stock and promotions. Through WhatsApp, users simply chat their needs—"3 cases of Coca-Cola"—and Clara understands context, auto-fills carts, and guides users through to checkout.

Key features include:

• Natural language processing for order input via text, voice, or image (OCR).
• Product recommendations based on purchase history and promotions.
• Magic link authentication for passwordless login.
• Custom business logic, including price visibility controls and ERP synchronization.

Under the Hood: Technology and Implementation

Clara uses OpenAI for natural language understanding and integrates Sylius APIs for cart and order management. The AI module includes prompt engineering for tailored conversations and blocks to prevent hallucinations or inappropriate responses. Importantly, all interactions are logged and overseen by human sales reps, maintaining accountability.

The AI model, affectionately dubbed "Tino," is designed to be adaptable. It handles speech-to-text, OCR, and fetches data from the ERP in real time. Security and data privacy considerations are addressed through contractual agreements in the B2B context, with plans to explore GDPR-compliant local models in the future.

Real-World Impact

Axio's implementation of Clara has already shown impressive results. In less than a month post-launch, 50% of orders were digitalized for a major distributor. Implementation timelines have dramatically shortened—from a year for the first client to less than a day for new distributors using the same ERP.

Key Takeaways for E-Commerce Innovators

• AI as a UX Interface: Clara shifts the paradigm from web navigation to conversation-driven commerce.
• Sylius API Power: Its flexibility enables deep customization and seamless AI integration.
• Scalability: Once integrated with a central ERP, new distributors can onboard rapidly.
• Practical AI: This isn't futuristic fluff—it's a working solution delivering measurable value today.

For forward-thinking merchants and e-commerce leaders, Axio's work is a compelling blueprint. It demonstrates how even small teams can leverage AI to revolutionize customer interactions and operational efficiency. With Sylius as the foundation, Clara proves that smart commerce is not just for tech giants anymore.

🌍 Translation Without Pain

🎤 Mathieu Santostefano : LinkedIn
Tired of redeploying your app just to fix a typo in a translation? Mathieu showed us how to streamline UI translations in Sylius using Symfony’s translation tools. Better yet, he offered strategies for involving non-tech translators — meaning faster, smoother content localization across the board. 🗺️💬

Mastering UI Translation in Sylius: Best Practices and Tools

At SyliusCon, Mathieu from SensioLabs, a Symfony core team member, shared an essential talk on managing UI translations in Sylius applications. With a deep dive into standards, workflows, and Symfony-powered tools, this session demystified the often-overlooked but crucial domain of translating static and dynamic content.

Dynamic vs. Static Content in Sylius

Sylius already provides solid language support for dynamic content through its admin panel. Product names, descriptions, and meta-data can be localized per channel and language. However, translating static UI elements—buttons, labels, error messages, etc.—requires a different strategy. These reside in translation files, which aren’t editable via the UI.

Core Translation Concepts

Mathieu clarified key concepts using standard numeronyms:

• T9n: Translation (converting text from source to target language)
• I18n: Internationalization (designing software to be locale-adaptable)
• L10n: Localization (adapting software for a specific locale)
• G11n: Globalization (combining I18n and L10n)

Translation Standards and Formats

The industry-standard file format for translations is XLIFF (XML Localization Interchange File Format), particularly versions 1.2 and 2.0. XLIFF provides structured metadata, supports multiple locales, and indicates translation statuses (e.g., fuzzy, deprecated).

For message formatting, Mathieu recommended the ICU MessageFormat. It allows for advanced pluralization, gender handling, and contextual variations, making it ideal for diverse audiences.

Workflow Optimization with TMS Tools

To streamline translation workflows, Mathieu advocates using a Translation Management System (TMS) like Localazy, Crowdin, or Phrase. These tools integrate with Symfony via official providers, enabling:

• Automatic extraction of translation keys
• Syncing to and from TMS via CLI
• Collaborative, UI-based translation editing

Developer and Translator Roles

Mathieu outlined clear roles:

• Developers: Define naming conventions, extract keys using Symfony CLI, avoid hardcoding static text.
• Translators: Use the TMS to translate and validate content.
• Product owners/QAs: Monitor and fine-tune translations across environments.

Best Practices for Seamless Integration

1. Avoid direct editing of XLIFF/YAML files.
2. Centralize static content with translation keys.
3. Automate key extraction using Symfony’s translation:extract.
4. Push/pull translations with translation:push and translation:pull.
5. Use identity translator in test environments to avoid brittle tests.
6. Leverage Symfony UX Translator to expose translations to JavaScript.
7. Optimize cache management to prevent unnecessary invalidations.

Pro Tips

• Use libraries like libphonenumber for handling international phone formats.
• Automate translation updates via Symfony Scheduler or Synolia plugin.
• Isolate translation cache for more efficient cache invalidation.

Conclusion

Mathieu’s talk provided a masterclass in making translation a first-class citizen in Sylius applications. By aligning roles, leveraging the right tools, and embracing automation, teams can ensure accurate, localized experiences for users worldwide—without the headaches.

Forward-thinking e-commerce teams that embrace this workflow can eliminate bottlenecks, reduce errors, and scale effortlessly across markets. Translation, when done right, becomes a superpower.

💳 Stripe Integration Demystified

🎤 Francis Hilaire : LinkedIn
Francis went deep under the hood of Sylius’ integration with Stripe. The highlight? Payment Request support via Flux-SE/SyliusStripePlugin. His session laid out the technical architecture and the long-term benefits for stores that want fast, secure, and modern payment solutions. ⚙️💸

Modernizing E-Commerce Payments: Sylius Payment Request with Stripe Integration

At SyliusCon, Francis Hilaire, a core contributor to the Sylius ecosystem and developer at Harman International, delivered an insightful presentation on the new Payment Request architecture in Sylius and its integration with Stripe. This talk outlined a robust, API-first solution for handling payments—especially vital for headless commerce scenarios.

The Problem with Payum

Traditional Sylius payments relied on Payum, a library effective for monolithic applications but limiting for headless architectures. Payum's UI dependency and rigid redirection flow made it unsuitable for modern, API-driven e-commerce setups.

The Vision: Sylius Payment Request

Sylius Payment Request introduces a flexible, message-based architecture for payments. Key benefits include:

• Headless support: Fully decoupled from UI, enabling seamless integration with any frontend.
• Unified flow: Standardized endpoints for creating, capturing, notifying, and tracking payment status.
• Symfony Messenger: Asynchronous or synchronous handling through messages, ensuring scalability and control.

Payment Flow Breakdown

1. Initiate Payment: A user places an order, triggering a payment request message.
2. Capture Action: Custom handlers manage the payment initiation (e.g., redirecting to Stripe's checkout or embedding a payment form).
3. Notify: Stripe or another gateway sends a webhook or safe notify callback to update payment status.
4. Status Tracking: The status is fetched and acted upon (success redirects to a thank-you page, failure prompts retry).

Stripe Plugin Implementation

Francis detailed the Stripe integration:

• Checkout Session vs Payment Intent: Support for both full-page portals and embedded forms.
• HTTP Response Layer: Customizable responses for UI or headless workflows.
• Webhook Handling: Robust message parsing and state management.
• Live Component Enhancements: Added dynamic form fields in the Sylius admin for multi-webhook configuration.

Testing and Developer Experience

To streamline testing in headless setups:

• Mocking Stripe API: A caching service stores request/response expectations.
• Profiler Integration: Full visibility of Stripe interactions via Symfony HTTP client.

Next Steps and Community Call

Francis emphasized the need for:

• Enhanced documentation.
• Shared traits and services to simplify plugin development.
• Broader adoption and feedback from the community.

Key Takeaways

• Payment Request transforms Sylius into a future-proof e-commerce platform with modern payment flexibility.
• Stripe plugin exemplifies how to leverage this new system for headless, API-first setups.
• Developers gain full control over the flow, enabling customized UIs and robust integrations.

Forward-thinking merchants and integrators now have a powerful toolkit to streamline and scale their payment experiences. With Payment Request, Sylius takes a bold step into the modern commerce era.

🛍️ Searchandising Gets Smarter

🎤 Romain Ruaud : LinkedIn
"Searchandising" — the sweet spot between search and merchandising — was the theme of Romain’s talk on Gally. With real-time indexing, rule-based recommendations, and better UX control, Gally makes Sylius stores not just functional, but delightful to shop. 🔍✨

Elevating E-Commerce Search with Gali: Open Source Merchandising for Sylius

At SyliusCon, Romain from Smile unveiled Gali, a powerful open-source search and merchandising platform tailored to modern e-commerce challenges. Designed to extend beyond traditional search, Gali empowers merchants with control, customization, and intelligent tooling—all while remaining extensible for agencies and developers.

What is Searchandising?

Searchandising blends search optimization with merchandising strategy. It ensures that what users see in search results is not only relevant but also aligned with business goals. Gali addresses this by combining robust search capabilities with intuitive ranking and product management tools.

From Frustration to Flexibility

Typical SaaS search platforms like Algolia or Doofinder are black boxes: powerful but unchangeable. Gali flips the script with an open-source model. Built on Symfony and API Platform, Gali gives developers the keys to customize behavior and integrate deeply with the merchant's ecosystem.

Core Features

1. Search Intelligence:

   • Full-text search with typo tolerance, synonyms, and multi-language support.
   • Vector search for semantic understanding using pretrained or custom LLMs.
   • Cross-entity search (products, content, pages, etc.)

2. Advanced Merchandising:

   • Manual and dynamic product ranking.
   • Virtual categories driven by rules (e.g., price < $50).
   • Time-bound boosts and bury rules for sales and campaigns.
   • In-depth explainability tools for debugging product positions.

3. Frontend Flexibility:

   • API-first architecture enables integration with Sylius frontends or headless frameworks like React.
   • Real-time UI updates via the Gali back office for filters, synonyms, and sort orders.

Vector Search in Action

One standout feature is Gali's support for vector search. Using embeddings, Gali matches user queries like "ski outfit for my wife" to semantically relevant products—even if exact terms don't appear in the catalog. This leap from keyword to intent unlocks a new level of user satisfaction.

Sylius Integration

Thanks to a dedicated plugin initially developed by the community and updated for Sylius 2.0, integrating Gali into a Sylius store is straightforward. Taxons, products, and attributes can sync seamlessly, with dynamic updates reflected immediately based on merchant-configured rules.

Upcoming Features

Gali's roadmap includes behavioral analytics for personalization, recommendations ("people also bought"), and performance dashboards to monitor search efficiency and conversion impact.

Licensing Model

Gali is dual-licensed:

• Open Source Tier: Full indexing, search, manual merchandising.
• Enterprise Tier (~€10,000/year, negotiable): Boosts, thesaurus, vector search, virtual categories, with full source code and extensibility.

Key Takeaways

• Open Source Merchandising: Total flexibility for agencies and merchants.
• Developer-Friendly: Symfony-based, API-first, and fully hackable.
• Smarter Search: Combining semantics, rules, and UX for higher conversion.

For Sylius users, Gali is more than a search tool—it's a merchandising powerhouse ready to unlock next-level e-commerce experiences. As open commerce grows, Gali’s open-core foundation ensures it evolves with your ambitions.

🔄 Connect Everything: Automation in Practice

🎤 Jacques Bodin-Hullin : LinkedIn
Jacques showed us how automation isn’t just hype — it’s a productivity booster. Using n8n, he demonstrated how to wire up Sylius to external tools for data sync, notifications, and even customer workflows. If you’re scaling or juggling lots of systems, this was a must-see. ⚡🔗

Streamlining E-Commerce with Sylius and N8N: Automations Made Simple

At SyliusCon, Jacques from MrBiz showcased how automation can transform e-commerce operations using Sylius and N8N, a powerful open-source workflow automation tool. His demos covered real-world scenarios that combined practicality, creativity, and technical finesse—highlighting how developers and merchants can save time and scale effortlessly.

Why Automations Matter

From elevators to CI/CD pipelines, automation simplifies tasks we no longer need to do manually. In e-commerce, automation can enhance customer experience, improve internal workflows, and ensure seamless operations from checkout to customer follow-up.

Core Components of Automation in Sylius

1. Event Listeners: Symfony events (e.g., order placed, customer registered) act as triggers.
2. Webhooks: Events are forwarded to N8N via HTTP requests.
3. N8N Workflows: Visual, node-based sequences that perform actions like sending emails, updating CRMs, or interacting with AI services.

Real-World Use Cases

1. Customer Onboarding:

   • A listener captures the customer.registered event.
   • A webhook sends data to N8N.
   • N8N adds the contact to Mautic (marketing automation platform).

2. Order Confirmation and Alerts:

   • Upon payment, the system sends a text message to the customer.
   • Notion is updated with order details for internal teams.
   • Slack alerts notify the team for high-value orders.

3. Shipping Notifications:

   • Once a tracking number is added in Notion, N8N updates the order in Sylius.
   • Customers receive SMS confirmation.

4. Review Moderation with AI:

   • N8N analyzes sentiment of product reviews using built-in AI nodes.
   • Positive reviews are auto-approved.
   • Negative ones trigger Slack alerts for human review.

5. AI-Powered Customer Service Routing:

   • Contact form submissions are classified by AI.
   • Requests are prioritized and routed to the correct department (e.g., GDPR or support).
   • Follow-ups are logged in ticketing tools like Redmine.

Why N8N?

• Open Source: Fully extensible and self-hosted.
• API-Rich: Integrates with CRMs, Slack, Notion, Stripe, OpenAI, etc.
• Low Code: JavaScript and Python nodes allow for advanced logic.
• Debugging Tools: Pin data, inspect executions, and test workflows live.

Best Practices

• Use a single webhook entry point with switch nodes for scalability.
• Separate high-priority logic (e.g., legal compliance) from marketing flows.
• Use conditional nodes to filter sensitive or high-value transactions.

Future Outlook

Jacques plans to develop a dedicated N8N node for Sylius, making it even easier to automate tasks natively. This would abstract API interactions and enable deeper integration into merchant workflows.

Key Takeaways

• Automation amplifies efficiency, freeing teams from manual tasks.
• N8N and Sylius are a powerful match, ideal for agencies and e-commerce platforms alike.
• Use cases span marketing, logistics, AI moderation, and customer support.

For forward-thinking e-commerce teams, embracing automation with Sylius and N8N is not just a productivity booster—it’s a strategic advantage.

🌱 Fast = Green

🎤 Guillaume Moigneu (Platform.sh) : LinkedIn
Can faster performance also mean a smaller carbon footprint? Guillaume says yes — and he has data to prove it. By optimizing CPU, using intelligent caching, and selecting the right infrastructure, you can cut both costs and emissions. Sustainability meets tech, beautifully. 🌍⚡

Thanks for your patience! Here’s a structured summary of Guillaume’s talk at SyliusCon, tailored for a blog post audience of e-commerce developers and decision-makers:

Unlocking Greener Commerce: A Practical Guide to Eco-Friendly Web Infrastructure

In a talk that fused technical strategy with environmental urgency, Guillaume tackled the rising carbon footprint of IT and how e-commerce professionals can actively counter it. With predictions showing IT could account for up to 26% of global carbon emissions by 2040, the message was clear: sustainability starts with smart engineering.

The Cost of Carbon in the Cloud

Guillaume broke down the main sources of emissions in modern cloud infrastructure:

• Compute (CPU & RAM): ~46% of carbon emissions
• Storage: ~17%
• Networking: ~30%
• Human Time: Often overlooked, but costly

Cloud services charge for resource allocation—not usage. That means unused but allocated CPUs still burn carbon.

Three Levers for Greener Hosting

1. Deploy in Greener Regions: Countries like France, Sweden, and Quebec have low-carbon energy grids, unlike Germany or the U.S.

2. Increase Density: Avoid underused infrastructure. Target 90%+ CPU utilization to maximize value and minimize waste.

3. Optimize Everything:

   • Compute: Lean code, heavy caching
   • Storage: Deduplication, image optimization
   • Network: Minify pages, compress assets, use CDNs close to your users

Cache Is King

From database query results to full-page content and API responses, caching is the easiest and most impactful performance and sustainability tool. Guillaume highlighted Symfony’s built-in strategies, the power of HTTP cache layers like Fastly or Cloudflare, and reminded us: even APIs can be cached.

Redis vs Valkey & Scaling Lessons

He recommended Valkey as a modern Redis alternative and covered best practices in scaling:

• Vertical scaling for stateful services (e.g., databases)
• Horizontal scaling for stateless services (e.g., PHP apps)
• Beware Redis’ single-threaded limits—split cache roles for scalability.

Load Testing & Performance Budgets

Using tools like Blackfire and CI-integrated performance testing, Guillaume urged developers to set realistic performance budgets for key transactions. Regular regression testing ensures performance doesn’t degrade with new code.

AI’s Carbon Conundrum

Guillaume tackled the AI paradox: while AI consumes huge resources (1,000 images ≈ 1kg CO₂), it may eventually enable massive efficiency gains. The question is whether AI will end up amplifying or mitigating our tech footprint.

Takeaway: Make Performance a Cultural Priority

He ended with a call to action: performance and sustainability are not just technical concerns. Everyone—developers, marketers, execs—must align around expectations, budgets, and goals. Only then can we build faster, smarter, and greener commerce.

🧬 FrankenPHP + Sylius = ❤️

🎤 Kévin Dunglas : LinkedIn
In classic Dunglas fashion, we got a peek into the future. FrankenPHP isn’t just cool — it’s practical. Kévin explained how this cutting-edge web server improves response times, simplifies deployments, and is fully compatible with Sylius. If performance and DX matter to you, take note. 🧟‍♂️🚀

At SyliusCon 2025, Kévin Dunglas introduced FrankenPHP, a groundbreaking application server designed to enhance PHP performance and streamline deployment, particularly for Sylius-based e-commerce platforms.(dunglas.dev)

⚙️ What Is FrankenPHP?

FrankenPHP is a modern PHP application server built atop the Caddy web server and written in Go. It integrates the official PHP interpreter directly into the server, eliminating the need for traditional setups like Nginx with PHP-FPM. This consolidation simplifies deployment and enhances performance. (frankenphp.dev, frankenphp.dev)

🚀 Key Features and Technical Innovations

1. Worker Mode

FrankenPHP's optional "worker mode" keeps the application booted in memory, allowing it to handle multiple requests without reinitializing. This approach significantly reduces response times and resource consumption. Benchmarks indicate that Sylius applications running in worker mode can achieve up to 80% faster response times and support over 1,000 concurrent clients on a single AWS EC2 instance, compared to 150 clients with standard PHP-FPM setups.

2. Early Hints (HTTP 103) Support

FrankenPHP uniquely supports the HTTP 103 status code, enabling the server to send resource hints to the browser before the full response is ready. This feature can improve the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) metric by up to 30%, enhancing user experience and potentially boosting conversion rates.

3. Real-Time Capabilities with Mercure

Built-in support for the Mercure protocol allows FrankenPHP to push real-time updates to connected clients efficiently. This is particularly beneficial for e-commerce platforms requiring live notifications, such as inventory changes or order updates. (frankenphp.dev)

4. Simplified Deployment

FrankenPHP offers a self-contained binary and Docker image, bundling the PHP engine, web server, and necessary extensions. This setup reduces complexity, minimizes dependencies, and accelerates deployment processes.

🛒 Practical Value for E-Commerce

For e-commerce businesses, FrankenPHP presents several advantages:

• Performance Boost: Faster response times lead to improved user experience and potentially higher conversion rates.

• Cost Efficiency: Reduced resource consumption can lower hosting expenses.

• Scalability: Enhanced ability to handle concurrent users supports business growth.

• Developer Experience: Simplified setup and deployment streamline development workflows.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• FrankenPHP is a modern, high-performance PHP application server that simplifies deployment and enhances performance.(thephp.foundation)

• Worker mode significantly reduces response times and resource usage by keeping the application in memory.

• Support for HTTP 103 Early Hints improves page load times, enhancing user experience.

• Built-in real-time capabilities enable efficient client updates, crucial for dynamic e-commerce platforms.(Medium)

• Simplified deployment through self-contained binaries and Docker images accelerates development and reduces complexity.

FrankenPHP represents a significant advancement in PHP application servers, offering tangible benefits for e-commerce platforms seeking performance, scalability, and streamlined operations.

💬 Wrapping Up

Sylius Days 2025 confirmed what many already feel: modern eCommerce is no longer just about having a cart and a checkout. It’s about smart integrations, sustainable performance, global reach, and powerful automation.

✨ Whether you’re a developer building the future or a founder scaling your store, the Sylius ecosystem continues to deliver powerful tools and ideas to stay ahead.

🎁 Bonus for Creators & Builders

If you're looking to go further and automate your own workflows — be it thumbnail generation, video publishing, or custom flows like those shown during Sylius Days — I offer free 30-minute coaching sessions tailored to creators like you. Let's bring your ideas to life!

👉 Book your free session here 📞

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