php-wasm

The php-wasm project provides PHP runtimes compiled to WebAssembly. The core packages are:

• php-wasm: The base package.
• php-cgi-wasm: PHP via the CGI interface.
• php-cli-wasm: PHP via the Command Line Interface.
• php-dbg-wasm: PHP with debugging support.
• php-wasm-builder: A package for building PHP WASM assets.

Supported runtime-loadable libraries include:

• gd, iconv, intl, libxml, xml, dom, simplexml, yaml, zip, mbstring, openssl, phar, sqlite, and zlib.

Additionally, specialized PDO drivers are maintained as separate packages:

• pdo_cfd1
• pdo_pglite
• vrzno

The vrzno extension is a bridge that allows PHP code running in WebAssembly to interact with the JavaScript environment (globalThis). It enables PHP to access JavaScript objects, classes, promises, callbacks, and values.

Note: The standard php-wasm runtime includes vrzno by default, so you typically do not need to import this package directly unless you are performing custom builds.

import { PhpNode } from 'php-wasm/PhpNode.mjs';

const php = new PhpNode({
  version: '8.4',
  answer: 42,
});

await php.run(`<?php
  $global = new Vrzno;

  var_dump(vrzno_env('answer'));
  var_dump($global->Date->now() > 0);
`);

Runtime-loadable extension helper JS packages are ESM-only. If you need to manage extension assets manually, you can pass the following options to the constructor:

• sharedLibs: Shared library assets.
• dynamicLibs: Dynamic library assets.
• files: Additional files.
• locateFile: A function to locate assets.

The environment provides a Vrzno object (often accessible via $window = new Vrzno;) that acts as a bridge between PHP and the JavaScript runtime. This allows you to:

• Call JS functions: Use vrzno_eval() to execute arbitrary JavaScript strings.
• Execute JS functions with arguments: Use vrzno_run('functionName', [args]) to call a specific JavaScript function with a list of arguments.
• Handle Promises: Use vrzno_new($Promise, callback) to wrap a JavaScript Promise so it can be handled within PHP logic.
• Import JS Libraries: Use vrzno_import('url') to load external JavaScript modules into the PHP context.

The php-wasm environment supports running PHP code with specific execution parameters via URL queries. Common patterns include:

• Hello World: Basic execution.
• phpinfo(): Inspecting the PHP configuration.
• Persistent Memory: Using the persist flag to maintain state across executions.
• Single Expression: Using the single-expression flag to return strings directly.
• DOM Access: Interacting with the browser DOM from within PHP.
• Sqlite/PDO: Running database queries using SQLite.
• JSON: Working with JSON encoding/decoding.
• Closures: Testing PHP closures and scope.
• File Access: Iterating through the filesystem.
• Fetch/Promises: Handling asynchronous operations and JavaScript promises from PHP.

To run PHP directly in the browser, use the PhpWeb class. PhpWeb is published as an ESM entrypoint. You can execute PHP code using the .run() method.

import { PhpWeb } from 'php-wasm/PhpWeb';

const php = new PhpWeb();

await php.run('<?php echo "Hello, world!";');

To run PHP in Node.js, use the PhpNode class. On current Node releases, the PhpNode entrypoint can be consumed using either ESM or CommonJS.

const { PhpNode } = require('php-wasm/PhpNode');

const php = new PhpNode();

To use the DOM extension with php-wasm, install the core package, the libxml extension, and the dom extension via npm:

npm install php-wasm php-wasm-libxml php-wasm-dom