Relayer — PHP full-stack framework

Not Web MVC.Component-based PHP.

Relayer is a convention-first PHP full-stack framework inspired by the Next.js App Router. The directory tree is the URL space, and every route is written not as a controller but as a component that returns an element tree. Routing, APIs, server actions, authentication, caching and the database are wired into a single boot entry. No build step.

Get started ▸Documentation

$composer require polidog/relayer

Language: PHP 8.5+
Build: No build step
License: MIT

Fig.01src/Pages/hello/[name]/page.psx

<?php

use Polidog\Relayer\Router\Component\PageContext;
use Polidog\Rosanna\Html\H;

return function (PageContext $ctx): Closure {
    $ctx->metadata(['title' => 'Hello']);

    return fn () => (
        <main className="p-8">
            <h1>Hello, {$ctx->params['name']}</h1>
        </main>
    );
};

GET /hello/world200 OK

That closure is the page component. Save the file and /hello/world responds — nothing to register, nothing to configure.

Fig.02Placement is the URL

src/Pages/page.psx/

src/Pages/docs/[slug]/page.psx/docs/http-cache

src/Pages/api/search/route.php/api/search

src/Pages/sitemap.xml/route.php/sitemap.xml

src/Pages/middleware.phpevery route

That is this site’s own src/Pages. There is no routing configuration file.

Legend.psx and the file conventions

.psx

The extension that lets you write JSX inside PHP. Rosanna compiles it to plain PHP, so there is no template language and no Node build in the middle.

page.psx / route.php

A directory with a page.psx is a page; one with a route.php is a JSON API. Never both in the same directory.

[slug]

A bracketed directory is a dynamic segment, read back as $ctx->params['slug'].

Fig.03The path of a request

A request passes through four places, and no others: shared work in the middleware, rendering in the page, cache headers, then the document that goes out.

GET /docs/http-cache

src/Pages/middleware.phplocale + shared headers
src/Pages/docs/[slug]/page.psxPSX to an element tree
$ctx->cache(…)attaches ETag and s-maxage
HtmlDocumentassembles the head, renders

200 OK — text/html

SpecWhat comes in the box

RoutingFile-based routingThe directory tree is the URL space. page.psx is a page, route.php is an API, [slug] is a dynamic segment.▸ViewPSX — JSX, written in PHPWrite JSX directly in a .psx file. A page is a component returning an element — no template language, no Node build in the middle.▸ActionsServer actionsPoint a form straight at a server-side function and update state without writing JavaScript.▸DataDatabaseA thin layer over PDO. Hand it a DSN through the environment and it joins the container.▸AuthAuthenticationSession-based login and CSRF protection come from the framework.▸CacheHTTP cachingDeclare an ETag and s-maxage per page, and design for the CDN hit rate as you go.▸

Read the docs ▸

ColophonThis site

Runtime

FrankenPHP single binary / PHP 8.5

Image

192 MB, 700 ms cold start

Content

Turso (libSQL) — the single source of truth

Edge

Fly.io nrt + Cloudflare cache

This documentation site is itself written in Relayer, and the source is public. github.com/polidog/relayer-docs

Reading the conventions takes longerthan writing the first page.

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