Installation Guide for Tina4 PHP

Tina4 PHP runs seamlessly on your local machine with an enhanced version of the PHP webserver which simulates a production environment.

Installation with Composer

Composer handles dependencies declaratively, similar to Laravel's composer create-project.

From your project root (create an empty folder if starting fresh):

1. Install Tina4 PHP:

   composer require tina4stack/tina4php

2. Initialize the Project:

   composer exec tina4 initialize:run

   This sets up the project structure, including folders for routes, templates, and more.

3. Start the Development Server:

   composer start

   This launches a built-in PHP server at http://localhost:7145 with hot-reloading—edit files and refresh the browser to see changes instantly.

Customizing the Setup

• Change Port: Edit composer.json under the scripts section to modify the default port (e.g., replace 7145 with your preferred port).
• Existing Projects: Tina4 packages can integrate into non-Tina4 apps without the full framework—add specific modules via Composer.

Verification

Open http://localhost:7145/ in your browser. You'll see a welcome page or initialization prompt. Add routes in the generated files to test—changes apply immediately, echoing Laravel's artisan serve with live reload.

For production, deploy to a web server; Tina4 supports easy integration with Apache, Nginx, or containers. If issues occur, verify Composer/PHP versions with composer --version and php -v.

This minimal setup gets you coding fast, embodying Tina4's "not a framework" philosophy. Explore Basic Routing for routing examples.