A lightweight, modern PHP framework designed for building web applications with clean architecture and modular design.
To use this package, please create an application from this package bowphp/app
Bow Framework is a lightweight PHP framework created by Franck DAKIA that emphasizes simplicity, performance, and developer experience. It provides a comprehensive set of tools for building modern web applications with clean, maintainable code.
Requirements:
- PHP ^8.1+
- Composer
- Extensions: ext-ftp, ext-openssl, ext-pcntl, ext-readline, ext-pdo
Key Highlights:
- Modern PHP 8.1+ features (union types, attributes, named arguments)
- Modular architecture with 20+ independent components
- Lightweight and fast with minimal dependencies
- Full-stack framework with everything you need
- Well-tested with 1,110+ tests and 94% success rate
- Active development with regular updates
- Barry ORM: Lightweight ActiveRecord-style ORM
- Query Builder: Fluent, expressive database queries
- Multi-database: MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite support
- Migrations: Version control for database schema
- Relationships: BelongsTo, HasMany, ManyToMany
- Pagination: Built-in pagination support
- Simple, expressive routing syntax
- RESTful resource routing with automatic CRUD operations
- Route naming for easy URL generation
- Route parameters with regex constraints
- Middleware support per route or route group
- Route prefix support for grouping
- Multiple adapters: SMTP, AWS SES, Native PHP mail
- RFC-compliant SMTP implementation
- Email parsing with "Name name@email.com" format support
- File attachments
- Queue integration for asynchronous sending
- Multiple backends: Beanstalkd, Redis, SQS, Database, Sync
- Object-oriented job definitions
- Event-driven job queuing
- Automatic retry logic with exponential backoff
- Mail queue support
- Multi-driver: Local, FTP, AWS S3
- Dynamic storage adapter selection
- File operations: upload, download, copy, move, delete
- Directory management
- Efficient stream handling for large files
- XSS protection with automatic filtering
- CSRF token-based validation
- Data encryption utilities
- Password hashing (Bcrypt/Argon2)
- Native authentication system with guards
- Cache: Filesystem, Redis, Database caching
- Events: Event management and dispatching
- Session: User session management
- Validation: Comprehensive form and data validation
- Console: CLI commands and generators
- Testing: PHPUnit integration with test utilities
- Translation: Internationalization support
- View Rendering: Tintin template engine integration
- Middleware: HTTP middleware stack
- Container: Dependency injection with auto-resolution
flowchart LR
Client --> Request
Request --> Kernel
Kernel --> Router
Router --> Middleware
Middleware --> Controller
Controller --> Model[Model<br/>Barry ORM]
Model --> Database
Database --> View
Database --> Response
View --> Response
Response --> Client
- Request arrives at entry point
- Kernel loads configurations from
config/ - Router matches URL to controller/action
- Middleware processes request (auth, validation, etc.)
- Controller executes business logic
- Model interacts with database
- View renders response (HTML/JSON)
- Response sent back to client
The framework implements several design patterns:
- Singleton: Application, Configuration loaders
- Factory: Database connections, Mail adapters
- Strategy: Storage drivers, Queue backends
- Observer: Event system
- Middleware Pattern: HTTP request pipeline
- Repository Pattern: Database abstraction
- Service Container: Dependency injection
- Facade Pattern: Helper functions
The project is organized into the following directories, each representing an independent module:
- src/: Source code for the Bow Framework.
- Application/: Main application logic and configuration.
- Auth/: Authentication and authorization management.
- Cache/: Caching mechanisms.
- Configuration/: Configuration settings management.
- Console/: Console commands and utilities.
- Container/: Dependency injection and service container.
- Contracts/: Interfaces and contracts for various components.
- Database/: Database connections and ORM.
- Event/: Event management and dispatching.
- Http/: HTTP requests and responses management.
- Mail/: Email sending and configuration.
- Messaging/: Messaging and notifications.
- Middleware/: Middleware classes for request handling.
- Queue/: Job queues and background processing.
- Router/: HTTP request routing.
- Security/: Security features like encryption and hashing.
- Session/: User session management.
- Storage/: File storage and retrieval.
- Support/: Utility classes and helper functions.
- Testing/: Unit testing classes and utilities.
- Translate/: Translation and localization.
- Validation/: Data validation.
- View/: View rendering and templating.
- tests/: Unit tests for the project.
# Create a new Bow application
composer create-project bowphp/app my-app
# Navigate to the project
cd my-app
# Start the development server
php bow serveDefine Routes:
// routes/app.php
$app->get('/', function () {
return 'Hello World!';
});
$app->get('/users/:id', function ($id) {
return "User ID: $id";
});
// RESTful resource routing
$app->rest('/api/posts', PostController::class);Create a Controller:
namespace App\Controllers;
use Bow\Http\Request;
class PostController
{
public function index()
{
return Post::all();
}
public function store(Request $request)
{
return Post::create($request->all());
}
}Work with Database:
use App\Models\User;
// Using Barry ORM
$user = User::find(1);
$users = User::where('active', true)->get();
// Using Query Builder
$users = Database::table('users')
->where('role', 'admin')
->orderBy('created_at', 'desc')
->paginate(10);- Test Suite: 1,110+ tests with 2,498+ assertions
- Success Rate: 94% (remaining failures are external service dependencies)
- Code Style: PSR-12 compliant
- PHP Version: 8.1+ with modern features
The framework is actively maintained with recent major refactoring:
- SMTP Adapter: Complete rewrite (8 → 21 methods, RFC-compliant)
- FTP Service: Enhanced with retry logic and better error handling
- Queue System: Graceful logger fallback
- Test Quality: 39% fewer errors, 70% fewer failures
- PHP 8.x: Modernized code style (arrow functions, union types)
See CHANGELOG.md for full details.
Ideal For:
- REST APIs and microservices
- Web applications with complex database requirements
- Applications requiring file storage (S3, FTP)
- Projects needing queue/job processing
- Multi-tenant applications
- Internationalized applications
The Bow ecosystem includes several packages:
- bowphp/app: Application skeleton
- bowphp/tintin: Template engine
- bowphp/policier: Authentication & authorization
- bowphp/slack-webhook: Slack integration
- bowphp/payment: Payment gateway integration
Thank you for considering contributing to Bow Framework! The contribution guide is in the framework documentation.
We welcome contributions from the community! To contribute to the project, please follow these steps:
- Fork the project and clone it to your local machine.
- Create a new branch for your changes.
- Make your changes and commit them.
- Push your changes to your fork and create a pull request.
For more detailed information, refer to the CONTRIBUTING.md file.
- Documentation: https://bowphp.com
- Issues: GitHub Issues
- Discussions: GitHub Discussions
- Slack: Join our Slack
The Bow Framework is open-source software licensed under the MIT license.
Created and maintained by:
- Franck DAKIA - Lead Developer
Special thanks to:
- All contributors
- The PHP community
- Email: papac@bowphp.com
- Twitter: @papacdev
For bug reports, please use GitHub Issues.
For questions and discussions, join us on Slack.
Made with love by the Bow Framework Team
