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ace-core/framework
==================

A custom mini PHP MVC framework

00PHP

Since Jun 23Pushed todayCompare

[ Source](https://github.com/celionatti/ace-framework)[ Packagist](https://packagist.org/packages/ace-core/framework)[ RSS](/packages/ace-core-framework/feed)WikiDiscussions main Synced today

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✨ Ace PHP MVC Framework
=======================

[](#-ace-php-mvc-framework)

A handcrafted, lightweight, zero-dependency custom PHP MVC framework. The core engine is fully separated and ready to be packaged on Packagist, making it easy to create modular PHP applications. It is built to run perfectly both locally in subdirectories (like XAMPP's `/mvc/` or `/mvc/public/`) and on a live production server at a domain root.

---

🚀 Key Features
--------------

[](#-key-features)

- **Strict MVC Separation**: Clean structures for Controllers, Models, and Views.
- **Core Framework Decoupling**: Core framework classes reside in `src/` under the `Ace\` namespace, making it packagist-ready. User applications reside in `app/` under the `App\` namespace.
- **Zero-Config Active Record ORM & Fluent Query Builder**: Exposes static query methods (`findOne()`, `find()`, `all()`, `delete()`) and simple instance persistence (`save()`). Includes a fluent query builder interface for clean DB interactions.
- **Smart Request & Response Wrappers**: Automates XSS input sanitization and provides unified JSON and redirection responses.
- **Local Subdirectory Routing**: Base paths are auto-detected and stripped dynamically from the request URI so routes work interchangeably on XAMPP and in production.
- **Controller Middlewares**: Apply route guard filters (e.g. restricting profile dashboards to authenticated sessions via `AuthMiddleware` or auth pages via `GuestMiddleware`).
- **Secure Template Directives**: Automated XSS escaping, safe URL output with `@url()` to protect links while maintaining query strings, and convenience directives: `@csrf`, `@isset`, `@empty`, and `@session`.
- **Paystack, Stripe, and Flutterwave Integration**: Multi-gateway payment clients integrated using native PHP cURL (zero SDK dependencies) to initialize payments, verify transactions, and validate signed webhook signatures.
- **Self-Healing Schema Migrations**: Runs automatically on application boot or via the Ace CLI to build/verify database structures.
- **Premium Glassmorphic Dark UI**: Curated vanilla CSS typography (Outfit Google Font), glowing alerts, responsive grids, and clean dark mode layout structure out-of-the-box.
- **Robust Error Handling**: Registers global handlers to capture errors/exceptions and renders beautiful, snippet-highlighted debugging screens (Development mode) or clean generic error pages (Production mode).

---

📂 Directory Layout
------------------

[](#-directory-layout)

```
mvc/
├── app/                    # User Application code
│   ├── Controllers/        # Custom App Controllers
│   ├── Models/             # Active Record Entities
│   └── Middlewares/        # App route filters (Auth guards)
├── config/                 # Env Config mappings
├── migrations/             # Database migrations
├── public/                 # Document Root / Entry Point
│   ├── .htaccess               # Apache URL rewrite rules for front-controller
│   ├── index.php               # Front-controller entry point
│   └── assets/                 # Static styles and client scripts
├── src/                    # Ace Framework Core Engine (Packagist-Ready)
│   ├── Application.php     # Bootstrap class container
│   ├── Request.php         # Request path, method, and sanitization
│   ├── Response.php        # HTTP response, redirect, and JSON helpers
│   ├── Router.php          # Registers and matches static/dynamic routes
│   ├── Controller.php      # Base controller for views and middlewares
│   ├── Model.php           # Active Record base model & Validator
│   ├── QueryBuilder.php    # Fluent query builder interface
│   ├── Database.php        # PDO wrapper & self-healing migrations
│   ├── Session.php         # Session values & temporary flash alerts
│   └── helpers.php         # Global template helpers
├── views/                  # View templates (Simple PHP Layout system)
├── .env                    # System variables & API Keys
├── ace                     # Ace CLI Console Tool
└── composer.json           # Composer Autoload mappings

```

---

🛠️ Setup & Installation
---------------------------

[](#️-setup--installation)

### 1. Prerequisite Checklist

[](#1-prerequisite-checklist)

- PHP 8.0 or higher
- Composer installed
- MySQL (e.g. XAMPP Control Panel running Apache & MySQL)

### 2. Clone/Extract the Project

[](#2-cloneextract-the-project)

Ensure the project sits inside your web directory (e.g., `C:/xampp/htdocs/mvc`).

### 3. Install Dependencies (Autoloader Setup)

[](#3-install-dependencies-autoloader-setup)

Open a terminal in the project directory and run:

```
composer dump-autoload
```

### 4. Configuration Setup

[](#4-configuration-setup)

Duplicate the `.env.example` file to `.env`:

```
cp .env.example .env
```

Open `.env` and fill in your database credentials:

```
APP_ENV=development
APP_NAME="Ace App"
APP_URL="http://localhost/mvc"

DB_HOST=localhost
DB_PORT=3306
DB_NAME=mvc_db
DB_USER=root
DB_PASS=
```

*Note: The database does not need to exist. The framework will automatically detect if it is missing and attempt to create it (`mvc_db`) and its tables on the first page load.*

### 5. Running the Application

[](#5-running-the-application)

- **Under XAMPP**: Access the framework directly at `http://localhost/mvc/` (url rewriting automatically routes requests to `public/index.php` using the root `.htaccess`).
- **Via built-in PHP server**: Open your terminal in the project folder and run:

    ```
    php -S localhost:8000 -t public
    ```

    Then access `http://localhost:8000/`.

---

📖 Quick-Start Framework Guide
-----------------------------

[](#-quick-start-framework-guide)

### 1. Registering Routes

[](#1-registering-routes)

Routes are registered in `routes/web.php` pointing to Controller Actions or closures:

```
// Static GET route
$router->get('/about', function() {
    return "This is a custom about page!";
});

// GET Route pointing to a Controller Action
$router->get('/profile', [AuthController::class, 'profile']);

// Parameterized Dynamic Route
$router->get('/users/{id}', function($request, $id) {
    return "User Profile details for ID: " . htmlspecialchars($id);
});
```

### 2. Controller-Level Middlewares

[](#2-controller-level-middlewares)

Protect specific actions by registering middlewares in your Controller's constructor:

```
namespace App\Controllers;

use Ace\Controller;
use App\Middlewares\AuthMiddleware;

class UserDashboardController extends Controller
{
    public function __construct()
    {
        // Require authentication for 'index' and 'editSettings' actions
        $this->registerMiddleware(new AuthMiddleware(['index', 'editSettings']));
    }

    public function index($request) {
        return $this->render('dashboard');
    }
}
```

### 3. Fluent Query Builder & Active Record ORM

[](#3-fluent-query-builder--active-record-orm)

Models map to database tables seamlessly, supporting both raw Active Record operations and clean, fluent queries.

#### Fluent & Fail-safe Querying

[](#fluent--fail-safe-querying)

```
// Fetch published posts ordered by date limit 10
$posts = Post::query()
    ->where('status', 'published')
    ->orderBy('created_at', 'DESC')
    ->limit(10)
    ->get();

// Find single user or throw ModelNotFoundException (generates 404 response automatically)
$user = User::findOrFail(2);
$user = User::query()->where('email', 'user@example.com')->firstOrFail();

// Check existence & pluck specific columns
$exists = User::exists(['email' => 'admin@example.com']);
$emails = User::pluck('email');
```

#### Save (INSERT / UPDATE) & Factory Creation

[](#save-insert--update--factory-creation)

```
// Option A: Active Record instantiation & save
$user = new User();
$user->name = 'Jane Doe';
$user->email = 'jane@example.com';
$user->password = 'securePass123';
$user->passwordConfirm = 'securePass123'; // Used in validations

if ($user->validate()) {
    $user->save(); // Inserts and populates $user->id
    echo "Saved user: " . $user->id;
} else {
    print_r($user->errors);
}

// Option B: Inline creation (instantiates, populates, and saves)
$user = User::create([
    'name' => 'Jane Doe',
    'email' => 'jane@example.com'
]);

// Option C: Update-or-Create
$user = User::updateOrCreate(
    ['email' => 'jane@example.com'],
    ['name' => 'Jane Doe Jr.']
);
```

#### Deletion

[](#deletion)

```
// Delete individual row instance
$user = User::findOne(['id' => 2]);
if ($user) {
    $user->delete();
}

// Statically delete multiple records by primary key
User::destroy(3, 4, 5);
```

### 4. Template Views & Custom Directives

[](#4-template-views--custom-directives)

Views support convenient Blade-like template directives:

```
@extends('layouts/main')

@section('content')
    Welcome, {{ $user->name }}

    @csrf

    @isset($posts)
        @empty($posts)
            No posts available.
        @else
            @foreach($posts as $post)
                {{ $post->title }}
            @endforeach
        @endempty
    @endisset

    @session('success')
        {{ $value }}
    @endsession
@endsection
```

Ace Core Framework Copyright © 2026 Celio Natti Released under the MIT License.

###  Health Score

20

—

LowBetter than 13% of packages

Maintenance65

Regular maintenance activity

Popularity0

Limited adoption so far

Community6

Small or concentrated contributor base

Maturity11

Early-stage or recently created project

 Bus Factor1

Top contributor holds 100% of commits — single point of failure

How is this calculated?**Maintenance (25%)** — Last commit recency, latest release date, and issue-to-star ratio. Uses a 2-year decay window.

**Popularity (30%)** — Total and monthly downloads, GitHub stars, and forks. Logarithmic scaling prevents top-heavy scores.

**Community (15%)** — Contributors, dependents, forks, watchers, and maintainers. Measures real ecosystem engagement.

**Maturity (30%)** — Project age, version count, PHP version support, and release stability.

### Community

Maintainers

![](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/68065074?v=4)[Celio Natti](/maintainers/celionatti)[@celionatti](https://github.com/celionatti)

---

Top Contributors

[![celionatti](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/68065074?v=4)](https://github.com/celionatti "celionatti (5 commits)")

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![Health badge](/badges/ace-core-framework/health.svg)

```
[![Health](https://phpackages.com/badges/ace-core-framework/health.svg)](https://phpackages.com/packages/ace-core-framework)
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