Bootstrap and Configuration

Minimal entry point

<?php

require dirname(__DIR__) . '/vendor/autoload.php';

use plato\plato;

plato::registry([
    'app_path'  => dirname(__DIR__) . '/app',
    'env_path'  => dirname(__DIR__) . '/.env',
    'data_path' => dirname(__DIR__) . '/data',
    'debug'     => false,
]);

plato::run();

app_path is required. env_path defaults to .env in the project root and data_path defaults to app_path/data. Log and cache paths are derived from data_path.

Registry options

Common options include:

Option	Purpose
`env`	Explicit environment; otherwise `APP_ENV`, then `pub`
`debug`	Controls framework debug output; omitted means no host setting is changed
`bootstrap`	Application callback invoked before core bootstrap
`controller_namespace`	Controller namespace, default `control`
`session_start`	Whether the framework starts the PHP session
`check_purview_handle`	Application authorization callback before an action
`error_handle`	Application callback rendering a failure middleware cannot reach (unknown controller, non-routable action)
`reset_handle`	Application callback invoked after framework request state is cleared in a resident process
`cli_auth` / `cli_csrf`	Whether CLI and resident server entry points run authorization and CSRF

reset_handle takes no arguments. Use it to clear application-owned static request state that the framework cannot know about. Framework input, route, response, template, profiler, cache memoization, query logs, authorization identity, controller, and action have already been reset when it runs. An exception is allowed to propagate because accepting the next request with stale state is unsafe.

Configuration overlay

Configuration is recursively merged from framework config/ to application config/. The application only needs a PHP file with the same name that returns an array. Secrets and environment differences belong in .env; configuration files read them through $_ENV.

.env provides defaults, not overrides: a variable the process was already started with — set by a container, a CI job or a systemd unit — keeps its value, and the file's entry for that key is dropped. Both $_ENV and getenv() are consulted, because variables_order decides whether the environment reaches $_ENV at all.

use plato\config;

$database = config::instance('database')->get('connections.mysql');
$exists = config::instance('config')->has('middleware');

Lists merge by numeric index and are unsuitable for framework defaults that applications must be able to shorten. Each facade owns its configuration section and exposes configure() for process-local overrides plus reset() or reset_config() to return to file configuration.