Active development Project status:

PHP 8.5.7 · EXPERIMENTAL RUNTIME

PHP, reimplemented from scratch in Rust.

A bytecode VM, a broad standard library, and a simple strategy: preserve PHP's observable behavior rather than the internal architecture of the Zend Engine.

Explore the status Open the repository ↗

Active development · MIT code · independent project, not affiliated with the PHP project.

terminal 
# build the runtime
$ cargo build --release

# run existing PHP code
$ phpr script.php
Hello from PHP, powered by Rust.

MEASURED STATUS

Numbers, not promises.

Coverage: · stable performance pin:

2,655

passing Zend corpus tests

82%

of the core standard library

30,472

WordPress single-site tests at effective oracle parity

1.747×

latest clean full WordPress-suite CPU ratio vs PHP

Coverage was fully re-measured on 16 September 2026. Performance pin s183 was promoted on 16 October 2026; repository activity is tracked through 22 October 2026 at f89ae08 ↗. See measured coverage ↗

THE CONTRACT

Compatible in behavior. Free in implementation.

The reference is not Zend's design, but the output PHP code produces. Official .phpt tests and real application suites become executable oracles for closing each difference.

Faithful

Type juggling, errors, warnings, stack traces, destructor timing and edge cases are compared against PHP 8.5.7.

Safer foundations

Rust ownership, types and data structures replace much of the manual memory management found in the C core.

Performance to parity

Compatibility is proven on WordPress. The active front now targets 1× oracle CPU through measured changes to hot VM handler bodies.

REAL ECOSYSTEM

Not a toy subset.

The benchmark is real software that stresses autoloading, Reflection, OOP, processes, databases, HTTP, media, garbage collection and destructor timing.

See results and limitations →

PACKAGE MANAGER

Composer

require, install, HTTPS through rustls and real autoloading.

TESTING

PHPUnit 9/11/13

Compatible output and process isolation using phpr child processes.

FRAMEWORK

Symfony

HttpKernel runs 1,665 tests · 0 errors · 0 failures.

CMS

WordPress

WordPress 7.0.1 installs and serves on real MySQL; full single-site and multisite suites each have one declared name-diff.

ARCHITECTURE

One production VM.

Source moves through an explicit pipeline: parser, intermediate representations, bytecode compilation and VM dispatch. A compatible CLI and HTTP server exercise the same semantics.

Pipeline: PHP source, mago parser, AST and HIR, bytecode, VM.

“Correct or absent.”

A function returning plausible but wrong results is worse than a missing function. A builtin is registered only after its behavior has been verified.

CURRENT FRONT

From compatibility parity to performance parity.

The stable s183 micro benchmark is at 2.1× arithmetic, 2.3× properties, 2.9× arrays and 2.5× regex; calls and strings remain the largest measured gaps.

Read the latest update GitHub issues ↗