Title here
Summary here
Documentation
Everything you need to build versioned JSON APIs with Pionia v3.
The example app: DeskFlow
Hands-on pages follow one fictional product so names stay consistent:
- Northwind Studio — a made-up digital agency (not a real company)
- DeskFlow — their internal task board API; you build it in the tutorial
- deskflow-api — the Composer project name used in commands
Requires PHP 8.5+. Tutorial services: task, member, project. Sample login: alex@northwind.studio.
Pick your learning path
Getting started
Install Pionia and meet DeskFlow.
DeskFlow tutorial
15 steps — scaffold through deploy.
Browse examples
Copy-paste curl payloads and JSON envelopes.
First steps
New to PHP or Pionia? Start here — tutorial comes after install.
| Order | Guide | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction | Install with Composer, first ping, meet DeskFlow |
| 2 | PHP basics | Minimum PHP (optional) |
| 3 | DeskFlow tutorial | Build the task board API step by step |
| 4 | Glossary | service, action, switch, envelope |
How the documentation is organized
| Type | Reader goal | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Tutorials | Hands-on; build DeskFlow step by step | API tutorial |
| Topic guides | Understand concepts | Moonlight overview, Auth |
| Reference | Look up APIs and config | Helpers, Porm API |
| How-to guides | One task, one recipe | RoadRunner, Maintenance |
What these docs cover
| Layer | Topics |
|---|---|
| Getting started | Composer install, PHP basics, DeskFlow tutorial, app structure, v3 changelog |
| Building your API | Moonlight, services, actions, validation, generic CRUD, API docs |
| Database (Porm) | Configuration, queries, filtering, joins, pagination, connections |
| HTTP | Envelopes, middleware, exceptions, routing, collections |
| Security | Authentication backends, JWT, authorization in services |
| Frontend | Vite SPA scaffold, dev proxy, production build |
| Operations | CLI, RoadRunner, caching, logging, maintenance, production optimize |
| Extending | App providers, Composer packages, helpers, maintainer notes |
The API layer
Services · Actions · Validation · Generic services · Moonlight overview · Documenting your API
The data layer (Porm)
Getting started · Making queries · Filtering · Joins · Pagination
The HTTP layer
Requests & responses · Middleware · Exceptions · Routing
Security
Authentication · Security utilities
Frontend & operations
Vite integration · RoadRunner · Production performance · CLI · Caching · Logging
Extending Pionia
App providers · Composer packages · Maintainer notes
Getting help
- Common mistakes — each guide ends with a troubleshooting section
- Logs —
storage/logs/withDEBUG=truein.env - Examples — curl snippets for DeskFlow actions
- Resources — packages, CLI, and links
Community
- GitHub — PioniaPHP-project — core, app template, docs
- Packagist — pionia/pionia-app —
composer create-projecttemplate - pionia-docs on GitHub — contribute to this site
- OSCA Kampala Chapter — local open-source community
- Stats —
/statswhenDEBUGorSTATS_ENABLEDis on
Common mistakes
- Starting with advanced topics — follow Introduction → DeskFlow tutorial before auth or RoadRunner.
- Skipping the glossary — terms like switch, envelope, and action are defined in Glossary.
- Using maintainer commands —
php pionia newis for framework contributors only; apps install viacomposer create-project pionia/pionia-app. - Old flat URLs — bookmark
/documentation/getting-started/introduction/not/documentation/introduction/(redirects exist but paths moved).