Install upMVC as a Library

This guide shows how to use upMVC as a library inside another PHP application.

1. Create a host folder (example: archive/lib)

In your host app, create a folder that will host this upMVC instance, e.g.:

• `archive/lib/`

Inside it, create composer.json:

{
  "name": "yourvendor/your-app-lib",
  "type": "project",
  "minimum-stability": "dev",
  "prefer-stable": true,
  "repositories": [
    {
      "type": "path",
      "url": "../../upMVC",
      "options": {
        "symlink": true
      }
    }
  ],
  "require": {
    "php": ">=8.1",
    "bitshost/upmvc": "*"
  }
}

Then run inside archive/lib:

composer install

This installs upMVC as a local path-based library.

2. Public entry point

Create a public/ folder in archive/lib and copy:

• `vendor/bitshost/upmvc/public/index.php`
• `vendor/bitshost/upmvc/public/.htaccess`

So you have:

• `archive/lib/public/index.php`
• `archive/lib/public/.htaccess`

These files already point to ../vendor/autoload.php and bootstrap upMVC.

3. Environment configuration (simple, current approach)

For now, the core Environment class expects .env at:

• `vendor/bitshost/upmvc/src/Etc/.env`

To configure this library instance:

1. Copy the default `.env` template from that location (if needed).
2. Edit only that `.env` file for this installation: - `DOMAIN_NAME` - `SITE_PATH` - DB settings, etc.

This is a surgical change inside vendor and is easy to re-apply after a library update.

4. Future: external .env loader (advanced)

The file Environment.php in this folder contains an advanced version of the Environment class that supports per-install .env files outside vendor via an environment variable (e.g. UPMVC_ENV_FILE).

We keep this version here as a reference only.

When we decide to move to this model globally, we can:

• Drop that enhanced `Environment.php` into `src/Etc/Config/Environment.php` in the main upMVC package.
• Update the docs to recommend per-install `.env` at the app root (e.g. `archive/lib/.env`).

For now, the official, supported workflow is section 3 above.