bitforge/thorm

PHP-first UI framework that compiles a declarative DSL to a small browser runtime via a shared IR.

v0.1.0-alpha.1 2026-04-08 17:40 UTC

Requires

• php: >=8.1

Requires (Dev)

• phpunit/phpunit: ^13.0

Apache-2.0

• Marius Bucur

• framework
• php
• ui
• javascript
• DSL
• frontend
• reactive
• hydration
• SSR

README

PHP-first DSL for describing reactive UIs that compile to a small JavaScript runtime. Build views with simple PHP functions, emit an intermediate representation (IR), and let the runtime handle reactivity, events, routing, and effects in the browser.

Status

Thorm is currently in pre-alpha / developer preview.

• APIs may change without backward compatibility
• package structure and build flows may change
• suitable for evaluation, experimentation, and early integration work

Project docs

• ROADMAP.md: Current project direction, priorities, and release phases.
• CONTRIBUTING.md: Current contribution policy for the public repo.
• SECURITY.md: How to report security issues privately.

Installation

Install the framework with Composer:

composer require bitforge/thorm:^0.1@alpha

Because Thorm is currently in pre-alpha / developer preview, Composer installation requires an explicit alpha version constraint.

If you want to explore the framework itself, study the examples, or work directly from the source repository, clone the repo and install its local dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/scarpelius/thorm.git
cd thorm
composer install

If you want to consume a local checkout from another PHP project, use a Composer path repository:

{
  "repositories": [
    {
      "type": "path",
      "url": "../Thorm"
    }
  ],
  "require": {
    "bitforge/thorm": "*"
  }
}

Project layout

• src/php/functions.php: Public DSL surface (state, el, attrs, on, repeat, route, component, effects, http, etc.).
• src/php/Render.php: Builds the shared IR and can render server-side HTML from that IR.
• src/php/BuildExample.php: Writes generated example output to public/examples/<example>/.
• src/php/IR/*: IR node definitions for atoms, expressions, actions, effects, and DOM nodes.
• assets/index.tpl.html: HTML template used during example generation ({$title}, {$containerId}, {$iruri} placeholders).
• public/runtime/**: Browser runtime (core, primitives, utils, devtools).
• examples/*.php: End-to-end samples that generate pages under public/examples/.
• cli/watch.sh: Dev helper that watches the tree, reruns touched example PHP files, and syncs runtime assets.

Requirements

• PHP 8.1+
• Composer for autoloading via vendor/autoload.php
• A static file server to view the generated pages (e.g., php -S localhost:8000 -t public)

Quick start

1. Install the package in your PHP project:

composer require bitforge/thorm:^0.1@alpha

1. To explore the bundled examples from this repository instead, clone the repo and install local dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/scarpelius/thorm.git
cd thorm
composer install

1. Run an example to generate IR + HTML in public/examples/<example>/:

php examples/counter.php

1. Serve the public/ folder and open http://localhost/examples/counter/.

To regenerate on changes, use the watcher (auto-runs example scripts and syncs runtime):

bash cli/watch.sh

(Use WATCH_MODE=poll on filesystems without inotify.)

Explore the repository

If you are learning Thorm for the first time, the repository is the best place to study the framework surface, examples, runtime, and generated output together.

• examples/*.php contains end-to-end sample apps
• src/php/** contains the DSL, renderer, and IR classes
• src/runtime/** contains the browser runtime
• assets/index.tpl.html shows the HTML template used during example generation

Authoring UIs in PHP

Build views with the DSL from Thorm\ (autoloaded via composer files):

<?php
use Thorm\BuildExample;
use Thorm\Render;
use function Thorm\{state, el, text, attrs, cls, on, inc, read, client};

$cnt = state(0);
$app = el('div', [cls('p-3')], [
    el('h1', [], [text('Counter')]),
    el('p', [], [text(read($cnt))]),
    el('button', [attrs(['class' => 'btn btn-primary']), on('click', inc($cnt, 1))], [text('Increment')]),
]);

$app = client($app);

$render = new Render();
$res = $render->render($app);

BuildExample::build([
    'name' => 'counter',
    'path' => __DIR__ . '/public/examples/',
    'renderer' => $res,
    'template' => __DIR__ . '/assets/index.tpl.html',
    'opts' => [
        'title' => 'Counter',
        'containerId' => 'app',
    ],
]);

Render::render() returns the IR plus server-rendered HTML. BuildExample::build() writes the IR JSON and index.html for the example. Serve the output and the runtime under public/runtime.

DSL highlights (see src/php/functions.php)

• State & expressions: state, read, val/num/str/not/concat/cond, item inside repeat (item('') returns the full item).
• DOM nodes: el, text, fragment, show, repeat (lists), attrs, cls, style, on (events).
• Routing & links: route with path table + fallback, link, navigate, redirect, param, query.
• Components & slots: component, slot, prop for props + named or default slots.
• Effects & actions: effect, onMount, watch, every, after, onVisible, onWindow, onDocument, onSelf, selectorTarget, windowTarget, documentTarget.
• HTTP helper: http(url, method, toAtom, statusAtom, headers, body, parse) usable as listener or action (asAction=true).
• Utilities: bind for two-way form binding; inc, set, add, delay for state updates.

Examples worth reading (examples)

• counter.php, 2counters.php: Atoms, math expressions, conditional rendering.
• attrs.php, text-reactive.php, toggle.php: Props, class/style helpers, simple state.
• repeat.php: Lists with keyed templates and item() accessors.
• components.php, component-prop.php, components-style-classes.php, components-live*.php: Components with props + slots.
• effects-*, events.php: Effects (mount, interval, timeout, visible, watch), HTTP actions, window/document events, navigation.
• router.php, fragments.php, search-box-live.php, bid.php: Routing, fragments, form bindings, more realistic flows.

Runtime & templates

• Runtime entry: public/runtime/index.js.
• Templates: assets/index.tpl.html. Tokens are replaced during example generation.

Serving and packaging

• For quick demos, serve public/ with PHP's built-in server: php -S localhost:8000 -t public.
• When deploying, copy public/ plus the generated *.ir.json files. Ensure runtime assets under public/runtime/ stay reachable at the path used in the generated page.

Notes

• IR is JSON-friendly; you can persist it alongside rendered HTML or feed it to another build step.