NostalgiaPHP

Why NostalgiaPHP?

The Problem

Most ways to build a simple website today are overkill:

  • WordPress → instantly drags in a DB, admin UI, plugins, themes, update cycles, PHP version nags, etc.
  • Astro / Next / Eleventy → modern, fast, static-friendly… but need Node, npm, dependencies, configs, build steps.
  • Jekyll / Hugo → great static site generators, but you need Ruby or Go, and a build process. Server side rendering has many more advantages.

All of them are fantastic at scale. But what if you just want to make a small website — with a few pages, some collections (like a blog or portfolio), and a couple of partials for your header and footer?

The Solution

NostalgiaPHP:

  • Built in plain PHP.
  • Zero database.
  • Zero build step.
  • Zero frameworks.

Just Markdown files with front matter → served as pages and collections.
Drop them in /content/pages or /content/collections/{name}/ and you’re live.

Run one command:

php -S localhost:8000

…and you’re looking at your site.

The Philosophy

  • Pages are Markdown files.
  • Collections are just folders of Markdown files.
  • Partials are PHP includes.
  • Templates are simple PHP files.
  • Assets are whatever you put in /static.

No database migrations. No npm install. No build pipeline. No JS metaframeworks.