Phalcon Kit App

Start a PHP application with PhalconKit's HTTP, REST, CLI, and optional WebSocket structure already connected. Add your tables, generate models, and define the API your application needs.

Get started · Build your first API · REST handbook · All guides

Create An Application

Requires PHP 8.5+, the native Phalcon extension satisfying ^5.22.0, and Composer 2.

composer create-project phalcon-kit/app my-api
cd my-api
cp .env.example .env
composer check-platform-reqs
php -S 127.0.0.1:8080 -t public public/index.php

On PowerShell, use Copy-Item .env.example .env. In another terminal:

curl --include http://127.0.0.1:8080/api

Expected: HTTP 200 with code: 200, response: [], and view: [] in the JSON envelope. This verifies bootstrap without a database.

The development server is for local use. In deployment, serve only public/ through your web server/PHP-FPM setup.

Connect Your Database

Create a database and account, then configure .env:

APP_NAME="Project API"
DATABASE_HOST=127.0.0.1
DATABASE_PORT=3306
DATABASE_DBNAME=my_api
DATABASE_USERNAME=my_api
DATABASE_PASSWORD="your-private-password"

Keep secrets in the environment and application structure in src/Config.php. For MariaDB, configure the dedicated driver to avoid MySQL-only connection options.

Your own resource tables can stand alone. To use Core's built-in user/role and other feature models in a fresh database with an empty migration tree:

mkdir -p resources/migrations
cp -R vendor/phalcon-kit/core/resources/migrations/4.0.0 resources/migrations/
./scripts/migration-list.sh
./scripts/migration-run.sh

This installs tables, without creating accounts or seed data. Use Database Migrations for application SQL migrations and deployment commands.

Build A Resource

After creating a table:

./scripts/generate-models.sh --table=project

After changing its schema:

./scripts/regenerate-models.sh --table=project

The first command creates missing models. The second refreshes generated abstracts/interfaces/enums while preserving concrete model classes. Both have PowerShell .ps1 equivalents. Concrete models hold your business logic.

Add an API controller under src/Modules/Api/Controllers/, then configure its field policies and controller/model permissions. Follow the complete Project tutorial for SQL, controller code, requests, and actual response shapes.

Add Authentication

Generate a private JWT signing key once per environment:

php -r 'echo "Aa1!" . bin2hex(random_bytes(64)), PHP_EOL;'

Store it as SECURITY_JWT_PASSPHRASE in .env or a secret store. Use a separate private CRYPT_KEY when using encryption. Keep both out of version control.

The authentication guide shows how to register the auth controller, create an account with the existing CLI user task, assign a role, and use login/refresh/logout. Default stateful identity requires the bearer token and the session cookie. The guide includes local HTTP cookie settings and complete curl examples.

Where Your Code Goes

Path	Purpose
src/Config.php	Modules, providers, model aliases, permissions
src/Models/	Concrete models and business methods
src/Models/Abstracts/	Generated schema layer
src/Modules/Api/Controllers/	REST resources and workflow endpoints
src/Modules/Cli/Tasks/	Commands, including scaffold and account-task bridges
src/Modules/Ws/Tasks/	Optional WebSocket protocol
resources/migrations/	Your schema history
tests/Unit/	Application tests
storage/	Runtime cache, logs, files
public/	Web document root

Common Tasks

Task	Command or guide
Inspect CLI usage	./bin/phalcon-kit --help
Create or change an account	CLI user commands
Write a command	CLI tasks
Filter, sort, page, and count	REST filtering
Save batches and child records	Writes and relationships
Export CSV/JSON	Exports
Run the optional WebSocket worker	./bin/websocket (requires Swoole)
Configure HTTPS/PHP-FPM and WebSockets	Web servers
Run application checks	composer qa

The WebSocket starter accepts {"type":"ping"} and returns {"type":"pong"}. Authentication, subscriptions, and notification delivery are application-owned; the guide explains a concrete protocol and multi-worker/reconnect considerations.

Keep your application lockfile committed. Use composer install in deployment, and ensure migration tooling is available in the environment that runs migrations. Keep debug output disabled in shared environments.

For an existing application, use the migration guides for package, layout, REST, and Core changes.

Help And Project Information

• User documentation
• Usage discussions
• Report a skeleton issue
• Changelog · License
• Security policy
• Contribute to PhalconKit