README

A PHP framework for large backend applications: ERP, billing, hosting control panels, SaaS backends, admin platforms and API-heavy systems.

Your application is built from modules. A module is one folder under modules/ that brings its own pages, API endpoints, console commands, database tables and background jobs. Delete the folder and all of it is gone, because nothing outside the folder refers to it.

Status: 2.1.2, the first release. Everything in the specification is built except the demo application (Phase 29), which is postponed. Every public API is Experimental; nothing is marked Stable yet. See API stability, What is not built and Implementation status.

What you need

PHP 8.2 or newer, with the intl, json, mbstring and pdo extensions. On XAMPP, intl is switched off: open php\php.ini and remove the ; in front of extension=intl.
Composer 2, PHP's package manager.
A PDO driver for your database, for example pdo_mysql. pdo_sqlite is enough to try everything, including the tests.
fileinfo, only if your application accepts file uploads.

To see which extensions you have, run php -m.

Install and run it

composer install     # download the framework's dependencies
composer serve       # start a development server

Open http://127.0.0.1:8080/. You should see Your application is running.

On XAMPP you can skip composer serve: the application also answers at http://localhost/framework/ without any setup.

Two more commands you will use all the time:

php laika            # list every console command
composer check       # coding standard + static analysis + tests

What a fresh install contains

Folder	What is in it
`modules/Shared/`	The one module that ships. It owns the home page, `/`.
`modules/Plugins/`, `modules/Gateways/`	Not there yet. You create them for your own modules: a plugin is a feature, a gateway connects to an outside service such as a payment provider.
`templates/`	The site's pages: a layout, the home page and the error pages, as Twig files.
`config/`	Your settings, as PHP files. Empty until you need one.
`engine/`	The framework itself. You do not edit it.
`public/`	The only folder the web server may serve: `index.php` and public assets.
`system/`	Files the framework writes: logs, caches, sessions.

So a fresh install answers two pages:

curl -i http://127.0.0.1:8080/               # the home page
curl -i http://127.0.0.1:8080/no/such/page   # the "not found" page
curl -i -H 'Accept: application/json' \
        http://127.0.0.1:8080/no/such/page   # the same error, as JSON

To replace the home page, declare a / route in a module of your own. See The default pages.

There is no example application in modules/. The documentation's examples use a plugin called Example, which lives in tests/Fixtures/Showcase/ as a test fixture: worth reading, but not part of an installation.

Where to go next

You want to	Read
learn the framework	Getting started: build a small module, step by step, in about half an hour
build something	the guides: pages and forms, JSON APIs, storing data, background work, users and permissions, extending modules, testing
look up how one part works	the reference, one page per part
put it on a server	Running in production, Deployment and security, Troubleshooting
change the framework itself	Contributing

A fresh install has no user accounts and no login page. You add your own; see Users and permissions.

How it is built

What happens to one request:

public/index.php                the web server hands every request here
   -> engine/bootstrap.php      sets up the framework
   -> Application::boot()       finds the modules and lets each one register
   -> HttpKernel::handle()      turns the Request into a Response
        -> Router               finds which handler the URL belongs to
        -> Dispatcher           builds the handler and calls it
        -> Hooks / Filters      let other modules react or change values

Web pages and JSON APIs go through the same kernel. Console commands (php laika ...) use the same setup, without the HTTP part.

It is deliberately not MVC, and not a copy of Laravel, Symfony or CodeIgniter. Modules are the main way to split an application; hooks and filters are how modules extend each other; and database access is written out rather than hidden behind an ORM.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

laikait / lphp

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