Semitexa

Get Started — Semitexa

Get Started — Semitexa

🤖 For AI Agents: A structured, step-by-step version of this guide with explicit rules and mapping is in Get Started (for AI Agents).
Also: About Semitexa (vision and philosophy) · AI Reference (for agents).

This guide helps you install and run a Semitexa application with minimal steps. The goal is simplicity: get the framework up and running so you can start building.

What you need

  • PHP 8.4 or later
  • Composer (to install dependencies)
  • Docker and Docker Compose (Semitexa runs on Swoole inside Docker — this is the only supported way to run the app)

Get the project

You can either start from an existing Semitexa project (for example, the semitexa.dev repo) or create a new one.

  • From an existing project: clone the repository and go to Install dependencies below.

  • From scratch: create a new folder, run composer init, then add the meta-package (it pulls in the framework and everything you need):

    composer require semitexa/ultimate

    Then continue.

Install dependencies

In the project root:

composer install

After this, the bin/semitexa CLI and all framework packages under vendor/semitexa/ are available.

Initialize project files (if needed)

If the project does not yet have docker-compose.yml, .env.example, or server.php, generate them:

bin/semitexa init

This creates the minimal Docker setup, environment example, and entry script so you can run the app.

Set up environment

Copy the example environment file and adjust if needed:

cp .env.example .env

The default HTTP port for the app is 9502; you can change it in .env (SWOOLE_PORT).

Run the application

Start the server (via Docker):

bin/semitexa server:start

Open your browser at http://0.0.0.0:9502 (or the port you set in .env).

To stop the server:

bin/semitexa server:stop

If something goes wrong

  • "docker-compose.yml not found" — run bin/semitexa init to generate the project structure (including Docker files).
  • Port or logs — see the core package docs: vendor/semitexa/core/docs/RUNNING.md (or the same file in the semitexa-core package in your repo).

What’s next?

  • Your first page (Twig) — add a minimal HTML page with a Twig template: A minimal working page. That guide shows one route, one Payload, one Handler, and rendering with Twig (no JSON). Same Payload‑first flow; the handler sets the layout handle and context, and the framework renders the template.
  • Add more routes — see vendor/semitexa/core/docs/ADDING_ROUTES.md.
  • Understand the stack — read About Semitexa and the rest of the docs in this package.

The main aim of this guide is to get you from zero to a running app with as little friction as possible. For more detail and machine-friendly steps, use the AI-oriented Get Started or the core package documentation.