PHPackages                             dakota/cakephp\_less - PHPackages - PHPackages  [Skip to content](#main-content)[PHPackages](/)[Directory](/)[Categories](/categories)[Trending](/trending)[Leaderboard](/leaderboard)[Changelog](/changelog)[Analyze](/analyze)[Collections](/collections)[Log in](/login)[Sign up](/register)

1. [Directory](/)
2. /
3. [Templating & Views](/categories/templating)
4. /
5. dakota/cakephp\_less

ActiveCakephp-plugin[Templating & Views](/categories/templating)

dakota/cakephp\_less
====================

CakePHP plugin that converts your .less files to .css using only PHP

v2.0.2(13y ago)023MITPHPPHP >=5.2.0

Since May 30Pushed 13y agoCompare

[ Source](https://github.com/dakota/less)[ Packagist](https://packagist.org/packages/dakota/cakephp_less)[ Docs](http://github.com/dakota/less)[ RSS](/packages/dakota-cakephp-less/feed)WikiDiscussions master Synced 3w ago

READMEChangelogDependencies (2)Versions (4)Used By (0)

LESS Helper
-----------

[](#less-helper)

This little Helper converts your .less files into .css without relying on Node.js or client-side parsing. Everything is compiled on the server, cached, and served as regular css through PHP.

Installation
------------

[](#installation)

### Get the files in place

[](#get-the-files-in-place)

#### Composer

[](#composer)

If you are using composer, simply add

```
"dakota/cakephp_less": ">=2.0.0"

```

to your composer.json file.

#### Git submodule

[](#git-submodule)

If you are developing your application with Git already, you can install the plugin as a submodule. In your git base folder type

```
git submodule add https://github.com/dakota/less.git Plugin/CakephpLess

```

#### Git clone

[](#git-clone)

In your plugin directory type

```
git clone https://github.com/Dakota/less.git CakephpLess

```

### Initialize lessphp submodule and download files

[](#initialize-lessphp-submodule-and-download-files)

If you are using Composer, you can skip this step.

In the plugin folder ('Plugins/CakephpLess') type

```
git submodule init
git submodule update

```

### Create cache and less folders

[](#create-cache-and-less-folders)

- Create a folder called `less` in `app/webroot/`
- Create a folder called `less` in `app/tmp/cache`
- Apply `chmod 777` to your `css` folder. (The Less Helper will place all compiled css files in your css-directory)

Usage
-----

[](#usage)

Where you want to use LESS files, add the helper. Usually this will be your `AppController`.

```
public $helpers = array('CakephpLess.Less');

```

Next, simply add the less files to your views:

```
echo $this->Less->css('yourfile');

```

or if the less file is located in the webroot of a plugin

```
echo $this->Less->css('yourfile',array('plugin' => 'PluginFolderName'));

```

or

```
echo $this->Less->css(array(
		'bootstrap/bootstrap',
		'prettify',
	)
);

```

It doesn't matter if you link to stolen .css files directly, the Helper will check for the existance of a .less version first, and fall back if it doesn't find one.

If it does find a corresponding .less file with the same name in your less directory, it will compile it to css and place it in your css directory

###  Health Score

27

—

LowBetter than 47% of packages

Maintenance20

Infrequent updates — may be unmaintained

Popularity6

Limited adoption so far

Community12

Small or concentrated contributor base

Maturity60

Established project with proven stability

 Bus Factor1

Top contributor holds 84.8% 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.

###  Release Activity

Cadence

Every ~0 days

Total

3

Last Release

4772d ago

### Community

Maintainers

![](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/83255?v=4)[Walther Lalk](/maintainers/dakota)[@dakota](https://github.com/dakota)

---

Top Contributors

[![Hyra](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/380836?v=4)](https://github.com/Hyra "Hyra (39 commits)")[![bfncs](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/1049882?v=4)](https://github.com/bfncs "bfncs (2 commits)")[![ybenassuli](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/4007074?v=4)](https://github.com/ybenassuli "ybenassuli (2 commits)")[![bfanger](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/207248?v=4)](https://github.com/bfanger "bfanger (1 commits)")[![electblake](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/22871?v=4)](https://github.com/electblake "electblake (1 commits)")[![Maff-](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/371966?v=4)](https://github.com/Maff- "Maff- (1 commits)")

---

Tags

csscakephpless

### Embed Badge

![Health badge](/badges/dakota-cakephp-less/health.svg)

```
[![Health](https://phpackages.com/badges/dakota-cakephp-less/health.svg)](https://phpackages.com/packages/dakota-cakephp-less)
```

###  Alternatives

[almasaeed2010/adminlte

AdminLTE - admin control panel and dashboard that's based on Bootstrap 4

45.5k8.8M145](/packages/almasaeed2010-adminlte)[helsingborg-stad/municipio

A bootstrap theme for creating municipality sites.

4028.3k10](/packages/helsingborg-stad-municipio)[trentrichardson/cakephp-shrink

Compiles, combines, and minifies javascript, coffee, less, scss, and css

1619.4k](/packages/trentrichardson-cakephp-shrink)[pressbooks/pressbooks-book

This theme is named after Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan, who coined the phrase “the medium is the message.” It is designed for academic writing and is also suitable for fiction. Headings are set in Cormorant Garamond, and body type is set in Lora.

206.7k](/packages/pressbooks-pressbooks-book)

PHPackages © 2026

[Directory](/)[Categories](/categories)[Trending](/trending)[Changelog](/changelog)[Analyze](/analyze)