Getting Started

Installation

Install Glueful with the API skeleton (or as a framework package), run the dev server, and add your first route.

Glueful has two entry points:

glueful/api-skeleton for most users. This is the recommended path.
glueful/framework if you are embedding the framework into an existing project.

Requirements

PHP 8.3+
Composer 2+

Recommended: API Skeleton

Create a new project from the starter app:

composer create-project glueful/api-skeleton my-api
cd my-api

The skeleton already includes:

a CLI entrypoint at glueful
framework bootstrap in bootstrap/app.php
example routes in routes/api.php
example controller in app/Controllers/WelcomeController.php
default SQLite storage in storage/database/glueful.sqlite

Run it

composer create-project already installs dependencies, copies .env, creates the SQLite database, and runs php glueful install for you — so the app is ready. Start the dev server:

php glueful serve

Then verify the starter routes:

curl http://127.0.0.1:8080/welcome
curl http://127.0.0.1:8080/v1/status
curl http://127.0.0.1:8080/health

Add your first route

Open routes/api.php and add a route inside the existing v1 group:

<?php

use Glueful\Routing\Router;
use Glueful\Http\Response;
use App\Controllers\WelcomeController;

$router->group(['prefix' => 'v1'], function (Router $router) {
    $router->get('/status', [WelcomeController::class, 'status']);

    $router->get('/hello', function () {
        return Response::success([
            'message' => 'Hello from Glueful',
            'timestamp' => date('c'),
        ]);
    });
});

$router->get('/welcome', [WelcomeController::class, 'index']);

Test it:

curl http://127.0.0.1:8080/v1/hello

Generate new code

Glueful's current generators use the scaffold:* namespace:

php glueful scaffold:controller UserController
php glueful scaffold:model User
php glueful scaffold:request CreateUserRequest

Alternative: Framework Only

Install the framework package into an existing PHP project:

composer require glueful/framework

Create a minimal bootstrap:

<?php
declare(strict_types=1);

use Glueful\Framework;
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Request;

require __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

$framework = Framework::create(__DIR__)
    ->withConfigDir(__DIR__ . '/config')
    ->withEnvironment($_ENV['APP_ENV'] ?? 'development');

$app = $framework->boot();

$request = Request::createFromGlobals();
$response = $app->handle($request);
$response->send();
$app->terminate($request, $response);

Use this path only if you already know the project structure you want. If not, use the API skeleton.

Next Steps

Introduction

Overview, quickstart, project structure, and FAQs

Core concepts

Core concepts you'll use every day