README

Functional, Lisp-inspired language that compiles to PHP. Macros, persistent data structures, and expressive functional idioms for the PHP ecosystem.

Example

(ns my\example)

(defn greet [name] (str "Hello, " name "!"))

(println (greet "Phel"))
;; => Hello, Phel!

More examples →

Data pipeline

(def users
  [{:name "Ada" :age 36}
   {:name "Bob" :age 17}
   {:name "Cam" :age 41}])

(->> users
     (filter #(>= (:age %) 18))
     (map :name)
     sort)
;; => ["Ada" "Cam"]

HTTP response

(ns app (:require phel\http :as h))

(def req (h/request-from-globals))

(h/emit-response
  (h/response-from-map
    {:status 200
     :headers {"Content-Type" "text/plain"}
     :body (str "Hello " (:uri req))}))

Macros

(defmacro unless [pred & body]
  `(if (not ,pred)
     (do ,@body)))

(unless (zero? 1)
  (println "not zero"))
;; => not zero

(unless false (println "ok"))
;; => ok

PHP interop

(ns app)

(def now (php/new \DateTime))
(.format now "Y-m-d")
;; => "2026-04-20"

(def epoch (php/new \DateTime "1970-01-01"))
(.-days (.diff now epoch))
;; => 20564

Getting Started

Install and scaffold in under a minute:

composer require phel-lang/phel-lang
./vendor/bin/phel init

Creates phel-config.php, src/phel/main.phel, tests/phel/main_test.phel. Then:

./vendor/bin/phel run src/phel/main.phel   # run
./vendor/bin/phel test                     # tests
./vendor/bin/phel repl                     # interactive
./vendor/bin/phel build                    # compile to PHP for production

Inline snippets or shell pipelines via phel eval:

./vendor/bin/phel eval '(+ 1 2)'           # prints 3
echo '(println "hi")' | ./vendor/bin/phel eval -
./vendor/bin/phel eval - < script.phel

Single-file scratch layout: ./vendor/bin/phel init --minimal (no subdirectories).

Documentation

Start here

Quick Start — 5-minute tutorial
Installation — full setup guide
phel-lang.org — tutorials, exercises, blog

Guides

Clojure Migration — differences, interop cheat sheet
Common Patterns — everyday idioms
PHP/Phel Interop
Reader Shortcuts · Reader Conditionals
Transducers · Data Structures · Lazy Sequences
Mocking · Examples · Performance

Reference

AI coding agents

resources/agents/ — Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini, Copilot, Aider
./vendor/bin/phel agent-install [platform] [--all] — install skill file for your agent

Build PHAR

./build/phar.sh

Produces build/out/phel.phar.

Contribute

New here? Start with CONTRIBUTING.md — setup, workflow, "Where to Start". See AGENTS.md for architecture and review expectations.

phel-lang / phel-lang

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