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--- php_tools_components [2026/05/08 04:54] – [Notes] smickster
+++ php_tools_components [2026/05/08 05:00] (current) – smickster
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 A curated reference of PHP tools, libraries, and self-contained applications worth
-knowing. The goal is to keep PHP viable and reduce dependency on heavy frameworks
+knowing. Updated over time as good things surface.
-where lighter solutions exist.
+**The PHP advantage in 2026:** Runs on shared hosting, no Docker required, no root
+access needed. A $5/month cPanel host can run most of these. That's still a superpower.
 > "Don't forget PHP" — it runs everywhere, needs nothing, and often outlasts the
 > framework of the week.
-----
 ===== Search =====
@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
   * **HN discussion:** [[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48041316|Hacker News thread]]
-----
-===== Self-Hosted Applications =====
+===== File Management & Viewers =====
+==== Tiny File Manager ====
+  * **Repo:** [[https://github.com/prasathmani/tinyfilemanager|prasathmani/tinyfilemanager]]
+  * **What it does:** Single PHP file. Password-protected filesystem browser, upload,
+    rename, delete, edit, zip/unzip. Drop it anywhere and it works.
+  * **Sweet spot:** Quick server-side file access without FTP or SSH.
+==== h5ai ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://larsjung.de/h5ai/|larsjung.de/h5ai]]
+  * **What it does:** Modern HTTP web server index for Apache/nginx. Beautiful directory
+    listings with thumbnails, search, tree view.
+  * **Sweet spot:** Turning a folder into a browsable, shareable file index.
+==== FileGator ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://filegator.io|filegator.io]]
+  * **What it does:** Self-hosted multi-user file manager with a clean UI. Supports
+    local storage, FTP, S3. More full-featured than Tiny File Manager.
+  * **Sweet spot:** When you need user accounts and access control on file storage.
+===== Image & Photo Tools =====
+==== Piwigo ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://piwigo.org|piwigo.org]]
+  * **What it does:** Full-featured self-hosted photo gallery. Albums, tags, users,
+    plugins, themes. Mature project, active community.
+  * **Sweet spot:** Family photos, club/organization galleries, anything needing
+    real user management.
+==== Lychee ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://lycheeorg.github.io|lycheeorg.github.io]]
+  * **What it does:** Self-hosted photo management with a clean modern UI.
+    Supports albums, sharing, EXIF data display.
+  * **Sweet spot:** Personal portfolio or photo sharing, cleaner UI than Piwigo.
+==== Chevereto (Free) ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://chevereto.com|chevereto.com]]
+  * **What it does:** Image hosting platform. The free/community edition is capable.
+    Upload, albums, user accounts.
+  * **Note:** Paid version has more features. Free edition still useful for self-hosting.
+==== Intervention Image ====
+  * **Repo:** [[https://github.com/Intervention/image|Intervention/image]]
+  * **What it does:** PHP image manipulation library. Resize, crop, watermark, convert
+    formats, adjust colors — clean fluent API wrapping GD and Imagick.
+  * **Install:** ''composer require intervention/image''
+  * **Sweet spot:** Any PHP project needing image processing without writing raw GD code.
+==== (Placeholder) Thumbnailers & On-the-fly Resizers ====
+  * Tools like Glide (PHP), Thumbor (Python, but worth knowing), TimThumb (legacy).
+  * //To be expanded.//
+===== CMS & Flat-File Publishing =====
+==== Grav ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://getgrav.org|getgrav.org]]
+  * **What it does:** Flat-file CMS. No database. Markdown content, Twig templates,
+    strong plugin ecosystem. Fast and portable.
+  * **Sweet spot:** Sites where you want Git-friendly content and zero DB overhead.
+==== Kirby ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://getkirby.com|getkirby.com]]
+  * **What it does:** File-based CMS with a polished admin panel. Not free for
+    commercial use but highly regarded.
+  * **Sweet spot:** Client sites where you want a clean editing experience without WordPress.
+==== Pico CMS ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://picocms.org|picocms.org]]
+  * **What it does:** Stupidly simple flat-file CMS. Drop Markdown files in a folder,
+    get a website. Minimal, no admin panel.
+  * **Sweet spot:** Personal sites, documentation, anything where simplicity wins.
 ==== DokuWiki ====
   * **Site:** [[https://www.dokuwiki.org|dokuwiki.org]]
-  * **What it does:** File-based wiki — no database required. Stores pages as plain text
+  * **What it does:** File-based wiki — no database required. Stores pages as plain
-    files. Highly extensible via plugins.
+    text files. Strong plugin ecosystem, access control, revision history.
-  * **Why it belongs here:** A strong example of what PHP can do without a database.
+  * **Why it belongs here:** A model example of PHP's "runs anywhere" strength.
-    Lightweight, portable, still actively maintained.
+    Lightweight, portable, actively maintained for 20+ years.
-  * **Sweet spot:** Documentation, personal wikis, intranets, project notes.
+  * **Sweet spot:** Documentation, personal wikis, intranets, team notes.
+==== WordPress ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://wordpress.org|wordpress.org]]
+  * **Note:** Listed for completeness. The ecosystem is massive and PHP-native.
+    For simple sites, consider the flat-file options above first.
+===== Personal Productivity & Knowledge =====
+==== Shaarli ====
+  * **Repo:** [[https://github.com/shaarli/Shaarli|shaarli/Shaarli]]
+  * **What it does:** Single-user self-hosted bookmarking tool. Tag, search, share links.
+    No-database option available. Very Unix-philosophy.
+  * **Sweet spot:** Personal del.icio.us replacement. Own your bookmarks.
+==== FreshRSS ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://freshrss.org|freshrss.org]]
+  * **What it does:** Self-hosted RSS/Atom feed aggregator. Multi-user, mobile-friendly,
+    supports fever API (compatible with many RSS reader apps).
+  * **Sweet spot:** Replacing Google Reader, Feedly, etc. with something you control.
+==== PrivateBin ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://privatebin.info|privatebin.info]]
+  * **What it does:** Self-hosted pastebin where the server has zero knowledge of
+    content. Encrypted client-side. Expiry options.
+  * **Sweet spot:** Sharing sensitive snippets or notes without trusting a third party.
+==== Wallabag ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://wallabag.org|wallabag.org]]
+  * **What it does:** Self-hosted read-it-later app. Save articles, strip to reading
+    view, sync to e-readers.
+  * **Sweet spot:** Pocket/Instapaper replacement on your own server.
+==== (Placeholder) Note-taking & Personal Wikis ====
+  * Beyond DokuWiki: Outline, Wiki.js (Node-based but worth knowing),
+    Trilium Notes, Joplin Server.
+  * //To be expanded — focus on PHP-native options.//
+===== URL & Link Tools =====
+==== YOURLS ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://yourls.org|yourls.org]]
+  * **What it does:** Your Own URL Shortener. Self-hosted, plugin system, click
+    tracking, API. The PHP gold standard for this.
+  * **Sweet spot:** Branded short links, tracking, internal redirects.
+===== Forms & Mail =====
+==== PHPMailer ====
+  * **Repo:** [[https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer|PHPMailer/PHPMailer]]
+  * **What it does:** The standard PHP email library. SMTP with auth, HTML email,
+    attachments, DKIM signing. Replaces PHP's unreliable ''mail()''.
+  * **Install:** ''composer require phpmailer/phpmailer''
+  * **Sweet spot:** Any PHP project that sends email. Basically mandatory.
+==== Respect/Validation ====
+  * **Repo:** [[https://github.com/Respect/Validation|Respect/Validation]]
+  * **What it does:** Fluent PHP validation library. Email, URL, CNPJ, custom rules,
+    chained validators, good error messages.
+  * **Install:** ''composer require respect/validation''
+  * **Sweet spot:** Form and API input validation without a full framework.
+==== (Placeholder) Form Builders & Self-Hosted Form Apps ====
+  * Mautic (heavy, marketing-focused), Typebot, Formbricks.
+  * PHP-native lightweight form processors.
+  * //To be expanded.//
+===== Routing & HTTP =====
+==== FastRoute ====
+  * **Repo:** [[https://github.com/nikic/FastRoute|nikic/FastRoute]]
+  * **What it does:** Fast request router for PHP. Regex-based, very low overhead.
+    Used internally by many frameworks.
+  * **Install:** ''composer require nikic/fast-route''
+  * **Sweet spot:** Rolling your own micro-framework or adding routing to a plain PHP app.
+==== Slim Framework ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://www.slimframework.com|slimframework.com]]
+  * **What it does:** Micro-framework for PHP. Routing, middleware, PSR-7 request/response.
+    Much lighter than Laravel/Symfony.
+  * **Sweet spot:** REST APIs and small apps that don't need a full framework.
+==== Symfony HttpClient ====
+  * **Docs:** [[https://symfony.com/doc/current/http_client.html|symfony.com/doc/http_client]]
+  * **What it does:** Standalone HTTP client component from Symfony. Async capable,
+    streaming, no full Symfony install needed.
+  * **Install:** ''composer require symfony/http-client''
+==== Guzzle ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://docs.guzzlephp.org|docs.guzzlephp.org]]
+  * **What it does:** HTTP client library. The longtime standard. Async requests,
+    middleware, PSR-18 compatible.
+  * **Install:** ''composer require guzzlehttp/guzzle''
+  * **Note:** For new projects, consider Symfony HttpClient — lighter dependency tree.
+===== Templating =====
+==== Twig ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://twig.symfony.com|twig.symfony.com]]
+  * **What it does:** The dominant PHP template engine. Sandboxed, extensible, clean
+    syntax. Used by Symfony, Drupal, Grav, and many others.
+  * **Install:** ''composer require twig/twig''
+==== Plates ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://platesphp.com|platesphp.com]]
+  * **What it does:** Native PHP template engine — no new syntax to learn. Layouts,
+    inheritance, escaping. Feels like PHP, not a DSL.
+  * **Sweet spot:** When you want templates without learning Twig syntax.
+==== Latte ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://latte.nette.org|latte.nette.org]]
+  * **What it does:** Templating engine from the Nette framework. Strong XSS protection
+    by design, context-aware escaping.
+  * **Sweet spot:** Security-conscious templating with minimal overhead.
+===== Database & ORM =====
+==== Doctrine DBAL ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://www.doctrine-project.org/projects/dbal.html|doctrine-project.org]]
+  * **What it does:** Database abstraction layer. Query builder, schema management,
+    multiple driver support. Without the full ORM weight.
+  * **Install:** ''composer require doctrine/dbal''
+==== Medoo ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://medoo.in|medoo.in]]
+  * **What it does:** Lightweight PHP database framework. Single file, simple API,
+    supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, and more.
+  * **Sweet spot:** Small projects that want convenience without a heavy ORM.
+==== RedBeanPHP ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://redbeanphp.com|redbeanphp.com]]
+  * **What it does:** Zero-config ORM. Auto-creates and modifies tables as you go
+    during development. Freeze mode for production.
+  * **Sweet spot:** Rapid prototyping where you don't want to write schema first.
+==== (Placeholder) SQLite in PHP ====
+  * PHP's built-in SQLite support is underused. Worth a dedicated section on
+    patterns, tooling, and when SQLite beats MySQL for PHP apps.
+  * //To be expanded.//
+===== CLI & Task Running =====
+==== Symfony Console (standalone) ====
+  * **Docs:** [[https://symfony.com/doc/current/components/console.html|symfony.com/doc/console]]
+  * **What it does:** Build CLI commands with argument parsing, colored output,
+    progress bars, tables. Standalone Symfony component.
+  * **Install:** ''composer require symfony/console''
+  * **Sweet spot:** Any PHP CLI tool or cron job that needs more than ''echo''.
+==== (Placeholder) Task Schedulers & Job Queues ====
+  * Crunz (cron scheduler in PHP), PHP-Resque, Symfony Messenger.
+  * //To be expanded.//
+===== Developer Tools =====
+==== PHPStan ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://phpstan.org|phpstan.org]]
+  * **What it does:** Static analysis for PHP. Finds bugs without running the code.
+    Configurable strictness levels.
+  * **Install:** ''composer require --dev phpstan/phpstan''
+==== Psalm ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://psalm.dev|psalm.dev]]
+  * **What it does:** Alternative static analysis tool. Strong type inference,
+    security analysis, taint tracking.
+  * **Install:** ''composer require --dev vimeo/psalm''
+==== PHP CS Fixer ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://cs.symfony.com|cs.symfony.com]]
+  * **What it does:** Automatically fixes PHP coding standards. PSR-1, PSR-2, PSR-12,
+    and custom rules.
+  * **Install:** ''composer require --dev friendsofphp/php-cs-fixer''
+==== PHPUnit ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://phpunit.de|phpunit.de]]
+  * **What it does:** The standard PHP testing framework. Unit and integration tests,
+    mocking, coverage reports.
+  * **Install:** ''composer require --dev phpunit/phpunit''
+==== Pest ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://pestphp.com|pestphp.com]]
+  * **What it does:** Testing framework built on PHPUnit with a friendlier API.
+    Fluent expectations, cleaner syntax.
+  * **Install:** ''composer require --dev pestphp/pest''
+  * **Sweet spot:** If PHPUnit feels verbose, Pest is the modern alternative.
+==== Clockwork ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://underground.works/clockwork|underground.works/clockwork]]
+  * **What it does:** PHP dev tools in the browser. Timeline, database queries,
+    log viewer, request data. Browser extension + PHP library.
+  * **Install:** ''composer require --dev itsgoingd/clockwork''
+  * **Sweet spot:** Debugging and profiling without Xdebug complexity.
+==== Xdebug ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://xdebug.org|xdebug.org]]
+  * **What it does:** PHP debugger and profiler. Step debugging, stack traces,
+    code coverage. Integrates with VS Code, PhpStorm.
+  * **Note:** PHP extension, not Composer — install via pecl or your system package manager.
+===== Monitoring & Status =====
+==== Cachet ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://cachethq.io|cachethq.io]]
+  * **What it does:** Self-hosted status page system. Components, incidents, metrics,
+    subscriber notifications.
+  * **Sweet spot:** Public status page for your own services.
+==== (Placeholder) Uptime Monitoring ====
+  * Uptime Kuma (Node-based but popular), PHP-based alternatives.
+  * //To be expanded.//
+==== (Placeholder) Logging & Error Tracking ====
+  * Monolog (the PHP logging standard), Sentry (has PHP SDK), self-hosted
+    error trackers like Flare.
+  * //To be expanded.//
+===== Self-Hosted Apps (Misc) =====
+==== Nextcloud ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://nextcloud.com|nextcloud.com]]
+  * **What it does:** Self-hosted cloud platform. Files, calendar, contacts, notes,
+    video calls, and a large app ecosystem.
+  * **Note:** Heavy but comprehensive. The PHP app ecosystem is genuinely impressive.
+==== Kanboard ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://kanboard.org|kanboard.org]]
+  * **What it does:** Self-hosted Kanban board. Projects, tasks, swimlanes, automation
+    rules, time tracking. No-frills, no database required (SQLite default).
+  * **Sweet spot:** Trello replacement on your own server.
+==== Snipe-IT ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://snipeitapp.com|snipeitapp.com]]
+  * **What it does:** Open source IT asset management. Track hardware, licenses,
+    accessories. Laravel-based.
+  * **Sweet spot:** Small teams needing real asset tracking without enterprise pricing.
+==== Invoice Ninja ====
+  * **Site:** [[https://invoiceninja.com|invoiceninja.com]]
+  * **What it does:** Self-hosted invoicing, quotes, time tracking, expenses. Full
+    client portal. Laravel-based.
+  * **Sweet spot:** Freelancers and small agencies who want to own their billing data.
+==== (Placeholder) Chat & Communication ====
+  * PHP is not ideal for realtime, but worth noting options like Rocket.Chat
+    (not PHP), and what PHP can/can't do here with WebSockets.
+  * //To be expanded.//
-----
+==== (Placeholder) Pastebin & Code Sharing ====
+  * PrivateBin (listed above), Hastebin, Stikked.
+  * //To be expanded.//
-===== To Explore / Add =====
+===== Notes & Philosophy =====
-Categories to fill in over time:
+  * **Prefer zero-dependency or single-file tools** where possible — they survive
+    longer and deploy anywhere.
+  * **Shared hosting compatibility** is a feature worth calling out explicitly. If a
+    tool requires Docker or root, note it.
+  * **"No database" is an architectural choice**, not just a convenience. File-based
+    tools are portable, backup-friendly, and Git-compatible.
+  * **Composer is fine** but be aware of dependency trees. A tool that pulls in
+    half of Symfony for one feature is a different beast than a focused library.
+  * Ask a follow-up question on any placeholder category to get it fleshed out
+    in DokuWiki format, ready to paste in.
-  * **Routing** — lightweight standalone routers (FastRoute, Bramus Router)
+===== Resources & Further Reading =====
-  * **Templating** — Twig, Plates, Latte
-  * **HTTP** — Guzzle, Symfony HttpClient
-  * **ORM / Database** — Doctrine DBAL, Medoo, Idiorm
-  * **CLI** — Symfony Console component standalone
-  * **File parsing** — CSV, Markdown, XML/HTML
-  * **Auth / Sessions** — standalone JWT, session wrappers
-  * **Testing** — PHPUnit, Pest
-  * **Static analysis** — PHPStan, Psalm
-  * **Single-file apps** — tools that run as one .php file with no install
-----
+  * [[https://packagist.org|Packagist]] — PHP package repository
+  * [[https://github.com/ziadoz/awesome-php|Awesome PHP]] — community-maintained PHP resource list
+  * [[https://news.ycombinator.com/|Hacker News]] — where good obscure PHP tools still surface
+  * [[https://www.php.net/manual/en/|PHP Manual]] — underrated, still the best reference
-===== Notes =====
-  * Prefer tools that work on **shared hosting** (no Docker, no root) where possible.
-  * Flag anything that requires zero Composer dependencies separately — useful for
-    drop-in scenarios.
-  * When evaluating a tool: does it still work in 5 years if the author disappears?
-    File-based and self-contained wins points here.