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FLIQ

Fast, Lightweight, Independent Query Builder

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A high-performance Active Record / ORM for MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, and SQLite. Zero framework dependencies, minimal footprint, maximum speed.

📖 Documentation · GitHub

Why FLIQ?

The name says it all — Fast, Lightweight, Independent Query Builder.

• Fast — One object per query, zero-allocation fast path, prepared statement caching. No other PHP ORM builds query this lean.
• Lightweight — ~100KB install size, zero dependencies. No service containers, no config files, no boot process.
• Independent — Standalone library with no framework coupling. One composer require, one Connection::add() call, done.
• Query Builder — Fluent, expressive API that compiles directly to optimized SQL without intermediate object layers.

When NOT to Choose FLIQ

• You need MSSQL or Oracle support
• You need schema migrations (use Phinx or doctrine/migrations)
• You need a Data Mapper pattern (use Doctrine or Cycle ORM)
• You need a massive ecosystem of community packages (use Eloquent)

For a detailed feature-by-feature comparison with Eloquent, Doctrine, Yii3, Cycle ORM, and Propel, see the Comparison Guide.

Requirements

• PHP 8.4+
• MySQL 5.7+ / MariaDB 10.3+ / PostgreSQL 12+ / SQLite 3.39+
• ext-pdo (required) or ext-mysqli (optional alternative for MySQL)

Install

Quick Start

1. Configure Connection

2. Define a Model

3. Use It

Features

• Zero-Allocation Query Building
• Nested Eager Loading
• Conditional Queries
• JSON Column Queries
• Multi-Column Conditions
• Row-Level Locking
• Transactions
• Soft Deletes & Timestamps
• Model Events
• Query Result Caching
• Read/Write Connection Splitting
• Development Tools

Zero-Allocation Query Building

The most common query patterns (where, in, like, between, orderBy, select) build SQL strings directly without creating intermediate objects. One ActiveQuery object handles everything.

Nested Eager Loading

Conditional Queries

JSON Column Queries

Multi-Column Conditions

Transactions

Row-Level Locking

Available: forUpdate(), forShare(), forUpdateNoWait(), forUpdateSkipLocked()

Soft Deletes & Timestamps

Model Events

Query Result Caching

Read/Write Connection Splitting

Development Tools

Model Generator

Generate Model files directly from your database schema — no boilerplate by hand:

Or use it in PHP code:

The generator introspects your tables and creates models with $connection, $table, $fillable, $casts, PHPDoc properties, and auto-detected traits ( SoftDeletes, Timestamps).

Observer Generator

Generate Observer classes to organize your model lifecycle logic:

Or use it in PHP code:

The observer validates that the Model exists before generating, and creates method stubs for events like creating, updated, deleting, etc.

Documentation

📖 Read the full documentation

1. Getting Started — Connections, drivers, raw queries, DB facade, monitoring
2. Query Builder — Fluent API, conditions, joins, JSON, aggregation, scopes, unions
3. Active Record — Models, CRUD, casting, hooks, events, soft deletes, timestamps
4. Relations — hasOne, hasMany, via, viaTable, eager loading, whereHas
5. Advanced Features — Caching, pagination, global scopes, batch operations, read/write split
6. Collections — Lazy iteration, filter, map, reduce, indexBy, groupBy, batch processing
7. Comparison — Feature comparison with Eloquent, Doctrine, Yii3, Cycle, Propel
8. Cheatsheet — Quick reference for all common operations
9. PostgreSQL Guide — PG-specific features, production guidance, PgBouncer
10. Model Generator — CLI tool to scaffold models from database tables
11. Observer Generator — CLI tool to scaffold observer classes for models

License

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