README

A PHP scaffolding tool for rapid application development using YFlite, a lightweight PHP microframework.

Features

• Generate pages with layout support
• CRUD scaffolding with model, controller and views
• Form field generation with validation
• Route management
• Models with basic database operations

Installation

You can install it globally on your computer if you have the PHP environment with composer installed.

composer global require chromehive/yflite

Developer Quickstart

After installing via Composer, run the command below to see if YFlite installed properly

yflite -v

Does it show you the version number? Then, YFlite is available to you? Now, let's open or create a fresh directory and run this code in the terminal for that directory once to set up your development project.

yflite new

If you want to have the project initialise in a fresh project directory and run:

yflite new <app-name>

For example: yflite new fire-app-project

Usage

Start the development server using:

yflite start

If you used yflite new <app-name> to initialise your project, then you need to switch to that directory first.

cd <app-name>
yflite start

To compile your production-ready build:

yflite build --dest=<project-build-name>

To compile your production-ready build in zip format:

yflite build --dest=<project-build-name> --zip

If the name of the build folder is omitted along with the --dest flag, the default /dist folder or dist.zip will be created automatically in the project root directory.

Typical Folder/File Structure

<your-app-name>/
├── app/
│   ├── _core/
│   ├── configs/
│   │   ├── index.php  # Modifiable Configurations File
│   │   └── route_aliases.php
│   ├── controllers/
│   │   └── public.php  # Controls some non-dashboard pages
│   ├── helpers/
│   ├── middlewares/
│   ├── models/
│   ├── routes/
│   └── views/
│       ├── components/
│       ├── layouts/
│       │   ├── dashboard.php
│       │   └── main.php
│       └── pages/
│           ├── 404.php
│           └── home.php
├── vendor/
├── public/
│   ├── assets/
│   │   ├── css/
│   │   └── js/
│   ├── index.php    # Server entry point
│   ├── robots.txt
│   └── sitemap.txt
├── storage/
│   ├── cache/
│   └── logs/
├── tests/
├── composer.json
├── path.php    # Modifiable Path Constants File
└── README.md

The YFlite CLI provides several generators:

Generate Pages

# Single page
yflite make:page dashboard

# Multiple pages
yflite make:page home about contact

# Nested page (creates folders+files)
yflite make:page policies settings/profile settings/notifications

Generate CRUD

# Basic CRUD
yflite make:crud Product

# CRUD with fields
yflite make:crud Product --fields="title:string,price:decimal,description:text"

Generate Model

# Basic model
yflite make:model User

# Model with custom table
yflite make:model User --table=users

Add Route

yflite make:route GET /api/data api:data

Route Regex Examples for URI Parameters

Here are a few essential regex patterns and their aliases you may need if you wish to validate URI parameters from client. Feel free to make your own patterns if necessary. You can also add custom aliases by define your patterns as accurately as possible in the /configs/route_aliases.php.

Example Use of Default Regex Patterns or Aliases Available.

return [
    ['GET', '/posts/:slug', 'blog:post_view'],
    ['GET', '/@([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)', 'user:profile'],
];

Normal route format:

    ['METHOD', '/route', 'ctrlrfile:function'],

Routes with middleware(s):

    ['METHOD', '/route', 'ctrlrfile:function', 'mwfile1:mwfunc1, mwfile2:mwfunc2'],

Only In Versions >= v1.4.0

Our YUI component library is available to you. Just call the yui() php function, pass the name of the component with props in [] and full blocks of components will get rendered from the components/yui views folder to aid your fast development. See the examples below. Note that the default props are slot (the children entities), class (the default parent classes which you can overwrite) and extras (which is any attributes you want placed to the parent component).

<?php
echo yui("alert", ['type' => "warning", 'slot' =>
<<<YUI
<h2>Warning: Your data bundle is down to 7MB. Wanna buy more?</h2>
YUI]);

echo yui("rich-editor", ['action' => '/posts', 'actionLabel' => 'Submit', 'slot' =>
<<<YUI
<h2>Rich Text Editor Works!</h2>
YUI]);

Last Updated: December 12, 2025