README

Skeleton Slim 4 application for new projects.

This package makes it quicker to bootstrap a new Slim 4 application with common dependencies and a local development environment using Docker or Podman. It is only intended to be used as an initial bootstrap - after that you should commit your changes to your own Git repository and manage your Composer dependencies.

If you are using Visual Studio Code, there are also some settings to integrate Xdebug and to ignore third party libraries (vendor/) and the database file.

Installation

Create a project via Composer (do not use composer require as this will add phpdev-uk/slim-skeleton as a dependency):

composer create-project phpdev-uk/slim-skeleton:dev-main my-app

Set your PHP version in composer.json.

Change any image versions in docker-compose.yml to match your production environment.

Make any changes to .env.

Start Docker:

docker compose up

Or Podman:

podman compose up

Visit https://docker.localhost:4433 in your browser.

Assumptions

This skeleton application makes the following assumptions about your application environment:

• PHP 8.4
• Single MariaDB database
• Debian Trixie (latest stable release)

If you need support for older versions of PHP, they are available in the following branches:

• php74
• php83

These branches are not maintained and will not receive security updates as part of the open source repository. Commercial support is available from phpdev.uk.

Included libraries

Although you do not have to use them, this package includes the following libraries:

• Doctrine ORM: Create PHP classes to map to your database structure.
• Doctrine Migrations: Manage changes to your database schemas.

If you are using a database in your application, the above libraries are likely to make your life much easier.

Middleware

This skeleton repository comes with an AuthRequired middleware class, which can be used to place routes behind an authentication wall. You will need to either make sure that your authentication code sets $_SESSION['logged_in'] to true when the user is authenticated, or edit the class to use your authentication process.

The setup assumes that you are using sessions for authentication. In order for session_start to be called, you must enable CSRF protection in your .env file (it is enabled by default). Authentication without CSRF is not recommended.

Flash messages

A very simple flash messages implementation is included. Anything added to $_SESSION['flash'] will be passed into the Twig template, and the flash messages will be reset for the next request.

Sites using this package

Sites started using this package include:

• Pick a Date
• Viking Mind

Plus some commercial projects which are proprietary and confidential.