Frequently Asked Questions

What makes Leaf different from other frameworks?

Leaf is designed to be minimalistic and flexible, offering only the tools you need without unnecessary bloat. It supports a large ecosystem of modules and PHP packages. It grows with your project, and doesn't require you to learn a whole new framework to use it.

Who maintains Leaf?

Leaf is an independent, community-driven project. It was created by Michael Darko in 2019 as a personal side project. Today, Leaf is actively maintained by a little team and contributors all over the world, where Michael serves as the project lead.

Leaf's development is primarily funded through sponsorships and personal contributions from Michael and friends. If you or your business benefit from Leaf, consider sponsoring us to support Leaf's development!

What license does Leaf use?

Leaf is a free and open source project released under the MIT License.

Can I use Leaf with existing PHP projects?

Absolutely, Leaf can be easily integrated into existing projects or used to build new ones from scratch. Since Leaf is modular, you can use only the parts you need without carrying the entire framework with you.

Is Leaf reliable?

After going through 2 major versions over the past 5 years, Leaf is now a battle-tested framework suitable for just about any PHP project. It is also one of the most popular lightweight PHP micro-frameworks and even has it's variant - Leaf MVC being a very popular framework.

Leaf is used by individuals for large and personal projects, as well as by companies all over the world.

Is Leaf fast?

Leaf is one of the most performant and lightest PHP frameworks today. It is 100% compatible with standard PHP libraries and servers, which means there's almost no need for configuration and manual optimizations.

In sample benchmarks, Leaf even out-performs frameworks like Slim PHP, while using way less memory and CPU.

What PHP versions does Leaf support?

Leaf supports PHP 7.4 and above, ensuring compatibility with modern PHP features and standards, but will completely switch to PHP 8.2 and above in the future.

Is Leaf lightweight?

Leaf is super lightweight, coming with only a router and a lightweight http abstraction out of the box. With Leaf's functional mode, a hello world application can be prepared in just 10 lines of code, including spaces and PHP initializers.

Does Leaf scale?

Yes. Despite a common misconception that Leaf is only suitable for simple use cases, Leaf is perfectly capable of handling large scale applications. Leaf is modular and grows with your project. It has has a more organized MVC setup: Leaf MVC that can be used for fullstack web apps.

How do I contribute to Leaf?

We appreciate your interest! Please check out our Contribution Guide.