Forge Kernel

a PHP Application Hosted Kernel with pluggable capabilities.

install 

bash <(curl -Ls https://raw.githubusercontent.com/forge-engine/installer/main/installer.sh)

Forge is a PHP Application Hosted Kernel with pluggable capabilities. It's a minimal, dependency-free PHP kernel I built to serve my own projects. It's fully open source under the MIT license.

— take what helps, ignore what doesn't, fork it if you need to.

This organization contains:

  • The Forge Kernel — a minimal, dependency-free PHP kernel (DI, routing, bootstrapping, view engine, configuration manager, and core services).
  • Forge Capabilities — self-contained, optional capability modules (database, ORM, auth, storage, etc.) that you plug in when needed.
  • Utilities & Installers — scripts and helpers for easier setup and tooling.

Capabilities, not built-ins. Database, ORM, authentication, storage — these aren't built into the kernel. They're capabilities you plug in via modules when you need them. The kernel stays lean. You stay in control.

philosophy

This isn't a product. There's no company behind it. No support SLA. No roadmap you should depend on.

Forge exists because I like to understand and own my stack. If others find value in it — awesome. If not — that's cool too.

You're not a user here. You're a builder.

  • If you use Forge, it's yours now. Your rules. Your path.
  • If I publish updates, they're for my use case. Pull them in if they help.
  • If my direction doesn't match yours, fork it. Change everything. That's the point.

want to build your own thing?

You can fork the entire kernel and capability ecosystem to start your own direction. Check out FORGING-YOUR-OWN.md in the main repo for notes on how everything is structured and how to get started.