Go from idea to launch with clean and elegant PHP that grows with you. With a zero-config setup and an ecosystem of powerful tools, Leaf helps you build and ship scalable apps—fast
$ composer global require leafs/cli -W$ leaf create app-name$ cd app
The framework for people who just want to ship 🚀
Leaf is built for makers who move fast. With no config and effortless deployment, you can run Leaf anywhere PHP is available—no questions asked. Shared hosting? Just drag and drop. Cloud or VPS? Seamless. Get from idea to production in no time.
Everything you need to build and grow a SaaS
Leaf provides lightweight, customizable tools designed to help you to build, ship, and scale—without unnecessary complexity. Now, you can quickly go from idea to profitable product.
Authentication
Sign users in or create accounts using Leaf's Auth module:
php
auth()->login([...]);
Leaf will automatically handle the authentication process, including hashing passwords and storing user + sessions and JWTs. You can also protect your routes with Leaf's middleware.
php
app()->get('/login', ['middleware' => 'auth.required', function () { // this route is only accessible to logged in users}]);
From account verification to roles and permissions, Leaf Auth gives you a ton of features right out of the box. Check out the authentication documentation.
Powering thousands of makers, just like you.
Today’s web development landscape demands tools that are fast, lightweight, and capable of growing with your projects. Many PHP frameworks try to do it all, making it challenging to find one that truly checks all these boxes—often adding unnecessary complexity to projects that need to stay nimble. That’s where Leaf shines. It gives the essentials to start building right away, with the flexibility to add exactly the features you need, precisely when you need them.
Andrew MacLean
@andrewdmaclean
Thanks for making this! I have been looking for an alternative to Silex for a few years now. I have tried other frameworks like Lumen, Laravel & Slim, but they were always a pain to setup with my VMs, and usually forced you to adhere to a console generated bundle.
propeller-aaron
@propeller-aaron
As a design/frontend-heavy agency, we needed a lightweight, but powerful framework that would just work on our servers without any hassle. Leaf has been a great choice for us as it allows us to build our APIs really fast, giving us time to focus on what we want: the design and experience of our projects.
Rare Goods Only
@raregoodsonly
Awesome, I just found about it and already using it for a client's site.Clean, well organized and the MVC versión is just great!!!
Carlos Cárdenas
@carlos_cardenas1
Building with Leaf has been the most simple and straightforward approach to getting an app production ready
Desmond Sofua
@cr34t1ve
I'm currently looking for a framework to replace our in-house built MVC framework which we have spent quite some time building over the years.
I just don't "get" the major frameworks and to me I want something simple which I can add to if needed and now I come across Leaf. Wow. I think you've done a great job! ...
Thanks!
jamie-syon
@jamie-syon
“I don’t have time for complexity. Leaf gives me the tools I need, nothing more.”
Michael Darko
Creator of Leaf PHP
Try it out️
We’ve said enough about Leaf and what it can do. Why don’t you try changing the code below and see what you can create. If you want to follow a guided tutorial in our sandbox, you can check out the interactive tutorial 🏄♀
Leaf is fully community backed. Your support goes a long way to help us keep Leaf running and keep up with the demand associated with the growth of our tools. Here are our current sponsors ❤️
Dig into our vibrant community with us.
Our first community meet up was in 2023 which we held together with SeevCash. Since then our community has gotten bigger, growing together with Leaf and all the tools in the ecosystem. Join our young but vibrant community and the Leaf team as we discuss our insights from the past year and what’s to come in the next couple of years 🚀
Our main goal and pride at Leaf is to make PHP development as simple and elegant as possible.
Our team is always looking to improve your experience using the Leaf framework and it's ecosystem of tools. You can follow along as our team discusses it's insights from the past year and what's to come in 2025.
Leaf is a slim and lightweight PHP framework focused on developer experience, usability, and high-performance code. It is a modern PHP framework built to be simple and elegant, yet extremely powerful.
