Getting started

This page is the entry point for new SERIXA users. It explains what SERIXA is, what it is not, and where to go next.

For a full walkthrough of Composer install, first page, rendering, widgets, themes, and layouts, see the Installation Guide.

What SERIXA is

SERIXA is a PHP UI framework. You write widgets in PHP; SERIXA renders clean HTML with Tailwind classes applied through a theme. Rendering is server-side (SSR) — there is no virtual DOM and no client-side hydration.

use Serixa\Component\Button;
use Serixa\Component\Text;
use Serixa\Component\Column;
use Serixa\Rendering\Renderer;

$html = (new Renderer())->render(
    Column::make([
        Text::make('Hello, SERIXA')->as('h1')->size('xl')->weight('bold'),
        Button::make('Continue')->primary(),
    ]),
);

Every widget lives under the Serixa\Component\ namespace (with a Serixa\Widget\Widget base class underneath). Rendering goes through Serixa\Rendering\Renderer. Full HTML pages go through Serixa\Document\Document.

What SERIXA is not

Be clear about scope before you start:

• No router. SERIXA does not decide which page to show for a URL. Your app does that (see first-blog.md for a small match() example).
• No auth / sessions. Login and profile pages are HTML only. Wire your own session/auth logic in your app.
• No ORM or database layer. SERIXA renders widgets; where the data comes from is up to you.
• Charts & Calendar ship as optional packages (serixa/charts, serixa/calendar), not core framework widgets. Install them when you need those surfaces.
• No virtual DOM / SPA state. The client runtime (assets/runtime/serixa.js) is a small progressive-enhancement script, not a framework runtime.

If you keep this in mind, the rest of the framework is straightforward.

Requirements

• PHP 8.2+
• Composer

The fastest path to a running app

From a clone of this monorepo, install and run the CLI package:

cd packages/cli
composer install
php bin/serixa new blog
cd blog
composer install
php -S localhost:8000 -t public

Or from an app that already requires serixa/cli:

vendor/bin/serixa new blog

Prefer generating apps outside framework/ (sibling folders like starters/ or a directory outside the clone). See Path-repository recursion.

Open http://localhost:8000. You now have a runnable SSR app with a home page, layout, and a few sample pages.

For the full 30-minute walkthrough (pages, layout, a card list, a contact form), read first-blog.md.

Monorepo overview: monorepo.md. CLI reference: cli.md.

Core concepts, in order

1. Widgets — PHP objects that render HTML. Built with a fluent ::make() entry point and chained modifiers, e.g. Button::make('Save')->primary()->large().
2. Renderer — Serixa\Rendering\Renderer turns a widget tree (or a Document) into an HTML string.
3. Theme — Serixa\Theme\DefaultTheme maps a widget + its state (props) to a list of Tailwind classes. Widgets don't hardcode CSS classes; the theme decides.
4. Document — Serixa\Document\Document builds a full HTML page: <title>, meta tags, registered CSS/JS assets, and a body of widgets.
5. ClientRuntime — Serixa\Runtime\ClientRuntime::register() wires up the small serixa.js script for progressive enhancement (modals, dropdowns, tabs, toasts, etc.). Optional; skip it if you don't use interactive widgets.
6. CLI — serixa new, serixa make:page, serixa make:component, serixa make:layout scaffold an application around the framework. The CLI is a developer tool; it never runs at request time.

A minimal full page

use Serixa\Component\Button;
use Serixa\Component\Text;
use Serixa\Document\Document;
use Serixa\Rendering\Renderer;

$document = Document::make()
    ->title('Hello')
    ->description('My first SERIXA page')
    ->body(
        Text::make('Hello, SERIXA')->as('h1')->size('xl')->weight('bold'),
        Button::make('Continue')->primary(),
    );

echo (new Renderer())->render($document);

Where to go next

Getting help from the CLI itself

serixa help
serixa help new
serixa list

serixa with no arguments prints a quick-start banner with the same three commands shown above.