README

A transpile-to-PHP web framework with its own .phlo language, a built-in SPA runtime, the Phlo Control Center (built-in dev panel), and first-class introspection for AI agents. Zero runtime dependencies.

prop title = 'Hello'

route GET => $this->home

method home => view($this->main, 'Home')

view main:
<h1>$this->title</h1>
<p>{{ date('Y') }}</p>

That file transpiles to a PHP class, a route, an HTML page, and (with a <style>/<script> block) a CSS and JS bundle. One .phlo file is one class; the build writes plain PHP you can read, lint and source-map back to the line you wrote.

Why Phlo

Phlo is opinionated on purpose. The bets it makes:

• Transpile, don't interpret. .phlo is transformed to readable PHP at build time. Errors at runtime map back to your .phlo line, not to generated soup.
• One closed loop. Source to build to lint to sourcemap to error page to Control Center to CLI introspection. Every layer points back at the source.
• Small and dependency-free. The engine ships its own CSS transpiler, JS minifier and SPA runtime. No vendor tree to audit. The bet is proven server tech: PHP still runs more than 70% of the web (W3Techs), and Phlo builds on that instead of on a JavaScript build chain.
• Agent-first. docs/SKILL.md is a complete language reference written for AI agents, and the reflect:: CLI exposes routes, views, the parsed AST and dependency graphs as JSON. An agent can build, introspect and fix a Phlo app without guessing.
• Convention over configuration. File name becomes class name. Named phlo_app() arguments become constants. data/app.json stays tiny.

If you want a large ecosystem, a package for everything, and a team-standard hiring pool, reach for Laravel or Symfony. If you want a small, legible full-stack engine that one person (or one agent) can hold in their head, Phlo is for you.

One platform, four layers

The language is the bottom layer of one continuous system; each layer is built with the previous one, in the same syntax:

1. Language: .phlo source transpiles to readable PHP, CSS and JS.
2. Application: backend resources (ORM, sessions, security, AI) plus the phlo.js SPA engine and the apply() protocol; Phlo CMS adds a schema-driven CRUD and admin layer on top.
3. Server: production on FrankenPHP in worker mode, with the Phlo Daemon for warm workers, realtime and scheduled tasks.
4. Operations: the Phlo Dashboard manages apps and servers as a fleet: uptime, domains, databases, notifications.

The full story, guide, tutorial and reference live at phlo.tech; machine-readable docs at phlo.tech/llms.txt.

Quick start

Requirements: PHP >= 8.3. Optional extensions per resource (pdo_mysql, sodium, gd).

git clone https://github.com/q-ainl/phlo.git
php phlo/install.php /path/to/my-app

The installer asks for a name, host, purpose and which resources to enable, writes a buildable skeleton (app.phlo, www/app.php, data/app.json, data/app.md), and runs the build so the app is verified before you start.

Serve it with FrankenPHP, Docker, PHP-FPM or, for a quick look:

php /path/to/my-app/www/app.php reflect::context   # inspect without a server
php -S 127.0.0.1:80 /path/to/my-app/www/app.php   # then open http://localhost

See docs/deploy.md for FrankenPHP (incl. worker mode), Docker and nginx setups.

The development loop

With build: true set in www/app.php, the app rebuilds changed .phlo files on request. Two CLI namespaces drive everything:

php www/app.php build::run      # transpile changed sources, returns changed files
php www/app.php build::lint     # parse-check the generated PHP, [] means clean
php www/app.php reflect::context   # app identity, routes, views, recent errors
php www/app.php reflect::routes    # full route map

With build and debug on (dev only), the Phlo Control Center auto-mounts at /phlo and offers home, config, source, build, release and error views. Move it with the optional control: key or set control: false to disable.

Documentation

• docs/SKILL.md the full language and build reference (also the agent skill).
• docs/design.md the rationale behind Phlo's non-obvious design decisions (read before changing the engine).
• docs/deploy.md deployment options.
• docs/apply-protocol.md the apply() SPA protocol.
• docs/websocket-contract.md the realtime WebSocket contract (Phlo Daemon).
• docs/tasks.md cron tasks.
• docs/model-opt-in.md ORM opt-in features.
• docs/connectors.md API connectors (webshops, messaging, accounting, cloud) and how to write your own.
• CONTRIBUTING.md how contributions are judged.

Editor support

Syntax highlighting under editor/: a VS Code extension (TextMate grammar, reusable in Sublime/JetBrains/Zed) and a Notepad++ user-defined language with a function-list parser.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.