A high-performance PHP runtime built in Zig.
zphp is an experimental PHP 8.x-compatible runtime focused on speed, low memory usage, and modern deployment. It combines a custom runtime with a built-in HTTP server, WebSocket support, TLS, HTTP/2, database drivers, cURL bindings, package management, testing, formatting, and standalone compilation.
Built with Zig, zphp is designed to give PHP workloads lower-level control, reduced overhead, and a more performance-oriented runtime architecture.
zphp run app.php
zphp serve app.php --port 8080
zphp build --compile app.php
zphp test
zphp fmt src/*.php
zphp install- PHP 8.x compatibility
- Runtime written in Zig
- Built-in HTTP server
- HTTP/2, TLS, and WebSockets
- SQLite, MySQL, and PostgreSQL
- cURL bindings
- Composer package support
- Standalone executable compilation
- Performance and low-memory focused architecture
| Task | PHP | zphp |
|---|---|---|
| Run script | php app.php |
zphp run app.php |
| HTTP server | PHP-FPM + nginx | zphp serve app.php |
| Dependencies | composer install |
zphp install |
| Tests | PHPUnit | zphp test |
| Formatting | PHP-CS-Fixer | zphp fmt |
| Standalone binary | External tooling | zphp build --compile |
Download builds from GitHub Releases.
See the documentation for build instructions and usage guides.
zphp was originally developed and maintained heavily through AI-assisted development.
The project is now being actively reviewed and hardened with a stronger focus on security, correctness, memory safety, testing, performance validation, and production readiness.
AI may still be used as a development tool, but critical runtime code is expected to be reviewed, tested, and independently verified.
zphp is still experimental and should be thoroughly tested before production use.
PHP on the surface. Zig at the core. Built for speed.