olivier-ls

olivier-ls / php-fts

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A self-contained full-text search engine in pure PHP. No extensions, no dependencies.

43
0
100% credibility
Found May 07, 2026 at 42 stars -- GitGems finds repos before they trend. Get early access to the next one.
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AI Analysis
PHP
AI Summary

A lightweight full-text search tool built in pure PHP that uses simple files to index and query small to medium collections of documents with ranking, filters, and typo tolerance.

How It Works

1
🕵️ Discover the need

You run a small website or app and want to let people search through your products or articles, but big search tools need too much setup.

2
📥 Add the tool

You easily bring this search helper into your project so it works right away with your existing pages.

3
📁 Choose a data spot

You pick a simple folder on your site where all the search info will live safely.

4
➕ Load your stuff

You add your items like products, titles, descriptions, prices, and tags into the search helper.

5
🔍 Try your first search

You type words like 'leather shoe' and instantly get back the best matches ranked by how well they fit, even with small typos.

6
🔧 Narrow it down

You add handy filters for things like price range, categories, or brands to show exactly what people want.

7
🧹 Keep it fresh

From time to time, you tidy up the folder to remove old items and keep searches lightning fast.

✅ Search magic unlocked

Now your site feels professional with quick, smart searches that help visitors find what they need effortlessly.

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Star Growth

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AI-Generated Review

What is php-fts?

php-fts is a self-contained full-text search engine in pure PHP that indexes and queries documents using plain files—no extensions, no dependencies, no external services. Drop it into any PHP 8.1+ project, point it to a directory, and get ranked results with typo tolerance via trigram matching. It handles inserts, bulk loads, filters, field boosts, and soft deletes, solving search needs in minimal setups like shared hosting.

Why is it gaining traction?

In a world of heavy php fts engines like Elasticsearch, this stands out as truly portable: copy index files between servers without rebuilds, run on OVH shared plans with 3-20ms searches on 10k docs. BM25+IDF scoring delivers relevance on par with Lucene, plus AND/OR filters, ranges, and array ops—all in a zero-overhead package. Devs grab it for quick wins where full engines demand too much infra.

Who should use this?

PHP devs on shared hosting or tiny VPSes building product catalogs, docs search, or admin dashboards with hundreds to tens of thousands of items. Ideal for offline indexing via cron, powering filtered searches in Laravel apps or WordPress plugins without DB bloat. Skip if you need real-time writes or million-doc scale.

Verdict

Solid niche pick for pure PHP full-text search without dependencies—docs shine with benchmarks and demos, API is intuitive. At 25 stars and 1.0% credibility, it's early but battle-tested for small workloads; prototype with it before committing.

(198 words)

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