Create Self-Contained PHP Executables with PHPacker

PHPacker enables you to package any PHP script or PHAR into a standalone, cross-platform executable. It handles all the complexity of bundling PHP with your application, making distribution simple and hassle-free.

To create distributable builds with PHPacker, you install a CLI globally or as a project dependency with Composer. Once you've installed the phpacker CLI, you can build for Mac, Windows, and Linux using the build command:

# Build for specific platform and architecture
phpacker build mac arm --src=./app.phar
 
# Build for all supported platforms
phpacker build all --src=./app.phar
 
# Build with custom output directory
phpacker build --src=./app.phar --dest=./custom-build-path
 
# Build with a specific PHP configuration file
phpacker build --src=./app.phar --ini=./custom-php.ini
 
# Prompt INI definitions interactively
phpacker build --src=./app.phar --ini
 
# Build with with php version
phpacker build --src=./app.phar --php=8.3

PHPacker supports PHP 8.4 through 8.2 on Windows (x64), MacOS (arm64/x64), and Linux (arm64, x64). Part of building a self-contained executable is providing pre-compiled platform PHP binaries. Since PHP is pre-compiled, it includes the most essential PHP extensions required to run a CLI app (extension details here).

Besides CLI options, you can configure your CLI with a phpacker.json file and include a path to custom INI settings:

{
    "src": "./bin/app.phar",
    "dest": "./build",
    "ini": "./phpacker.ini",
    "platform": "all",
    "php": "8.4",
    "repository": "optional/custom-php-bin-repo"
}

Example

Here's a quick example of building a CLI with PHPacker that outputs Hello, World!. Once you've created a Composer project, require phpacker:

composer require phpacker/phpacker --dev

Next, create a index.php file in the project with the following code to demonstrate taking an argument:

<?php
 
$name = $argv[1] ?? 'World';
 
echo "Hello, {$name}!", "\n";

In a real project, you'd likely use the Symfony Console, Laravel Zero, or MiniCLI—which all require using a .phar archive to build with PHPAcker—but a single-file script is perfect for taking PHPacker for a spin.

Next, you can manually build this with the following command:

$ phpacker build mac arm --src=./index.php
 
 You're using the latest version: phpacker/php-bin:0.2.4
 
 mac - arm ·············································· ✅

Next, you can run your build CLI. Depending on which platforms and architectures you're running, you can find it in the build/ path. I am on MacOS ARM, so I can run my CLI like this:

$ build/mac/mac-arm
Hello, World!
 
$ build/mac/mac-arm Paul
Hello, Paul!

Main Features

Self-Contained Executables - Distribute your CLI app as a single file - PHP is bundled with your application
Cross-Platform Support - Build executables for macOS, Linux, and Windows from a single codebase
Seamless distribution - Install the right build automatically for any platform with our Composer Installer
Project Configuration - Store build and INI config in version-controlled files
Multiple PHP Versions - Choose from PHP 8.2, 8.3, or 8.4 to match your application's requirements
Custom PHP Binaries - Use your own custom-built PHP binaries with specific extensions

Learn More

I recommend starting with PHPacker by going through the Installation Documentation. Once you've installed it, the docs have configuration options and other details about PHP binaries. Be sure to read App Considerations—when building self-contained executables, it is essential to understand the limitations and other usage patterns, such as accessing environment variables and filesystem access.

You can view PHPacker's source code on GitHub at phpacker/phpacker.