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🚀 Vanilla PHP MVC Starter Kit
A clean PHP 8+ MVC boilerplate with a structured js/ layer, split route files, super admin + admin panels, session auth with live password strength validation, role-based routing, OAuth (Google + GitHub), flash toast system, AJAX fetch helpers, Alpine.js reactive UI, Tailwind CSS, and PHPUnit — zero frameworks, zero fluff.
Vanilla PHP MVC Starter Kit is a lightweight, zero-framework boilerplate for developers who want a clean starting point without the overhead of Laravel or Symfony. Built on pure PHP 8+, it ships with a hand-rolled MVC architecture, session-based authentication, role-based routing, and a full admin panel — all wired up and ready to go.
The frontend uses Tailwind CSS and Alpine.js via CDN, so there's no build pipeline to configure. AJAX helpers, avatar uploads, password reset flow, and a responsive multi-panel layout (super admin, admin, app, client) are included out of the box.
Backed by PHPUnit with 77 tests across unit and feature suites, GitHub Actions workflows for linting, quality checks, and deployment, and a single SQL file to get your database running in minutes.
Start building in minutes, not hours.
What's included
Multi-panel layout — Super Admin, Admin, App (authenticated users), and Client (public) views
Session authentication — Login, registration, logout, and password reset out of the box
OAuth login — Google and GitHub sign-in with auto-prefill registration for new accounts
Role-based routing — Segregated routes for super admin, admin, app, client, and AJAX calls
Super admin panel — Highest-privilege panel with admin management, full user CRUD, purple-accented UI
Full admin panel — Collapsible sidebar, topbar, user management, and data tables
Flash toast system — Session::flash() sets one-time toasts, auto-fired on next page load
AJAX helpers — Lightweight fetch wrappers for POST/GET with JSON responses
Avatar uploads — Image preview, crop, and AJAX upload built in
Environment config — .env-driven configuration, no hardcoded credentials
Tailwind CSS + Alpine.js — Modern UI via CDN, no build step required
Composer managed — PHPMailer, PHPUnit, and more via a clean composer.json
77 PHPUnit tests — Unit and feature suites with automatic cleanup
🤔 Why This Over Laravel?
This starter kit is intentionally built without Laravel — and that's the point.
🎓 Built for Students
If you are learning PHP for the first time or studying MVC architecture, Laravel's abstractions (Eloquent, Facades, Service Containers) can hide what's actually happening under the hood. This kit exposes everything — the router, the auth system, the database layer — in plain, readable PHP so you can see exactly how it works.
Start here. Understand MVC fundamentals. Then move to Laravel with confidence.
🏢 Built for Small to Medium Projects
Not every project needs the full weight of a framework. This kit is:
Lightweight — no 30MB+ vendor folder, no service provider bootstrapping on every request
Shared-hosting friendly — runs on basic Apache/XAMPP/Laragon setups without special server config
Fast to deploy — one SQL import, one .env file, and you're live
🚀 A Natural Laravel On-ramp
This Kit
Laravel Equivalent
Router::get()
Route::get()
php kit make:controller
php artisan make:controller
php kit db:seed
php artisan db:seed
php kit migrate
php artisan migrate
.env config
.env config
Middleware classes
Middleware classes
MVC structure
MVC structure
The patterns here are intentionally Laravel-inspired — so once you understand this kit, transitioning to Laravel feels familiar, not foreign.
Apache with mod_rewrite enabled (XAMPP / Laragon / WAMP)
Composer
Steps
1. Create the project via Composer
composer create-project mardev/starter-kit my-app
Place it inside your server's web root (e.g., htdocs/ or www/). Composer will automatically download the kit, install all vendor dependencies, and trigger the interactive setup wizard automatically.
3. Set up the database
Open phpMyAdmin
Go to Import and select database/starter.sql
This creates the starter database with tables and seed data
When you run composer install, the setup wizard automatically launches and asks you to pick an installation mode:
====================================================
Welcome to Vanilla PHP MVC Starter Kit
====================================================
Which preset would you like to install?
[1] Full Stack (Alpine.js + AJAX Monolith) - Default
[2] REST API (Full Stack with JS)
[3] Backend Only (REST API, No UI)
[4] jQuery Stack (Full Stack with jQuery AJAX)
Select an option [1]:
Option 1 — Full Stack (Alpine.js + AJAX Monolith) (default)
The classic MVC full stack mode. All views are rendered server-side. AJAX calls use the /ajax/ route prefix and return JSON. The /api/ routes are also registered and available for external consumers alongside the HTML interface.
✅ All HTML views intact (client, admin, superadmin, app panels)
✅ Session-based auth with login/register pages
✅ AJAX endpoints under /ajax/
✅ REST API endpoints under /api/ (JSON)
✅ http://localhost/yourapp/ → renders HTML homepage
Option 2 — REST API (Full Stack with JS)
Identical to Option 1 but injects the smart Controller which auto-detects /api/ prefixed requests and switches them to JSON output mode. All HTML views remain intact. The frontend JS layer drives data via /api/ fetch calls.
✅ Session cookie reused for both browser and API requests
✅ http://localhost/yourapp/ → renders HTML homepage
✅ http://localhost/yourapp/api/admin/users → returns JSON user list
Option 3 — Backend Only (REST API, No UI)
Pure JSON API mode. All frontend assets (views, JS, CSS, client routes) are removed. Every request returns JSON. Use this when building a decoupled frontend (React, Vue, mobile app) that communicates with this backend via the /api/ endpoints.
✅ All HTML views removed
✅ Only routes/api.php is loaded — pure JSON responses
✅ Smart Controller auth guard returns JSON 401/403 (no HTML redirects)
✅ http://localhost/yourapp/api/admin/users → returns JSON user list
Option 4 — jQuery Stack (Full Stack with jQuery AJAX)
Full stack traditional monolith mode leveraging jQuery instead of Alpine.js for interactive views and AJAX forms. The installer automatically downloads and incorporates the dynamic jQuery libraries.
✅ All HTML views intact (client, admin, superadmin, app panels)
✅ Session-based auth powered by custom jQuery AJAX calls
✅ Complete jQuery setup with preconfigured fetch/XHR handlers
✅ http://localhost/yourapp/ → renders HTML homepage
