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NixPHP

"As simple as possible, as flexible as necessary."

NixPHP is a modern, lightweight PHP microframework designed for real-world projects:
fast, minimal, extendable — and now fully embracing modern PHP standards like PSR-3, PSR-4, PSR-7, PSR-11 and PSR-18.

It builds on native PHP features and lets you stay in control:
Use only what you need — and extend freely when you want.

🧩 NixPHP provides a minimal core with a clean plugin architecture.
Everything beyond routing and dispatching — such as sessions, views, forms, or database — is handled by optional plugins.
You get full control over what your app includes — and nothing more.

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✨ Philosophy

• Minimalist Core: Only essential components by default.
• PSR-First: Native support for key PHP standards (PSR-3, PSR-4, PSR-7, PSR-11, PSR-18).
• Extendable: Easily plug in external libraries — Blade, Twig, Eloquent, Middleware, etc.
• Transparent by Design: No hidden magic, no complicated abstractions.
• Native PHP Power: PDO database, clean routing, lightweight templating.
• Secure and Clear Structure: Safe public directory (public/) separated from your app code.

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📦 Core Features

• ✅ Plugin System: Add reusable features via Composer
• ✅ Lightweight Routing: Define routes with [Controller::class, 'method']
• ✅ Smart Dispatcher: Automatic parameter and controller resolution
• ✅ PSR-3 Logging (lightweight logger ready to use)
• ✅ PSR-4 Autoloading (Composer)
• ✅ PSR-7 Request/Response Handling
• ✅ PSR-11 Dependency Container (for flexible dependency injection)
• ✅ PSR-18 HTTP Client (via nixphp/client)
• ✅ Minimalist View System: Block-based templating (via nixphp/view)
• ✅ PDO Database Connection (via nixphp/database)
• ✅ Session Handling (via nixphp/session)
• ✅ Form Memory Helpers (via nixphp/form)
• ✅ Output Buffering (centralized, better debugging)
• ✅ JSON Response Helper (for easy API responses)
• ✅ Composer-Ready: Easy installation and dependency management

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📚 PSR Compliance Overview

PSR	Description	Status
PSR-3	Logger Interface	✅ Integrated
PSR-4	Autoloading Standard	✅ Native via Composer
PSR-7	HTTP Message Interface	✅ Integrated
PSR-11	Container Interface	✅ Integrated
PSR-18	HTTP Client Interface	✅ Integrated

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❓ Why not just use Laravel or Symfony?

Frameworks like Laravel and Symfony are fantastic — but they often come with a heavy stack of features, conventions, and dependencies you may not always need.

NixPHP offers a different approach:

• No hidden complexity: You see exactly what happens.
• No forced patterns: Use only what you need, when you need it.
• No unnecessary overhead: Keep performance and flexibility under your control.
• Real extendability: Bring your favorite libraries if needed — but stay light if you don't.

If you want full control without fighting against a "big framework" structure,
NixPHP might be the perfect starting point for you.

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📢 Installation

Install via Composer

composer require nixphp/framework

This installs the NixPHP core — a minimal routing and dispatch layer.
For additional features like views, forms or sessions, just install the corresponding plugins.

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Set up your project structure

NixPHP leaves the project organization completely up to you.
A typical structure could look like this:

/app
    /Controllers
    /Models
    /Services
    config.php
    routes.php
/public
    index.php
bootstrap.php
composer.json

• Plural names for app folders
• public/ as webroot for higher security
• bootstrap.php for autoloading and bootstrapping services, registering events, and so on...

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Creating your App

You typically...

• Create a bootstrap.php to initialize NixPHP
• Set up your routes.php
• Create a public/index.php as your web entry point (which includes bootstrap.php)

1. Fill bootstrap.php

// /bootstrap.php

define('BASE_PATH', __DIR__);

require __DIR__ . '/../vendor/autoload.php';

use function NixPHP\app;

app()->run(); // Start the application

2. Create a route

//File: app/routes.php

router()->add('GET', '/hello', [HelloController::class, 'index']);

3. Create a controller

//File: app/Controllers/HelloController.php

namespace App\Controllers;

class HelloController
{
    public function index()
    {
        return view('hello', ['name' => 'World']);
    }
}

4. Create a view

//File: app/views/hello.phtml

use function NixPHP\s; // Sanitize on output (provided through nixphp/view)

<h1>Hello, <?= s($name) ?>!</h1>

5. Access your page

Visit:

http://your-app.local/hello

You should see:

Hello, World!

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🔌 Plugin Support

NixPHP includes a clean plugin system that allows you to extend your app modularly — without configuration.

Just install a plugin via Composer (e.g. composer require vendor/my-plugin) and it is automatically detected if it uses the correct package type:

{
  "type": "nixphp-plugin"
}

A typical plugin might look like this:

my-plugin/
├── app/
│   ├── config.php
│   └── views/
│       └── errors/404.phtml
├── bootstrap.php
└── composer.json

• config.php is automatically merged.
• views/ are added to the view search path.
• bootstrap.php runs automatically to register routes, events, etc.

You can build plugins exactly like you build an app — with full access to routing, events, and controllers.

For example plugins, see the Plugin Documentation

🔥 Ready to build?

Welcome to NixPHP —
your minimalist, modern PHP playground. 🚀

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🙌 License

MIT License.