Erlenmeyer Framework

⚗️ A lightweight, modular, and elegant PHP microframework for building modern web applications and APIs.

---

🧠 What is Erlenmeyer?

Erlenmeyer is a minimal and composable PHP microframework that gives you the essential tools — routing, requests, responses, sessions, and testing — all without imposing any rigid structure.

You decide how your project looks.
Want a clean MVC layout? Perfect.
Prefer everything in a single index.php file? That works too.

It draws inspiration from the Flask microframework in Python — sharing the same principles of simplicity, explicitness, and developer freedom — but redesigned from the ground up for the PHP ecosystem.

Erlenmeyer is about clarity without constraints.

---

!!! quote "The philosophy" > “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

— Leonardo da Vinci

---

✨ Key Features

Category	Highlights
Routing	Simple syntax with dynamic parameters (/users/[id]) and redirects
Middleware	Global and per-route, easy $next($req, $res, $params) chaining
Requests & Responses	Typed API with helpers for HTML, JSON, text, and files
Logging	Console or rotating file-based logs with structured levels
Error Handling	Custom exception mapping and fallback handlers
Assets	Static file delivery with MIME detection and caching
Sessions	Flash messages and persistent data management
Testing	ErlenClient to simulate full HTTP requests for testing

---

⚙️ A Quick Example

<?php
use AdaiasMagdiel\Erlenmeyer\App;
use AdaiasMagdiel\Erlenmeyer\Request;
use AdaiasMagdiel\Erlenmeyer\Response;

require __DIR__ . '/bootstrap.php';

$app = new App();

$app->get('/', fn(Request $req, Response $res) =>
    $res->withHtml('<h1>Hello from Erlenmeyer ⚗️</h1>')
);

$app->get('/hello/[name]', fn(Request $req, Response $res, stdClass $params) =>
    $res->withText("Hello, {$params->name}!")
);

$app->run();

Run it with:

php -S localhost:8000

and visit http://localhost:8000

---

🧩 Typical Project Layout

Here’s a recommended structure — not mandatory. Erlenmeyer doesn’t enforce any directory layout or naming convention. You’re free to organize your project your way.

project/
├── app/
│   ├── Controllers/
│   │   └── HomeController.php
│   ├── Models/
│   │   └── User.php
│   ├── Services/
│   │   └── AuthService.php
│   ├── Helpers/
│   │   └── functions.php
│   └── Config/
│       └── database.php
│
├── public/
│   ├── index.php        # Main entry point (routes)
│   └── assets/
│       ├── css/
│       └── js/
│
├── bootstrap.php        # Loads autoload, dotenv, etc.
├── composer.json
├── .env.example
├── .htaccess
└── logs/
    └── info.log

Freedom first

This is just a suggestion — not a rule. You can start small with a single index.php, and only introduce structure as your project grows.

---

🔧 The .htaccess (recommended)

RewriteEngine On

# General settings
Options -Indexes
Options +FollowSymLinks

# Disable Apache version exposure
Header always unset X-Powered-By

# Allow access to static files
RewriteRule ^(assets|public)/.* - [L]

# Block direct access to PHP files except index.php
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/index\.php$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} \.php$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^ - [R=404,L]

# Redirect all other requests to index.php
RewriteRule ^ index.php [L]

✅ This version improves security and readability. (Explicit +FollowSymLinks and clear file-access rules.)

---

🚀 Next Steps

• Getting Started — install, bootstrap, and run your first route
• Routing — define endpoints with parameters and middleware
• Core Classes — deep dive into App, Request, Response, and Session APIs

---

❤️ Built by a Developer, for Developers

Erlenmeyer was crafted by Adaías Magdiel to bring back the joy of writing clean, expressive PHP — without the weight of a framework.

Because true elegance is having everything you need, and nothing you don’t.

---

⚖️ License

Erlenmeyer is open-source software licensed under the
GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPLv3).

You are free to use, modify, and distribute it —
as long as derivative works remain open and share the same freedom.