essentio/core

A minimalist PHP micro-framework for people who prefer simple structure and full control—without the bloat, dogma, or dependency hell.

dev-main 2025-07-15 16:00 UTC

Requires

• php: ^8.2

Requires (Dev)

• pestphp/pest: ^3.8
• rector/rector: ^2.0
• vimeo/psalm: ^6.12

Suggests

• ext-pdo: Required for database access using PDO (e.g. MySQL, SQLite, PostgreSQL)

0BSD

README

Essentio — Minimalist PHP Framework

Essentio isn’t here to impress with design patterns or win internet debates. It’s raw, minimal PHP—for developers who want clarity, speed, and control. No abstractions, no ceremony. Just the essentials.

You can learn the whole framework in an afternoon. That’s the point.

🔥 Philosophy

Essentio exists because modern PHP frameworks lost the plot.

Somewhere along the way, we decided every project needs hundreds of dependencies, a build chain, and layers of abstraction just to respond to a request. The result? Bloat, boilerplate, and a constant sense that you're working around your tools instead of with them.

Essentio is built around simpler questions:

• Why can’t I just write code and have it run?
• Why does “Hello World” pull in a hundred packages?
• Do frameworks need to be opinionated—or just useful?
• Why all the scaffolding, code generation, and ceremony?
• What if I could learn the entire framework in a single afternoon?

This isn’t for everyone. It’s for developers who want full control without the hand-holding. Who trust their own judgment more than someone else’s defaults. Who read the source instead of tutorials.

Essentio doesn’t try to teach you how to code. It gives you just enough structure to be useful—and nothing that gets in your way.

🧪 Quickstart

One-file Setup

No dependencies. No build steps. Just download and go:

# Full version with extras
curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Phil-Venter/essentio-core/main/dist/full.php -o framework.php

# Base version, leanest setup
curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Phil-Venter/essentio-core/main/dist/base.php -o framework.php

Then scaffold a minimal app:

mkdir public

cat <<'EOF' > public/index.php
<?php

require __DIR__ . '/../framework.php';

Application::http(__DIR__ . '/..');

get('/', fn() => text('Hello, Essentio!'));

Application::run();
EOF

php -S localhost:8080 -t public

Composer Install

For projects using Composer (or if you prefer that):

composer require essentio/core

mkdir public

cat <<'EOF' > public/index.php
<?php

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

Essentio\Core\Application::http(__DIR__ . '/..');

get('/', fn() => text('Hello, Essentio!'));

Essentio\Core\Application::run();
EOF

php -S localhost:8080 -t public

🧱 Features

Essentio gives you just enough to build apps with precision and no nonsense:

• Boots fast: HTTP or CLI mode with one line.
• Minimal router: Params, groups, middleware—no fluff.
• Manual DI: Bind what you want, resolve it yourself.
• Environment-aware: Typed .env loading—no YAML.
• Input-safe: Sanitize and validate with zero magic.
• Session + CSRF: Straightforward, not silent.
• Templating: Clean segments and blocks. No DSLs.
• Explicit responses: json(), text(), html()—your call.

🧍 Who It’s For

Essentio is for developers who:

• Want to understand every line
• Don’t need training wheels
• Trust code over convention
• Want fewer files, fewer surprises, and fewer opinions

Whether you’re building tools, APIs, internal apps, or microservices—Essentio gives you a sharp knife and walks away.

🧠 What You Get

🧩 Core Components (base.php & full.php)

📦 Classes

Class	Description
Application	Initializes HTTP or CLI context
Container	Dependency injection container
Router	Route registry and dispatcher
Request	Normalized HTTP request abstraction
Response	Fluent HTTP response builder
Session	Native session management + CSRF support
Template	Layout/segment PHP-based template engine
Jwt	Stateless JWT encoder/decoder
Environment	.env file parser with auto-casting
FrameworkException	Base exception type for internal framework errors
ValidationException	Thrown when validation rules fail
HttpException	Structured HTTP error generator

🌍 Global Helper Functions

🧱 Dependency Injection

Function	Description
app(class)	Get a singleton instance
make(class, deps)	Create a new instance
bind(class, ...)	Register service (multi-call)
once(class, ...)	Register singleton (one-time)

⚙️ Environment & Paths

Function	Description
base_path(path)	Join path to base directory
env(key)	Retrieve .env variable

🌐 Routing & Requests

Function	Description
middleware(fn)	Global middleware registration
group(prefix, fn)	Grouped routes under a prefix
get(path, fn) post(path, fn) put()...	Route registration for HTTP verbs
request(key) input(field)	Access route/query/form input
sanitize(rules, onError)	Cast + validate user input

🗂️ Sessions & Security

Function	Description
session(key)	Get/set session variable
flash(key)	Temporary one-request data
csrf() / csrf(token)	Generate or verify CSRF token
jwt(data)	Encode/Decode JWT payload

📤 Responses

Function	Description
render(template, data)	Render template to string
html(str), text(str), json(mixed)	Send typed response content
redirect(uri, status)	Issue HTTP redirect
view(template, data)	Return templated HTML response

🛠️ Miscellaneous

Function	Description
throw_if(cond, except)	Conditionally throw an error

➕ Extended Utilities (full.php only)

📦 Additional Classes

Class	Description
Cast	Input transformation (type coercion)
HttpClient	Minimal HTTP client using cURL
Query	Fluent SQL query builder (PDO-based)
Validate	Validation rules (regex, bounds, etc.)

🌍 Additional Helpers

Function	Description
curl(method, url, headers, body)	Send an HTTP request and return Response
query()	Instantiate Query object

You need to explicitly bind the query builder to the container before using it.

once(PDO::class, fn() => new PDO("sqlite:" . base_path("database.sqlite")));
bind(Query::class, fn() => new Query(app(PDO::class)));

🧪 What It Doesn’t Do

Essentio doesn’t care about:

• ❌ Autowiring
• ❌ Scaffolding
• ❌ ORM
• ❌ Code generation
• ❌ File structure
• ❌ Layered abstraction

If it happens, it’s because you wrote it.

🧮 Code Size

Base:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
language                 files     blank   comment      code     total
----------------------------------------------------------------------
php                          1       207       348       798      1354
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Full (with Extras):

----------------------------------------------------------------------
language                 files     blank   comment      code     total
----------------------------------------------------------------------
php                          1       376       531      1400      2308
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Pre build (src):

----------------------------------------------------------------------
language                 files     blank   comment      code     total
----------------------------------------------------------------------
php                         22       416       607      1500      2545
----------------------------------------------------------------------

🪪 License

Essentio is licensed under the 0BSD License. No conditions. No attribution. No nonsense.

Use it. Fork it. Rip it apart. Whatever helps you ship.

🤝 Contributing

Pull requests welcome. Ideas welcome. Opinions optional.

Essentio is yours to love, hate, or ignore. The world won’t always agree—but that’s not your problem.