Filters dont work

It looks like you also need to get a handle to $_SESSION in the way you have things set up.

To get $_SESSION working, insert this:  $this->session = \Config\Services:: session();

So your filter will look like:

Code:

public function before(RequestInterface $request, $params = null)
{
   $this->session = \Config\Services::session();

   if (! isset($_SESSION['user_id']))
   ...