₦airaland Forum

Hello fellow Nairalanders,

It's been a quite a long time , although I haven't posted much recently. Today, I want to share something I've been working on and hopefully connect with other Nigerian developers, especially those working with PHP.

I'm building an open-source PHP framework called EvolvePHP.

GitHub: https://github.com/josiahking/evolvephp

Why another PHP framework?

I know that's probably the first question many developers will ask. 😄

We already have Laravel, Symfony, CodeIgniter, and several excellent PHP frameworks.

My intention isn't to reinvent everything they already do well or claim EvolvePHP is better than them.

Having worked with PHP for many years, building and maintaining business applications, integrating APIs, upgrading legacy systems, and dealing with production environments, I've encountered recurring architectural problems.

One major challenge is modernizing existing applications without having to rewrite everything.

Another is building applications that can grow from a modular system into independently deployable services without unnecessary complexity.

These experiences influenced the direction of EvolvePHP.

What is EvolvePHP?

EvolvePHP is a modernization-first PHP framework designed around modular architecture, explicit execution lifecycles, replaceable infrastructure, and incremental adoption.

The guiding principle is:

"Start modular. Integrate incrementally. Extract selectively. Observe everything."

Some areas I'm working on include:

1. Modular applications with independently defined modules and plugins.
2. Clear dependency injection and service lifetimes.
3. Integration with existing Laravel, Symfony, and other PHP applications through Bridge adapters.
4. Developer tools for auditing legacy PHP applications and planning modernization.
5. Observability, diagnostics, and execution lifecycle safety.
6. Infrastructure-independent contracts for databases, queues, storage, and other services.

The framework targets modern PHP, starting from PHP 8.4.

What's the current status?

EvolvePHP has an earlier version, but version 2 is a major architectural redesign.

The EvolvePHP 2 codebase is publicly available and under active development. It already contains multiple implemented package foundations, tests, and developer documentation.

However, I want to be transparent: it's still pre-release, not production-ready, and its individual packages are not yet independently published for general installation. Actively working on beta release hopefully on or before next weekend it should be ready.

I'm more interested in building a solid foundation than rushing to announce a stable release.

Why am I sharing it here?

I believe Nigeria has many talented software developers, and I'd love to see more of us building and contributing to serious open-source infrastructure, not just using existing tools.

I'm sharing EvolvePHP for three reasons:

1. Technical feedback: I'd appreciate reviews of the architecture, code quality, design decisions, and documentation. Constructive criticism is very welcome.

2. Open-source contributions: If you're interested in PHP internals, framework architecture, testing, documentation, or developer tooling, you're welcome to explore the repository and contribute.

3. Developer connections: I'd like to connect with other developers working on real-world PHP applications, especially those dealing with legacy systems, scalability, integrations, and modernization.

You don't necessarily need to contribute code. Even reviewing the project, identifying a design weakness, reporting a bug, or suggesting a practical use case would be valuable.

Project links

GitHub repository:
https://github.com/josiahking/evolvephp

Current development branch:
https://github.com/josiahking/evolvephp/tree/2.x

Contribution guide:
https://github.com/josiahking/evolvephp/blob/2.x/CONTRIBUTING.md

A question for PHP developers here

If you've worked on a large PHP application for several years, what has been your biggest challenge?

Is it maintaining legacy code, upgrading PHP versions, managing dependencies, scaling the application, or breaking a monolith into smaller components?

These are the kinds of practical engineering problems I'm interested in discussing and solving.

I'll also be happy to share some of the architectural decisions and implementation challenges I've encountered while building EvolvePHP.

Please take a look at the repository when you have time. I'd especially appreciate feedback from experienced PHP developers and software architects.

Thanks, everyone. Looking forward to your comments.

— Josiah

php in 2026! this is !so nice! next!

crunchyDope:
php in 2026! this is !so nice! next!

Why did you comment at all if you have nothing meaningful to say?
What do you mean by PHP in 2026?

guru01:
.

php is too outdated and fails in asynchronous tasks!

crunchyDope:
php is too outdated and fails in asynchronous tasks!

I am very sure u dont know a shit about php

crunchyDope:
php is too outdated and fails in asynchronous tasks!

To be honest with you, I think you are still a young person, it will be helpful if you can do a bit of research.
There are lot's of ways to do Async programming. Using PHP is one, there are tools are programming language more suitable for suited programs/app.
In today's world where AI is prevalent, using php to do async task is a breeze because there are php packages for this.

silento:
I am very sure u dont know a shit about php

I think so too. NL has survived lots of PHP dying topics since 2010, its 2026. PHP is v8.6 with lots of goodies.

PHP is the language that discovered RCE bug that affected other language like Node.js and Ruby.

silento:
-

i use to build with php until i touched nodejs...i would never touch php with a 100 metre pole

guru01:
.

i am young because i dont think php is a good language for backend(where it ends- i might be wrong)?

try nodejs..you are welcome!

crunchyDope:
i am young because i dont think php is a good language for backend(where it ends- i might be wrong)?

try nodejs..you are welcome!

Bro, this thread is about EvolvePHP framework, lets talk about it. Its not for Node.js.
PHP is not what you preferred, and I agree with you.
Let's be productive.

crunchyDope:
i am young because i dont think php is a good language for backend(where it ends- i might be wrong)?

try nodejs..you are welcome!

Why do you think PHP is not a good language for backend?

Karleb:
Why do you think PHP is not a good language for backend?

too much stress just to do asynchronous operations! like?!

Respect for building in the open, and your framing is the interesting part. Another general framework would be a hard sell, but modernising legacy PHP without a full rewrite is a real pain that plenty of teams feel, and that is a story worth leading with. My advice is to keep the scope tight: one clear migration path, one bridge that works beautifully, and documentation that shows a real legacy app moving over step by step. Frameworks live or die on docs and on the first ten real users, not on features. Get a few developers to build something small but real with it and listen to where they stumble, because their friction points will tell you what to fix before any launch announcement matters.

seoxpert:
Respect for building in the open, and your framing is the interesting part. Another general framework would be a hard sell, but modernising legacy PHP without a full rewrite is a real pain that plenty of teams feel, and that is a story worth leading with. My advice is to keep the scope tight: one clear migration path, one bridge that works beautifully, and documentation that shows a real legacy app moving over step by step. Frameworks live or die on docs and on the first ten real users, not on features. Get a few developers to build something small but real with it and listen to where they stumble, because their friction points will tell you what to fix before any launch announcement matters.

Wow, one awesome review after almost giving up on this thread.
Thank you @seoxpert your your well detailed and experience review. I appreciate.
This will go along way.