CodeIgniter

CodeIgniter

CodeIgniter 23,248 (github.com/codeigniter4/CodeIgniter4 (https://github.com/codeigniter4/CodeIgniter4 5,986 ), MIT) has been PHP's small, forgiving framework since 2006; version 4 rewrote it with namespaces and a spark console. The current release is 4.7.4 (7 July 2026, PHP 8.2+). There is almost nothing to configure. Routes live in one file, controllers extend BaseController, and there is no container to learn:

A CodeIgniter 4.7 route and controllerPHP

<?php
// app/Config/Routes.php (appended): $routes->get('hello', 'Hello::index');
namespace App\Controllers;
use CodeIgniter\CodeIgniter;
class Hello extends BaseController
{
    public function index(): string
    {
        $this->response->setContentType('text/plain');
        return 'Hello, bookshop, from CodeIgniter ' . CodeIgniter::CI_VERSION . "\n";
    }
}

The codeigniter4/appstarter project installs 33 packages, but 30 are test tools (PHPUnit 79,198 , Faker, vfsStream 1,440 and their dependencies): a production install keeps only three, in 5.7 MB. That small footprint and a public/ folder any host can serve keep CodeIgniter common on shared hosting.

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