README

🇬🇧 English | 🇷🇺 Русский

Open-source Medium-style platform for authors and readers

Publish articles, discuss, follow authors — no ads, no algorithmic traps.

Demo · Installation · Structure · Contributing

📖 About

W3A is an independent platform where authors publish in-depth articles, share experience, and engage in meaningful discussions.

The project focuses on:

🎯 Content quality over virality
👤 Reader control over their own feed
🔒 Privacy without trackers and data selling
🏗️ Open source and extensible architecture

✨ Key Features

📰 For Readers

Smart feed with four sections: recommendations, trending, staff picks, new publications
Personalization through subscriptions to authors and tags
Bookmarks and reading history
Dark theme with automatic system preference detection
RSS feeds for any section

✍️ For Authors

Block editor based on Editor.js (headings, lists, quotes, code, images)
Paywall — hide part of an article for subscribers only
Statistics on views and reading time
Subscribers and notifications about new comments

💬 Discussions

Threaded comments sorted by Wilson Score
Voting on articles and comments
Karma system and moderation
Reports and edit suggestions

🛡️ Moderation

Staff Picks — curated collections
Flag system for reports
Moderation log with full history
Edit suggestions from the community

🖼 Screenshots

🏗 Architecture

The project is built on a custom MVC framework w3a-core with a modular architecture.

Tech Stack

Component	Technology
Backend	PHP 8.1+
Framework	w3a-core (custom, PSR-compliant)
Database	MySQL 5.7+ / MariaDB 10.3+
Frontend	Vanilla JS (no heavy libraries)
Editor	Editor.js 2.30+
Caching	FileCache (custom, no Redis)
Styles	Custom CSS framework (Medium-style)

Project Modules

app/Modules/
├── Stories/          # Articles: CRUD, recommendations, trending, Staff Picks
├── Comments/         # Comments: tree, Wilson Score, editing
├── Votes/            # Voting for articles and comments
├── Users/            # Profiles, settings, karma
├── Auth/             # Registration, login, password recovery
├── Subscriptions/    # Subscriptions to authors and tags
├── Notifications/    # Real-time notifications
├── Messages/         # Private messages
├── Saved/            # Bookmarks
├── Muted/            # Mute lists
├── Flags/            # Content reports
├── Suggestions/      # Edit suggestions
├── Tags/             # Tags and categories
├── Wiki/             # Wiki pages for tags
├── Search/           # Full-text search
├── Stats/            # Statistics
├── Mod/              # Moderation tools
├── Admin/            # Admin panel
├── Invitations/      # Invitation system
├── Rss/              # RSS feeds
└── Common/           # Common components (Layout, CacheHelper)

🚀 Installation

Requirements

PHP 8.1+ with extensions: pdo_mysql, mbstring, json, fileinfo
MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB 10.3+
Composer
Web server (Apache/Nginx)

Installation Steps

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/w3a.git
cd w3a

2. Install dependencies

composer install

3. Configure the environment

cp .env.example .env

Edit .env:

APP_NAME=W3A
APP_URL=http://localhost
APP_ENV=development

DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_NAME=w3a
DB_USER=root
DB_PASS=

INVITATIONS_ENABLED=false

4. Create the database

CREATE DATABASE w3a CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;

5. Import the schema

mysql -u root -p w3a < database/schema.sql

6. Create required directories

mkdir -p storage/cache/data
mkdir -p storage/logs
mkdir -p public/uploads/avatars
chmod -R 755 storage public/uploads

7. Configure the web server

The document root should point to public/:

Nginx:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name w3a.local;
    root /path/to/w3a/public;
    index index.php;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.1-fpm.sock;
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    }
}

8. Open the website

Go to http://localhost and register the first user — they will automatically receive administrator privileges.

⚙️ Configuration

Main Config Files

File	Purpose
`app/Config/app.php`	General application settings
`app/Config/database.php`	Database connection
`app/Config/cache.php`	Caching settings
`app/Config/storage.php`	File storage disks
`app/Config/security.php`	Rate limiting, CSRF
`app/Config/invitations.php`	Invitation system

Rate Limiting

Spam protection is enabled by default:

Global: 100 requests/min per IP
For authenticated users: 300 requests/min
Registration: 5 attempts/hour
Comments: 30/min

Settings in app/Config/security.php.

📚 Usage

Writing an Article

Log in to your account
Click "➕ Create" in the header
Start with a heading (H1 or H2)
Add content via the block editor:
- / — block menu
- Ctrl+Shift+C — inline code
- Ctrl+Shift+K — code block
Select tags
Click "Publish"

Paywall (Restricted Content)

In the editor, add a "🔒 Lock" block
Everything below the lock will only be available to:
- Authenticated users (members)
- Or only the author's subscribers (subscribers)

Staff Picks

Administrators can feature the best articles:

Open an article
Menu ⋯ → "⭐ Add to Staff Picks"
The article will appear in the sidebar on the home page

🗺 Roadmap

Editor.js block editor
Karma and voting system
Subscriptions to authors and tags
Staff Picks (editorial selection)
Paywall for restricted content
Recommendations and trending
Dark theme
Caching
Email digest of the best articles
PWA support
Push notifications
Two-factor authentication
Export articles to Markdown/PDF
Collaborative editing

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Here's how to get started:

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature
Commit your changes: git commit -m 'feat: add amazing feature'
Push to the branch: git push origin feature/amazing-feature
Open a Pull Request

Code Style

PSR-12 for PHP
Comments in Russian or English
Tests for new features (PHPUnit)

🛡 Security

If you find a vulnerability, do not create a public Issue. Write to budo@narod.ru — we will respond within 48 hours.

📄 License

Distributed under the MIT license.

🙏 Acknowledgments

Editor.js — block editor
Medium — design inspiration
Lobste.rs — open architecture
The PHP community for great tools

Made with ❤️ for the community

Report a bug · Suggest an idea · Discuss

evgip / w3a

Maintainers

Package info

Statistics

Security