# ThinkPHP — Lightweight Rapid Development PHP Framework

> ThinkPHP is a lightweight PHP framework focused on rapid application development with convention-over-configuration design, widely adopted in the Chinese PHP development community.

## Install

Save in your project root:

# ThinkPHP — Lightweight Rapid Development PHP Framework

## Quick Use
```bash
composer create-project topthink/think myapp
cd myapp
php think run
```

## Introduction
ThinkPHP is a PHP framework with over two decades of development history, designed for fast web application development with a low learning curve. It follows convention-over-configuration principles and provides a complete toolkit for building web applications and APIs.

## What ThinkPHP Does
- Provides an MVC architecture with automatic routing and URL rewriting
- Includes an ORM with query builder and model relationships
- Offers built-in template engine with tag library support
- Supports middleware, events, and service providers
- Provides CLI tools for code generation and task scheduling

## Architecture Overview
ThinkPHP uses a multi-application architecture where a single installation can host multiple independent applications. The request lifecycle flows through middleware stacks, route matching, controller dispatch, and response rendering. The framework supports both traditional request-response and command-line application modes, with a service container managing dependency injection.

## Self-Hosting & Configuration
- Install via Composer with `composer create-project topthink/think`
- Configure database and app settings in the `config/` directory
- Use environment files (`.env`) for deployment-specific values
- Run the built-in development server with `php think run`
- Deploy with Nginx or Apache and PHP-FPM in production

## Key Features
- Multi-application support within a single project installation
- Fluent query builder with chainable database operations
- Built-in caching with drivers for Redis, Memcached, and file
- Route annotations and automatic controller-based routing
- Command-line toolkit for migrations, seeds, and custom commands

## Comparison with Similar Tools
- **Laravel** — feature-rich with larger ecosystem; ThinkPHP offers a simpler learning curve for rapid development
- **Yii2** — similar full-stack approach; ThinkPHP has stronger adoption in the Chinese PHP community
- **Symfony** — component-based and enterprise-grade; ThinkPHP prioritizes speed of development
- **CodeIgniter** — lightweight and simple; ThinkPHP provides more built-in features like multi-app support
- **Slim** — micro framework for APIs; ThinkPHP is a full-stack framework with views and ORM

## FAQ
**Q: Is ThinkPHP documentation available in English?**
A: The primary documentation is in Chinese, though community translations and the codebase itself use English for class and method names.

**Q: What PHP version does ThinkPHP require?**
A: ThinkPHP 8.x requires PHP 8.0 or higher.

**Q: Can ThinkPHP be used for API development?**
A: Yes. ThinkPHP supports RESTful routing, JSON responses, and API-specific middleware out of the box.

**Q: How does ThinkPHP handle database migrations?**
A: ThinkPHP includes a migration system accessible via `php think migrate:run` with support for creating and rolling back schema changes.

## Sources
- https://github.com/top-think/think
- https://www.thinkphp.cn/doc

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Source: https://tokrepo.com/en/workflows/asset-3e6c431a
Author: AI Open Source