6: The example app

The phlo-demo-cms repository is a blog/magazine on SQLite, built to be copied.

6.1: What is in it

• Seven models, among them article, author, category and topic.
• Every relation type: parent (author, category), many (topics), child (comments).
• Image uploads on covers and avatars, and a wysiwyg body.
• One portable database: every model stores in data/cms.db.

6.2: One-command setup

The repo ships with a ready-made dataset (data/cms.db plus the uploaded covers, avatars and attachments), so there is no build or seed step: clone and serve. To regenerate the dataset from scratch (the seeder is fully deterministic and has no dependencies):

php www/app.php seed::run

seed::run drops and recreates every table, so it is always safe to start over. The first HTTP request builds the sources automatically.

6.3: Make it yours

Copy the repository, replace the models in modules/, update %app->models and %app->menu, and adjust the CREATE TABLE statements in seed.phlo to match. Remember the relation-column convention from the Relations chapter: the foreign key is the related model's short name.

Last updated on 23 August 2026