phalcon/cphalcon
Cphalcon
Phalcon is a full-stack PHP web framework implemented as a compiled C extension that loads directly into the PHP interpreter. Rather than executing PHP scripts at runtime, the framework runs as a native C module, bundling routing, ORM, templating, and caching into immutable structures compiled at build time. This architecture hooks directly into PHP's internal Zend Engine API to bypass userland function call overhead, processes HTTP requests through a C-level event pipeline, and passes data between layers using pointer references instead of duplicating memory buffers.
The framework manages object lifecycles and memory directly in C to minimize allocation overhead and garbage collection pauses, while resolving and caching class definitions during extension compilation rather than at each request. Configuration and routing tables are compiled into static C structures for instant access, and the entire request pipeline operates through C-level event handlers without intermediate PHP function calls.
Phalcon provides the capabilities needed to build complete web applications with low resource usage. The extension can be installed through multiple methods including PECL, Linux package managers, Homebrew, MacPorts, PHPBrew, PIE, shared hosting control panels, or by compiling from source, with options to tune the build for the specific processor.