How to Programmatically Add Product to Cart in Magento

Earlier, I had given the solution to

Have you ever thought to surprise your customers with some discounted or FREE stuff? Hell yeah! You may add products to cart automatically when a customer performs a specific action like store visit, reach a specific subtotal, adds a particular product to cart, etc.

Follow the below code to not only programmatically add product to cart in Magento, but also update the mini cart automatically.

Use this method when, as an admin, you want to offer a free product, add a virtual product or sample product. Customize the code to meet your specific requirements of adding the products to cart automatically.

Steps to Programmatically Add Product to Cart in Magento:

$prod_id = 41; // pass product id
$_product = Mage::getModel('catalog/product')->load($prod_id);
$params = array(
   'product' => $prod_id,
   'qty' => 1
);
 
$cart = Mage::getModel('checkout/cart');
$cart->init();
$cart->addProduct($_product, $params);
$cart->save();
 
$quote = Mage::getModel('checkout/session')->getQuote();
$quote->collectTotals()->save();