Hi there! 👋
I'm KetutDana, and I’d love to share a personal story — about why and how I ended up creating my own PHP framework called VeltoPHP.
Where It All Started: From HTML to PHP
I started learning programming back in 2017, alongside my cousin at our workplace.
My very first project was a simple static website just plain HTML and CSS. No backend. No framework. Why?
Because I didn’t even know what a backend or framework was at the time.
I didn’t come from a computer science background. I had no formal training.
The only things I had were curiosity and a strong desire to learn. And that was enough to keep me going.
Discovering PHP and Learning the Backend
My cousin introduced me to my first programming language: PHP.
Why PHP? Because he happened to know PHP 😄
At first, I was confused why do we even need a backend?
I didn’t know what a database was, or CRUD, or how any of it worked.
But time taught me. I didn’t become an expert overnight, but I started to understand things.
I still remember my first real PHP project: a WhatsApp clone built with plain PHP and Bootstrap.
It worked barely. It was super basic and completely insecure. I even remember my code being vulnerable to SQL injection.
It was funny, in hindsight.
But that project marked the beginning of everything.
Falling in Love with Laravel
Eventually, I discovered a magical tool called Laravel.
I think it was Laravel 5 at the time and wow, was it impressive.
I was hooked. Laravel felt elegant, powerful, and full of features. I started using it for all my side projects.
By 2021, I was building everything in Laravel 8, just for fun and personal learning. None of my projects went into production — I was coding purely for the joy of it.
Laravel Kept Growing — But I Didn’t
As time went on, Laravel kept evolving.
Laravel 9, 10, 11, 12... Each release added more features and more power.
That’s amazing. I deeply admire the people behind Laravel — it’s truly an incredible framework.
But the more it grew, the more I felt like it was too much for me.
I’m just a hobby programmer. I build things for fun. I tinker. I explore.
Laravel started to feel like a giant and I was just a tiny ant.
I wanted to build something small and simple, but using Laravel felt like overkill.
On the other hand, going back to raw PHP felt like going back to the stone age.
So I Built VeltoPHP
In early 2025, I decided to sketch out my dream framework:
Something simple, fast, and focused but still elegant and enjoyable to use.
That’s how VeltoPHP was born.
Originally, it followed a concept I called RVC (Route-View-Controller) — a lightweight pattern inspired by MVC, but much simpler.
No database, no model, no complex processes just enough to build small static sites quickly and comfortably.
Enter Axion: Going Fullstack
But then I realized:
VeltoPHP was too simple. Without backend features like database access and authentication, what’s the point?
So I created a separate package called Axion.
It turned VeltoPHP into a fullstack framework, complete with models, login systems, and database support.
At first, it worked great.
But over time, bugs started appearing — especially when users didn’t integrate Axion properly.
VeltoPHP became unstable and fragile.
A Community Suggestion That Changed Everything
Then someone on Dev.to gave me valuable feedback:
“Why not make it modular? MVC is old. Try HMVC instead.”
That was a lightbulb moment for me.
I started digging into HMVC (Hierarchical Model-View-Controller) and realized it made perfect sense.
Each module could be isolated.
Bugs wouldn’t spread across the whole system.
Development became cleaner, more flexible, and easier to maintain.
So I rebuilt everything.
Introducing VeltoPHP V.2
And that’s how VeltoPHP V.2 came to life.
Now it’s built around HMVC, with modular structure, built-in middleware, and native authentication support (Axion) baked into the core — not a separate package anymore.
The Current State
VeltoPHP V.2 is still under active development.
I wouldn’t recommend it for production (yet), but it’s great for learning, prototyping, and experimenting.
It’s stable enough to build small projects, and simple enough to understand how it works under the hood.
My Hope
I’m not a big-name developer.
I don’t work at a fancy tech company.
But I have a small dream:
To make VeltoPHP useful especially for people like me. People who love coding for fun, who want to build small things without feeling overwhelmed.
If you're interested in joining the journey, you're more than welcome.
VeltoPHP is open-source, and open to contributions.
Thanks for reading!
Feel free to check out the repo:
➡️ github.com/veltophp
Let’s build something simple, together.
— KetutDana
Creator of VeltoPHP
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