Contributing

Thanks for your interest in contributing to PointArt. Here's everything you need to get started.

How to Contribute

Fork the repository and clone your fork
Copy .env.example to .env and configure your database
Make your changes in a new branch: git checkout -b my-feature
Test your changes manually and run the test suite
Open a pull request against master

Code Style

PHP 8.1+, no Composer dependencies
Follow the existing attribute-based patterns (#[Route], #[Service], etc.)
No external libraries — use PHP's standard library and Reflection API
Keep framework classes focused: one responsibility per class
Views are plain .php files — no template engine syntax
Classes must not be loaded before they are required by a request. The ClassLoader registers an autoloader and builds a route registry, but never requires class files itself. Do not introduce eager loading.

Running Tests

Tests live in tests/ and use a minimal custom test runner:

php tests/TestSuite.php

Add tests for any new framework behaviour. Tests should not depend on a live database — use Model::$pdo to inject an in-memory SQLite instance:

Model::$pdo = new PDO('sqlite::memory:');

Reporting Bugs

Open an issue and include:

PHP version (php -v)
A minimal reproduction (controller + route + what you expected vs what happened)
Stack trace if applicable (APP_DEBUG=true in .env)

Future Ideas / Roadmap

These are planned features and improvements. Open an issue before starting on a large one so we can align on the approach.

Middleware system

Implement a `#[Middleware]` attribute that can be applied to a controller or individual route method. Middleware should support before/after hooks — before runs before the controller method (can short-circuit with a response), after runs after.

Planned

RestController

Allow a controller class to declare a default `Content-Type`. Currently the framework infers JSON vs HTML from the return type. A `#[RestController]` annotation (or a parameter on `#[Router]`) should set the default to `application/json` for all routes in that class.

Planned

Singleton vs transient services

The Container currently treats all `#[Service]`-annotated classes as singletons. Introduce a way to declare a service as transient (a new instance per injection) — either via a parameter on `#[Service]` or a separate `#[Transient]` attribute.

Planned

Query parameter passthrough

`$_GET` parameters are not consistently injected into controller method parameters. It only reads path parameters or request bodyl on #[RequestParam]

Planned

Model Database Migration

A module or external php file can be used for migrating the model changes to database.

Planned

Optional Composer Support

Totally optional composer support for people who want to include external packages.

Planned

OpenAPI / Swagger

Automatically generate an OpenAPI 3.0 spec from the existing attribute metadata — `#[Router]`, `#[Route]`, `#[RequestParam]`, method parameter types, and `#[Entity]`/`#[Column]` for schema definitions. Expose it as `GET /pointart/openapi.json` and serve a Swagger UI page at `GET /pointart/docs` (self-contained HTML, same pattern as the updater). A `#[Returns(SomeClass::class)]` attribute or similar mechanism will be needed to describe response schemas since PHP return types alone are insufficient.

Planned

App Deployer

Extend the updater concept to application code. Allow users to connect their own GitHub repository and deploy `app/` from a release or branch — useful on shared hosting where `git pull` is not available. Should support the same secret-based auth, backup-before-overwrite, and protected paths model as the framework updater.

Planned

License

By contributing, you agree that your contributions will be licensed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0.