README

A modern, production-quality PDF generation library for PHP 8.3+.

Flutter / SwiftUI / Jetpack Compose for PDFs.

Folio PDF implements its own document model, layout engine, templating engine, and PDF renderer - no wrapping of HTML-to-PDF solutions. It provides a composable, immutable design with a fluent builder API and a custom template language for declarative PDF generation.

Features

• PHP 8.3+ with strict types everywhere
• Zero Runtime Dependencies - pure PHP implementation
• Composable Document Model - immutable nodes with fluent builder API
• Custom Template Language - declarative syntax with data binding
• Layout Engine - flex and grid layouts with automatic pagination
• Comprehensive Styling - colors, fonts, borders, shadows, spacing
• Table Support - simple, nested, multi-header, and multi-level tables
• Page Chrome - themed headers and footers with page numbers
• Developer Tooling - LSP, VS Code extension, formatter, tree-sitter grammar

Installation

Install via Composer:

composer require folio/pdf

Requirements

• PHP 8.3 or higher
• Composer for dependency management
• No external dependencies or extensions required

Quick Start

PHP Builder API

use Folio\Pdf\Document\Pdf;
use Folio\Pdf\Nodes\Column;
use Folio\Pdf\Nodes\Heading;
use Folio\Pdf\Nodes\Page;
use Folio\Pdf\Nodes\Text;
use Folio\Pdf\Styling\Color;
use Folio\Pdf\Styling\Style;

Pdf::make()
    ->page(
        Page::a4()->withContent(
            Column::make()
                ->addChildren([
                    Heading::h1('Invoice'),
                    Text::make('Customer: John Doe'),
                    Text::make('Amount: $100.00'),
                ])
        )
    )
    ->save('invoice.pdf');

Template Language

var title = "Invoice"
var customer = "John Doe"

page {
  heading title
  text "Customer: " customer
  text "Amount: $100.00"
}

use Folio\Pdf\Template\PhpTemplateCompiler;

$compiler = new PhpTemplateCompiler();
$pdf = $compiler->renderFile('invoice.folio', [
    'title' => 'Invoice',
    'customer' => 'John Doe',
]);
$pdf->save('invoice.pdf');

Documentation

Full documentation is available at mohammadraufzahed.github.io/folio

• Getting Started - Installation and basic usage
• API Reference - Complete API documentation
• Template Language - Template syntax and features
• Examples - Real-world usage examples
• Tooling - LSP, formatter, and VS Code extension

Architecture

Folio PDF is built with a clean, modular architecture:

• Document Model - Immutable AST nodes (Page, Column, Row, Text, Table, etc.)
• Layout Engine - Flex and grid layout calculations with automatic pagination
• Template Compiler - Lexer, parser, and PHP code generator for templates
• Styling System - Comprehensive style properties with type safety
• PDF Writer - Direct PDF generation without external dependencies

Key Concepts

Immutable Design

All document nodes are immutable. Methods like withStyle() return new instances:

$page = Page::a4();
$styledPage = $page->withContent($content); // Returns new instance

Composable Layouts

Build complex layouts from simple components:

Column::make()
    ->addChildren([
        Heading::h2('Section 1'),
        Text::make('Content here'),
        Row::make()->addChildren([
            Text::make('Left'),
            Text::make('Right'),
        ]),
    ])

Styling

Apply styles with a fluent API:

Style::make()
    ->withPadding(20.0)
    ->withColor(Color::hex('#333333'))
    ->withFontSize(14.0)
    ->withFontWeight(FontWeight::Bold)

Examples

See the examples/ directory for complete working examples:

• hello-world.php - Basic PDF generation
• invoice.php - Invoice with tables and styling
• company-report.php - Multi-page document with headers/footers
• tables.php - Various table configurations

Development

Running Tests

composer test

Static Analysis

composer analyze

Code Style

Follow PSR-12 coding standards. Use strict types and type hints throughout.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

• Report bugs via GitHub Issues
• Submit pull requests for improvements
• Discuss features in GitHub Discussions

Security

For security vulnerabilities, please email security@folio-pdf.dev instead of using public issues. See SECURITY.md for details.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Inspired by Flutter, SwiftUI, and Jetpack Compose design patterns
• Built with modern PHP 8.3+ features
• Community-driven open-source project

Links

• Documentation
• GitHub Repository
• Packagist
• Report Issues