MediaWikiServices Reference

MediaWikiServices is the central dependency injection (DI) container for MediaWiki core, introduced in MediaWiki 1.27. It extends Wikimedia\Services\ServiceContainer and provides typed accessor methods for every registered service. Default service implementations are wired in includes/ServiceWiring.php.

Objects that need a service should receive it via constructor injection, not by calling MediaWikiServices::getInstance() directly inside a method. Use getInstance() only in static entry points (hooks registered via $wgHooks, maintenance scripts, etc.) where constructor injection is not possible.

Accessing the container

use MediaWiki\MediaWikiServices;

// Retrieve the global instance (static entry points only)
$services = MediaWikiServices::getInstance();

// Check whether the container has been initialised yet
if ( MediaWikiServices::hasInstance() ) {
    $revisionStore = MediaWikiServices::getInstance()->getRevisionStore();
}

Calling getInstance() before allowGlobalInstance() is called during bootstrap will throw a LogicException in PHPUnit tests and emit a deprecation warning in production. Never call it from service constructors or wiring files.

Constructor injection (recommended)

Services should declare their dependencies as constructor parameters so that the DI container can provide them automatically.

use MediaWiki\Page\PageStore;
use MediaWiki\Revision\RevisionStore;

class MyService {
    private PageStore $pageStore;
    private RevisionStore $revisionStore;

    public function __construct(
        PageStore $pageStore,
        RevisionStore $revisionStore
    ) {
        $this->pageStore = $pageStore;
        $this->revisionStore = $revisionStore;
    }
}

In ServiceWiring.php, wire the service by pulling its dependencies from the container:

'MyService' => static function ( MediaWikiServices $services ): MyService {
    return new MyService(
        $services->getPageStore(),
        $services->getRevisionStore()
    );
},

Service categories

Page services

Accessor	Return type	Since
`getPageStore()`	`PageStore`	1.36
`getPageStoreFactory()`	`PageStoreFactory`	1.36
`getRevisionStore()`	`RevisionStore`	1.31
`getRevisionLookup()`	`RevisionLookup`	1.31
`getRevisionFactory()`	`RevisionFactory`	1.31
`getRevisionRenderer()`	`RevisionRenderer`	1.32
`getRevisionStoreFactory()`	`RevisionStoreFactory`	1.32
`getArchivedRevisionLookup()`	`ArchivedRevisionLookup`	1.38
`getWikiPageFactory()`	`WikiPageFactory`	1.36
`getPageUpdaterFactory()`	`PageUpdaterFactory`	1.37
`getPageProps()`	`PageProps`	1.36
`getRedirectLookup()`	`RedirectLookup`	1.38
`getRedirectStore()`	`RedirectStore`	1.38
`getDeletePageFactory()`	`DeletePageFactory`	1.37
`getMovePageFactory()`	`MovePageFactory`	1.34
`getMergeHistoryFactory()`	`MergeHistoryFactory`	1.35
`getRollbackPageFactory()`	`RollbackPageFactory`	1.37
`getUndeletePageFactory()`	`UndeletePageFactory`	1.38
`getParserOutputAccess()`	`ParserOutputAccess`	1.36

User services

Accessor	Return type	Since
`getUserFactory()`	`UserFactory`	1.35
`getUserGroupManager()`	`UserGroupManager`	1.35
`getUserGroupManagerFactory()`	`UserGroupManagerFactory`	1.35
`getUserOptionsLookup()`	`UserOptionsLookup`	1.35
`getUserOptionsManager()`	`UserOptionsManager`	1.35
`getUserIdentityLookup()`	`UserIdentityLookup`	1.36
`getUserIdentityUtils()`	`UserIdentityUtils`	1.41
`getUserNameUtils()`	`UserNameUtils`	1.35
`getUserNamePrefixSearch()`	`UserNamePrefixSearch`	1.36
`getUserEditTracker()`	`UserEditTracker`	1.35
`getUserRegistrationLookup()`	`UserRegistrationLookup`	1.41
`getActorStore()`	`ActorStore`	1.36
`getActorStoreFactory()`	`ActorStoreFactory`	1.36
`getCentralIdLookup()`	`CentralIdLookup`	1.37
`getCentralIdLookupFactory()`	`CentralIdLookupFactory`	1.37
`getTempUserCreator()`	`TempUserCreator`	1.39
`getTempUserConfig()`	`RealTempUserConfig`	1.39

Database services

Accessor	Return type	Since	Notes
`getConnectionProvider()`	`IConnectionProvider`	1.42	Preferred over `getDBLoadBalancer()`
`getDBLoadBalancer()`	`ILoadBalancer`	1.28	Main DB load balancer
`getDBLoadBalancerFactory()`	`LBFactory`	1.28	Use `getConnectionProvider()` where possible
`getDatabaseFactory()`	`DatabaseFactory`	1.39
`getBlobStore()`	`BlobStore`	1.31
`getBlobStoreFactory()`	`BlobStoreFactory`	1.31

The preferred pattern for database access since MediaWiki 1.42 is IConnectionProvider:

use Wikimedia\Rdbms\IConnectionProvider;

class MyRepository {
    private IConnectionProvider $dbProvider;

    public function __construct( IConnectionProvider $dbProvider ) {
        $this->dbProvider = $dbProvider;
    }

    public function fetchRow( int $id ): ?array {
        $dbr = $this->dbProvider->getReplicaDatabase();
        return $dbr->newSelectQueryBuilder()
            ->select( [ 'page_id', 'page_title' ] )
            ->from( 'page' )
            ->where( [ 'page_id' => $id ] )
            ->fetchRow() ?: null;
    }
}

Content and parsing services

Accessor	Return type	Since
`getContentHandlerFactory()`	`IContentHandlerFactory`	1.35
`getContentRenderer()`	`ContentRenderer`	1.38
`getContentTransformer()`	`ContentTransformer`	1.37
`getParserFactory()`	`ParserFactory`	1.32
`getParser()`	`Parser`	1.29
`getParserCache()`	`ParserCache`	1.30
`getParserCacheFactory()`	`ParserCacheFactory`	1.36
`getMagicWordFactory()`	`MagicWordFactory`	1.32
`getParsoidParserFactory()`	`ParsoidParserFactory`	1.41

Do not call getParser() from within services or service wiring. Use getParserFactory()->create() to obtain a fresh Parser instance instead.

Auth and permissions services

Accessor	Return type	Since
`getAuthManager()`	`AuthManager`	1.35
`getBlockManager()`	`BlockManager`	1.34
`getPermissionManager()`	`PermissionManager`	1.33
`getGroupPermissionsLookup()`	`GroupPermissionsLookup`	1.36
`getRestrictionStore()`	`RestrictionStore`	1.37
`getRateLimiter()`	`RateLimiter`	1.39
`getBlockUserFactory()`	`BlockUserFactory`	1.36
`getUnblockUserFactory()`	`UnblockUserFactory`	1.36
`getDatabaseBlockStore()`	`DatabaseBlockStore`	1.36
`getPasswordFactory()`	`PasswordFactory`	1.32
`getPasswordReset()`	`PasswordReset`	1.34

Caching services

Accessor	Return type	Since	Notes
`getMainWANObjectCache()`	`WANObjectCache`	1.28	Cross-datacenter WAN cache
`getLocalServerObjectCache()`	`BagOStuff`	1.28	Per-server cache
`getMainObjectStash()`	`BagOStuff`	1.28	Global stash
`getObjectCacheFactory()`	`ObjectCacheFactory`	1.42
`getLinkCache()`	`LinkCache`	1.28
`getParserCache()`	`ParserCache`	1.30
`getLocalisationCache()`	`LocalisationCache`	1.34
`getMessageCache()`	`MessageCache`	1.34

Search services

Accessor	Return type	Since
`getSearchEngineFactory()`	`SearchEngineFactory`	1.27
`getSearchEngineConfig()`	`SearchEngineConfig`	1.27
`newSearchEngine()`	`SearchEngine`	1.27
`getTitleMatcher()`	`TitleMatcher`	1.40

newSearchEngine() returns a new instance on every call because search engine objects maintain internal state.

HTTP services

Accessor	Return type	Since
`getHttpRequestFactory()`	`HttpRequestFactory`	1.31
`getUrlUtils()`	`UrlUtils`	1.39
`getProxyLookup()`	`ProxyLookup`	1.28

Other core services

Accessor	Return type	Since
`getHookContainer()`	`HookContainer`	1.35
`getTitleFormatter()`	`TitleFormatter`	1.28
`getTitleParser()`	`TitleParser`	1.28
`getTitleFactory()`	`TitleFactory`	1.35
`getLinkRenderer()`	`LinkRenderer`	1.28
`getLinkRendererFactory()`	`LinkRendererFactory`	1.28
`getJobQueueGroup()`	`JobQueueGroup`	1.37
`getJobQueueGroupFactory()`	`JobQueueGroupFactory`	1.37
`getJobFactory()`	`JobFactory`	1.40
`getJobRunner()`	`JobRunner`	1.35
`getLanguageFactory()`	`LanguageFactory`	1.35
`getLanguageConverterFactory()`	`LanguageConverterFactory`	1.35
`getLanguageNameUtils()`	`LanguageNameUtils`	1.34
`getNamespaceInfo()`	`NamespaceInfo`	1.34
`getConfigFactory()`	`ConfigFactory`	1.27
`getMainConfig()`	`Config`	1.27
`getObjectFactory()`	`ObjectFactory`	1.34
`getSpecialPageFactory()`	`SpecialPageFactory`	1.32
`getResourceLoader()`	`ResourceLoader`	1.33
`getSkinFactory()`	`SkinFactory`	1.27
`getInterwikiLookup()`	`InterwikiLookup`	1.28
`getWatchedItemStore()`	`WatchedItemStoreInterface`	1.28
`getWatchlistManager()`	`WatchlistManager`	1.36
`getCommentStore()`	`CommentStore`	1.31
`getCommentFormatter()`	`CommentFormatter`	1.38
`getGlobalIdGenerator()`	`GlobalIdGenerator`	1.35
`getStatsFactory()`	`StatsFactory`	1.41

Service reset in tests

MediaWikiIntegrationTestCase resets the global container between test cases automatically. To override a specific service within a test, use overrideConfigValue() or setService():

use MediaWiki\MediaWikiServices;
use MediaWikiIntegrationTestCase;

class MyServiceTest extends MediaWikiIntegrationTestCase {

    public function testWithMockedRevisionStore(): void {
        $mockRevisionStore = $this->createMock( RevisionStore::class );
        $mockRevisionStore->method( 'getRevisionById' )->willReturn( null );

        // Replaces the service for the duration of this test
        $this->setService( 'RevisionStore', $mockRevisionStore );

        $revisionStore = MediaWikiServices::getInstance()->getRevisionStore();
        $this->assertNull( $revisionStore->getRevisionById( 99999 ) );
    }

    public function testResetSingleService(): void {
        // Low-level reset; use setService() above where possible
        MediaWikiServices::getInstance()
            ->resetServiceForTesting( 'LinkCache' );
    }
}

resetServiceForTesting() is guarded by MW_PHPUNIT_TEST and will throw outside of tests. For most cases, prefer setService() provided by MediaWikiIntegrationTestCase.

Resetting the global instance

resetGlobalInstance() creates a fresh container, optionally re-importing service wiring from the previous instance. The $mode parameter controls how expensive resources are handled:

// Discard expensive resources, reuse wiring (default)
MediaWikiServices::resetGlobalInstance();

// Allow expensive resources to be salvaged and reused
MediaWikiServices::resetGlobalInstance( null, 'quick' );

// Discard expensive resources and reload wiring files from disk
MediaWikiServices::resetGlobalInstance( null, 'reload' );

resetGlobalInstance() is only allowed during bootstrapping, installation, maintenance scripts, and PHPUnit tests. Calling it after MW_SERVICE_BOOTSTRAP_COMPLETE is defined in normal web requests will throw a LogicException.

REST API

Action API

PHP Services

MediaWikiServices Reference

Accessing the container

Constructor injection (recommended)

Service categories

Service reset in tests

Resetting the global instance

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

REST API

Action API

PHP Services

​Accessing the container

​Constructor injection (recommended)

​Service categories

​Service reset in tests

​Resetting the global instance

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Accessing the container

Constructor injection (recommended)

Service categories

Service reset in tests

Resetting the global instance