Couchbase is enhancing its PHP SDK in anticipation of the Couchbase Server 4.5 release and PHP 7 innovations, with the introduction of the third beta version that includes new features and internal improvements. A key feature is the Sub-Document API, which provides fine-grained control to save network traffic by operating on specific parts of large documents, demonstrated through PHP code examples. The SDK also introduces a more straightforward approach to index management via a new API in PHP SDK 2.2, allowing developers to list, create, and remove indexes through the BucketManager. Additionally, a change in the representation of the CAS value makes it easier to handle within PHP applications by encoding it as a string token, facilitating serialization. The release can be installed using pecl, and further beta versions are expected before the general release, with feedback and issues encouraged through the Couchbase community platforms.