Configuration

Configuration

Webrium keeps day-to-day configuration in a single `.env` file at the project root. Everything else — the error handler, view engine, sessions, locale, CORS — i

4 min read

Webrium keeps day-to-day configuration in a single .env file at the project root. Everything else — the error handler, view engine, sessions, locale, CORS — is wired up once in public/index.php with sensible defaults, so you only touch those subsystems when you actually want to change their behaviour.

The .env File

A fresh project ships with a small .env.example:

DB_HOST = localhost
DB_PORT = 3306
DB_DATABASE = test
DB_USERNAME = root
DB_PASSWORD = 1234

APP_DEBUG = true
APP_LOG_ERRORS = true

The installer copies this file to .env the first time you create a project. Edit it for your environment, and add any application-specific variables (mail credentials, API keys, feature flags) below — there is no fixed schema.

.env is excluded from version control. Commit .env.example instead, with placeholder values, so collaborators know which variables to define.

Reading Values: env()

Read values from .env anywhere in your application with the env() helper:

$dbHost = env('DB_HOST', 'localhost');

if (env('APP_DEBUG', false)) {
    // debug-only logic
}

The second argument is the default returned if the key is missing. env() returns null when no default is given. Common string values are converted to PHP equivalents: "true" and "false" become booleans, "null" becomes null, and empty values become null.

Everything Else

The rest of Webrium's configuration — error display and logging, the view engine, session storage, locale, directory layout, CORS — is bootstrapped in public/index.php. You normally do not need to change it.

When you do, edit public/index.php directly and consult the relevant module documentation: Core → Error Handling, Core → Localization, Core → Sessions, Core → Filesystem, or the CORS section in Core → Requests & Responses.

Directory Structure

A fresh Webrium project looks like this:

my-app/
├── app/
│   ├── Config/        ← Configuration files loaded at boot (e.g. DB.php)
│   ├── Controllers/   ← Your controller classes
│   ├── Models/        ← Your data models
│   ├── Routes/        ← Route files (Web.php is loaded by default)
│   └── Views/         ← Templates rendered by the view engine
│       ├── layouts/
│       ├── loaders/
│       └── pages/
├── database/
│   ├── Migrations/    ← Version-controlled schema changes
│   └── Seeders/       ← Scripts to populate initial or test data
├── public/            ← Web server document root
│   ├── build/         ← Compiled Vite assets
│   └── index.php      ← Application entry point
├── resources/         ← Frontend source files (CSS, JS, views)
├── storage/           ← Runtime files: sessions, logs, compiled views, langs
│   ├── app/           ← User-uploaded files and app-generated content
│   ├── framework/     ← Framework-level cache and temporary files
│   ├── langs/         ← Translations (ar, de, en, fa, ja, ru, zh)
│   └── logs/          ← Application error logs
├── .env               ← Environment configuration
├── .env.example
├── composer.json
├── package.json
├── vite.config.js
└── webrium            ← CLI binary

Everything in app/ is yours to edit. Webrium follows PSR-4: the App\ namespace is mapped to the app/ directory.

The app Directory

The heart of your application. Composer's composer.json maps the App\ namespace to this folder:

"autoload": {
    "psr-4": {
        "App\\": "app/"
    }
}
Folder Purpose
app/Controllers Controllers handle incoming requests and return responses. Matched to routes by short name ('UserController@index') or array syntax ([UserController::class, 'index']).
app/Models Data models, typically extending FoxDB's Model class.
app/Routes Route definition files. Loaded via Route::source() from public/index.php.
app/Config Application configuration files — database connections, app-level settings, anything custom you need to load at boot.
app/Views Server-side view templates rendered by the view engine.

The database Directory

Everything related to your database schema evolution:

  • Migrations — version-controlled schema changes
  • Seeders — scripts to populate the database with test or initial data

The public Directory

The only directory that should be exposed to the web server. Contains:

  • index.php — the single entry point for every HTTP request (see Request Lifecycle)
  • build/ — compiled frontend assets produced by Vite

The resources Directory

Frontend source files — JavaScript, stylesheets, and any assets processed by Vite before being written to public/build/.

The storage Directory

Files generated and used by the application at runtime:

  • app/ — user uploads and other content the application produces
  • framework/ — framework-level cache and temporary files
  • langs/ — translation files used by lang() and trans()
  • logs/ — application error logs (when Debug logging is enabled)

Path Helpers

Resolve paths to these directories from anywhere in your code:

public_path('images/logo.png');   // <root>/public/images/logo.png
app_path('Models/User.php');      // <root>/app/Models/User.php
storage_path('logs/app.log');     // <root>/storage/logs/app.log
root_path('composer.json');       // <root>/composer.json

These helpers always return absolute paths, so they are safe to use regardless of the working directory at the time the code runs.