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yuf - A Smart, Fast, and Lightweight PHP Framework

yuf (pronounced "[jʌf]" or "[jʊf]") is a smart, fast, and lightweight PHP framework designed with a focus on simplicity and performance. It has zero external dependencies, other than the actra/autoloader library which is required for all setups.

Key Features

• Extremely Lightweight: Minimal overhead and fast execution.
• Zero Dependencies: Core framework functions without heavy external libraries.
• Composer Ready: Easy installation via Packagist.
• Standalone Support: Works perfectly without Composer.
• Forced Autoloading: Always uses the specialized actra/autoloader for maximum performance and control.
• Built-in Security: Includes features like CSP (Content Security Policy) nonce support.
• Authentication Helpers: Supports access rights, password login handling, and optional per-user IP whitelists.

Requirements

• PHP 8.5 or higher
• Common PHP extensions: mbstring, openssl, pdo, intl, bcmath, simplexml, dom, iconv, curl, libxml, ctype

Installation

Install yuf and actra/autoloader via Composer or download them manually. Note that yuf always requires actra/autoloader to be manually initialized.

Via Composer (Recommended)

Manual Installation

1. Download the source code from GitHub.
2. Download actra/autoloader (https://github.com/Actra-AG/autoloader) and place it in your project.
3. Reference the Autoloader.php when initializing the Core class.

Quick Start

1. Create a .env.php file based on .env.example.php.
2. Create an index.php in your document root based on index.example.php.
3. Initialize the Framework Core and provide the path to Autoloader.php if not using the default.

Database Query Helpers

DbQuery can be created from an SQL query and extended dynamically before execution.

addJoinPart() appends joins between the FROM and WHERE parts and accepts parameters in the same way as addWherePart(). Every added part must contain exactly one parameter per ? placeholder, and each condition added with addWherePart() is wrapped in parentheses before the conditions are combined with AND.

addOrderPart() only accepts columns consisting of letters, digits, _, . and backticks, because an order column cannot be bound as a ? placeholder. Never pass a user-controlled value which was not checked against your own whitelist of sortable columns.

addOrderPart() without parameters accepts column names only (one or several, separated by a comma), which are validated and escaped because they cannot be bound as parameters. As soon as parameters are given, the first argument is an SQL expression instead, e.g., to sort by the relevance of a fulltext search:

Such an expression is taken over unchanged and must therefore never contain user input; its values belong into parameters. It must not end with ASC or DESC, because the sort direction is added according to ascending. clearOrderParts() removes all sorting that has been added so far.

The query passed to createFromSqlQuery() must consist of SELECT, FROM, optional joins and an optional WHERE only. GROUP BY, HAVING, ORDER BY, LIMIT and UNION are rejected, because sorting and paging are added by DbQuery itself (addOrderPart() and the offset/row count of selectFromDb()).

REST/API Endpoints

yuf includes lightweight helpers for building REST-style endpoints without adding external dependencies.

Useful backend/API features include:

• HttpRequest::getRequestMethod() returns a typed RequestMethodEnum.
• BaseView::getJsonRequestBody() reads and validates JSON request bodies.
• JsonRequestBody provides typed accessors for required and optional string, integer, float, and array values.
• BaseView::setSuccessResponseContent() creates standardized success responses.
• BaseView::setErrorResponseContent() creates standardized error responses and can set the HTTP status code.

JSON success responses use this structure:

JSON error responses use this structure:

Optional additional response data is returned in a top-level data property.

Template Tags

yuf templates support custom tags for common rendering logic.

Conditional snippet rendering

The tst:if tag can check whether a snippet file exists in the configured snippets directory by using compare="hasSnippet".

The value of against is resolved relative to Core::get()->snippetsDirectory.

Documentation

For more detailed examples, please refer to:

• .env.example.php: Configuration examples.
• index.example.php: Full usage example with manual autoloader initialization.
• UPGRADE.md: Guide for developers updating to or working with new versions.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

© 2026 Actra AG