A Zig framework for building PHP extensions with PHP C API bindings.

⚠️ Warning: This is a toy project created to solve my own needs. The API changes frequently based on my needs, and force pushes are common. Like Zig itself, expect instability! 😄

Feel free to use it, but pin to a specific commit if you need stability.

• zig: 0.16.0-dev.2565+684032671 or newer
• php: 8.3, 8.4, 8.5 tested on linux/macos

💡 Tip: For complete working examples, see the examples/ directory.

Add phpz to your build.zig.zon

zig fetch --save git+https://github.com/happystraw/phpz

For PHP 8.0+, it's recommended to use stub files to generate arginfo headers:

Create a stub file (e.g., my_php_extension.stub.php):

<?php

/**
 * @generate-class-entries
 * @undocumentable
 */

function hello_world(): void {}

function my_function(string $name, int $age = 0): string {}

Generate the arginfo header using PHP's gen_stub.php:

php /path/to/php-src/build/gen_stub.php my_php_extension.stub.php

This will generate my_php_extension_arginfo.h containing all the necessary argument info definitions.

Create a C header file (e.g., my_php_extension.h):

phpz.h provides the core C API needed for building PHP extensions (includes php.h and Zend/zend_API.h).

Include it in your extension header to access all necessary PHP C APIs.

#include "phpz.h"
#include "my_php_extension_arginfo.h"
// ... other header files

Configure your build.zig:

const Phpz = @import("phpz").Phpz;

const phpz_dep = b.dependency("phpz", .{});
const phpz: Phpz = .init(phpz_dep, .{
    .c_source_file = b.path("my_php_extension.h"),
    .target = target,
    .optimize = optimize,
    .php_include_root = .{ .cwd_relative = "/usr/include/php" },
    .shared = true,
});

const ext_lib = b.addLibrary(.{
    .name = "my_php_extension",
    .root_module = b.createModule(.{
        .root_source_file = b.path("src/root.zig"),
        .imports = &.{
            .{ .name = "phpz", .module = phpz.mod },
        },
    }),
    .linkage = .dynamic,
});

b.installArtifact(ext_lib);

Then zig build !

Check out the examples/ directory for complete working examples:

• Remove ziglang/translate-c dependency once Zig's builtin translate-c is updated
• Set minimum Zig version to 0.16.0 when released