📖 Online Documentation: https://phpcompose.github.io/compose/
Welcome to the Compose framework documentation. Compose is a lightweight PHP framework built around Pages — a filesystem-driven URL-to-page mapping engine with optional code-behind support. Pages are the primary application surface, allowing you to map request paths directly to page templates with minimal configuration.
Traditional MVC frameworks require you to define routes, create controllers, and wire them together before you can see a single page. Compose takes a different approach: your filesystem IS your routing. Create a file, and it’s instantly accessible at the corresponding URL.
This Pages-first approach offers several advantages:
While Compose supports traditional routing and controllers, Pages are the recommended starting point for most applications. They provide the simplicity of static sites with the power of dynamic server-side logic.
The Pages middleware is Compose’s core feature and the primary way to build applications. It automatically maps URL paths to template files in your pages/ directory, eliminating the need for route definitions:
/ → pages/index.phtml/about → pages/about.phtml/blog/post → pages/blog/post.phtmlThis convention-over-configuration approach means you can scaffold new pages simply by creating files. The URL structure mirrors your filesystem, making applications intuitive to navigate and maintain.
Filesystem-Based Routing: No route definitions required. The directory structure directly maps to URLs, making it intuitive to organize your application. Add a new page by creating a new file—no configuration needed.
Code-Behind Support: Place a .phtml.php file alongside your template to add server-side logic. The code-behind can return data for rendering, accept URL parameters, or return a full PSR-7 response. This keeps page logic close to the template while maintaining clean separation of concerns.
Zero Configuration Start: With sensible defaults, you can start building pages immediately. The framework handles template resolution, parameter extraction, and rendering automatically. Advanced configuration is available when you need it.
PSR-15 Compatible: Pages middleware integrates seamlessly with the PSR-15 middleware pipeline, allowing you to add authentication, caching, logging, or any other middleware around your pages. Pages are just middleware, so they compose naturally with the rest of your application.
For content-focused pages without logic, create a template:
<!-- pages/about.phtml -->
<?php $this->layout('layouts::app', ['title' => 'About Us']); ?>
<h1>About Our Company</h1>
<p>We build amazing web applications with Compose.</p>
Add logic by creating a matching .phtml.php file:
// pages/blog/post.phtml.php
<?php
use Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface;
return static function (ServerRequestInterface $request, string $slug): array {
$post = fetchPostBySlug($slug); // Your data layer
return [
'title' => $post->title,
'post' => $post,
];
};
Return JSON responses directly from code-behind:
// pages/api/users.phtml.php
<?php
use Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface;
use Laminas\Diactoros\Response\JsonResponse;
return static function (ServerRequestInterface $request): ResponseInterface {
$users = getAllUsers();
return new JsonResponse(['users' => $users]);
};
If you’re new to Compose, start with the Getting Started guide, which walks you through:
Once you’ve created your first application, dive deeper into the Pages system with the Views & Pages guide. It covers:
Compose 1.0.0-rc1 finalizes the refreshed configuration story, improved middleware orchestration, and enhanced pages module introduced during the 1.0 development cycle. All examples in this documentation assume the 1.0.0-rc1 build unless noted otherwise.