PHP 8.5.7 · EXPERIMENTAL RUNTIME

PHP, reimplemented from scratch in Rust.

A bytecode VM, a growing standard library, and a simple strategy: preserve PHP's observable behavior rather than the internal architecture of the Zend Engine.

Explore the status Open the repository ↗

Active development · MIT code · independent project, not affiliated with the PHP project.

terminal

# build the runtime
$ cargo build --release

# run existing PHP code
$ phpr script.php
Hello from PHP, powered by Rust.

MEASURED STATUS

Numbers, not promises.

Snapshot: 12 July 2026 · PHP 8.5.7

2,429

passing Zend corpus tests

79%

of the core standard library

780

internal functions available

23/23

ext/session functions

Metrics come from the project runner and direct comparison with PHP 8.5.7. See the full breakdown ↗

THE CONTRACT

Compatible in behavior. Free in implementation.

The reference is not Zend's design, but the output PHP code produces. The official .phpt corpus becomes an executable oracle for closing each difference in a verifiable way.

Faithful

Type juggling, errors, warnings, stack traces and edge cases are compared byte for byte with PHP.

Safer foundations

Rust ownership, types and data structures replace part of the manual memory management found in the C core.

Modern direction

A resident server, single-binary delivery and async I/O are long-term goals after application compatibility.

REAL ECOSYSTEM

Not a toy subset.

The benchmark is real software that stresses autoloading, Reflection, OOP, processes, databases and sessions.

See results and limitations →

PACKAGE MANAGER

Composer

require, install, HTTPS through rustls and real autoloading.

TESTING

PHPUnit 11/13

Boot, compatible output and process isolation using phpr child processes.

DATA

Doctrine

DBAL is green on native PDO/SQLite; ORM is close to full closure.

FRAMEWORK

Symfony

HttpFoundation, String, Console and Process are validated; HttpKernel is next.

ARCHITECTURE

One production VM.

Source moves through an explicit pipeline: parser, intermediate representations, bytecode compilation and VM dispatch.

Pipeline: PHP source, mago parser, AST and HIR, bytecode, VM.

“Correct or absent.”

A function returning plausible but wrong results is worse than a missing function. A builtin is registered only after its behavior has been verified.

TAKE PART

Every closed test makes PHP more real.

Pick a failing .phpt test, reproduce the oracle's behavior, and close the gap without regressions.

How to contribute GitHub issues ↗