miniPHP

A tiny PHP starter project for small websites and personal projects.

The goal is simple:

• Clone
• Change git remote
• Start building

No framework. No Composer. No external dependencies. No ORM. No dependency injection. No magic.

Just PHP.

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Features

• Zero dependencies
• No Composer required
• Simple config-based router
• Page and API endpoints
• SQLite support via PDO
• Shared partials
• Secure path traversal protection
• Helper functions
• Development server script

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Requirements

• PHP 8.1+
• SQLite extension (optional)

Check installed extensions:

php -m

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Project Structure

config/
├── database.php
└── routes.php

public/
├── css/
│   └── app.css
└── js/
    └── app.js

src/
├── api/
├── views/
│   ├── pages/
│   └── partials/
├── bootstrap.php
├── database.php
├── helpers.php
└── router.php

storage/
└── database.sqlite

index.php
server.sh

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Running

Start the development server:

./server.sh

Default URL:

http://127.0.0.1:3333

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Routes

Routes are defined in:

config/routes.php

Example:

return [
    'GET' => [
        '/'          => 'home.php',
        '/about'     => 'about.php',
        '/api/test'  => 'api/example.php',
    ],
];

Routes beginning with:

api/

are loaded from:

src/api/

Everything else is loaded from:

src/views/pages/

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Adding A New Page

1. Create the page

Create:

src/views/pages/contact.php

Example:

<?php partial('head', ['title' => 'Contact']); ?>

<h1>Contact</h1>

<p>Get in touch.</p>

<?php

partial('footer');

2. Add the route

Edit:

config/routes.php

Add:

'GET' => [
    '/contact' => 'contact.php',
],

Visit:

http://localhost:3333/contact

---

Adding An API Endpoint

1. Create the endpoint

Create:

src/api/contact.php

Example:

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

header('Content-Type: application/json');

echo json_encode(['success' => true]);

2. Add the route

'GET' => [
    '/api/contact' => 'api/contact.php',
],

Visit:

http://localhost:8000/api/contact

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SQLite

Database configuration:

config/database.php

Usage:

$db = db();

$rows = $db->query('SELECT * FROM users')->fetchAll();

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Helpers

Available helpers:

escape_string()
debug()
debugx()
get_config()
partial()

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Philosophy

miniPHP intentionally avoids framework features.

If a feature can be implemented with plain PHP and a few lines of code, prefer that approach.

The goal is to remain small, understandable, and easy to clone for future projects.

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License

MIT