ZenPHP Skeleton

Starter project for ZenPHP — a modern, zero-dependency PHP 8.4 micro-framework.

Requirements

• PHP 8.4+
• Composer
• PDO extension (SQLite or MySQL)
• OpenSSL extension

Installation

composer create-project studiokaizen/skeleton my-app
cd my-app

Setup

1. Copy the config file and fill in your values:

cp config.example.php config.php

Open config.php and set your app name, database connection, and any other settings.

2. Generate an encryption key:

php zen key:generate

This writes a secure 32-byte key into config.php automatically.

3. Run migrations:

php zen migrate

4. Point your web server's document root to the public/ directory.

For local development with PHP's built-in server:

php -S localhost:8000 -t public

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Project Structure

bootstrap/          Application bootstrap (providers, middleware, error handlers)
config.php          Your local configuration (gitignored)
config.example.php  Configuration template to commit
database/
  migrations/       SQL migration files
  seeders/          SQL seeder files
public/
  index.php         Web entry point — define your routes here
  .htaccess         Apache rewrite rules
resources/
  views/            PHP view templates
src/
  Events/           Application events
  Jobs/             Queued jobs
  Providers/        Service providers (AppServiceProvider wired by default)
storage/
  app/              Private file storage
  cache/            File cache
  logs/             Application logs
zen                 CLI entry point

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Defining Routes

Open public/index.php — it ships with commented examples covering all common patterns. Uncomment and adapt as needed.

use Zen\Http\Request;
use Zen\Http\Response;

$app->get('/', function (Request $request, Response $response) use ($app): Response {
    return $app->view('home');
})->middleware('csrf');

$app->get('/users/:id', function (Request $request, Response $response) use ($app): Response {
    $user = $app['db']->table('users')->find((int) $request->getRouteParam('id'));
    return $app->view('users/show', compact('user'));
})->middleware('csrf', 'auth');

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Adding Views

Templates live in resources/views/ and use plain PHP. Extend layout.php using sections:

<?php $this->extend('layout'); ?>
<?php $this->section('title', 'Page Title'); ?>
<?php $this->startSection('content'); ?>

<h1>Hello!</h1>

<?php $this->endSection(); ?>

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Adding Migrations

php zen make:migration create_posts_table

Edit the generated file in database/migrations/, then run:

php zen migrate

---

Adding a Queued Job

Create a class in src/Jobs/ extending Zen\Queue\Job:

namespace App\Jobs;

use Zen\Queue\Job;

class SendWelcomeEmail extends Job
{
    public function __construct(
        public readonly string $email,
    ) {}

    public function handle(): void
    {
        // send email
    }
}

Dispatch it from a route handler:

$app['queue']->dispatch(new \App\Jobs\SendWelcomeEmail($email));

Process the queue:

php zen queue:work

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Adding an Event

Create a class in src/Events/ extending Zen\Events\Event:

namespace App\Events;

use Zen\Events\Event;

class UserRegistered extends Event
{
    public function __construct(
        public readonly int    $userId,
        public readonly string $email,
    ) {}
}

Register a listener in src/Providers/AppServiceProvider.php:

$app['events']->addListener(\App\Events\UserRegistered::class, function ($event) use ($app): void {
    $app['logger']->info("New user #{$event->userId}");
});

Dispatch from a route:

$app['events']->dispatch(new \App\Events\UserRegistered($id, $email));

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Console Commands

php zen list                    # list all available commands
php zen make:migration <name>   # create a migration
php zen make:seeder <name>      # create a seeder
php zen migrate                 # run pending migrations
php zen migrate:rollback        # roll back last batch
php zen migrate:fresh --seed    # reset + re-migrate + seed
php zen db:seed                 # run all seeders
php zen queue:work              # process queued jobs
php zen schedule:run            # run due scheduled tasks
php zen cache:clear             # clear file cache
php zen key:generate            # generate encryption key

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Framework Documentation

Full API reference at studiokaizen/framework.

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License

MIT