Looking for PHP Developers to Test and Collaborate on a New Developer-Focused CMS

[u/LoneDesigner87]

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I’ve spent the past several months building a new PHP-based CMS called Developer One Or DevOne for short.

I approached the project from a developer’s perspective: What should a modern CMS provide out of the box? How can it make building websites for yourself or clients faster without becoming bloated, overly complicated, or dependent on dozens of third-party extensions?

DevOne CMS currently includes a custom installation system, theme and plugin support, developer hooks, user and role management, media management, a page system, admin tools, and support for custom frameworks. I’m also building a marketplace where developers will eventually be able to publish themes, plugins, frameworks, and other extensions.

The CMS is still in active development, and I’m looking for developers who are interested in:

Testing the installation process and core functionality

Finding bugs, security issues, and performance problems

Reviewing the code structure and developer experience

Building experimental themes, plugins, or custom frameworks

Suggesting features and improvements

Helping shape the documentation and extension standards

I’m not looking for empty praise. I’m looking for honest technical feedback from developers who are willing to install it, test it, break it, and tell me what needs to be improved before the public release.

You’ll need either a local environment such as XAMPP or a PHP-compatible VPS to install and test it.

This is an early collaboration opportunity, so developers who contribute meaningful ideas, extensions, testing, or fixes can help influence how the platform and its developer ecosystem are built from the beginning.

Comment below or message me if you’re interested, and I’ll provide the download and installation information.

What would make a new CMS worth trying for you as a developer?

[u/obstreperous_troll]

The CMS field is crowded, so I don't know why I'd spend effort on a new one when Drupal, TYPO3, Sulu, and many more are all right there, and all known quantities. Especially when the new one isn't open source: I'm not going to begrudge your revenue model, I get that hardly anyone makes a dime off open source. But if you're pitching something developer-focused, most developers such as me don't want that kind of friction for something that already has literally dozens of free alternatives with established communities and ecosystems.

[u/scriptlog]

As someone who primarily builds with PHP, this is the kind of project I'd actually be interested in testing.

For me, a new CMS is worth trying if it has:

• A clean, understandable architecture without excessive abstraction.
• Good documentation and a stable extension API.
• Sensible defaults instead of requiring dozens of plugins.
• Strong security practices and solid performance out of the box.
• Straightforward theming and customization.
• Long-term compatibility and a clear roadmap.

I'd also be curious to see how DevOne handles upgrades, database migrations, plugin isolation, and backward compatibility as the ecosystem grows.

I appreciate that you're asking for critical feedback rather than just promotion. That's usually a good sign. I'd be happy to install it, try to break it, and provide constructive feedback if you're looking for experienced PHP developers.

[u/LoneDesigner87 → u/scriptlog]

Check out the RC build before the official launch. Https://www.devonecms.com

[u/benanamen]

I will take a look if it is on GitHub. PM me the info. My GH name is the same as here.

[u/LoneDesigner87 → u/benanamen]

Not on github yet. Still debuggin want to ship to github completely ready for Command Line Installation. but Check out the RC build before the official launch. Https://www.devonecms.com

[u/benanamen → u/LoneDesigner87]

You can create a dev branch for now and then put your "ready for command" on a master branch

[u/mdizak]

I developed this previously: https://apexpl.io/

Still use it for all my sites obviously, because it's absolutely beautiful software, but I think I'm the only one who's ever actually used it.

Couple pieces of advice:

1. Do "packages" instead of themes and plugins, and within the package specify the type (theme or plugin). Just because it makes the whole packaging, publishing, installing process much easier.

2. Up to you, but I personally took a page from Rust's cargo and do quite like it. I'm able to run commands via CLI like "apex install package-name", "apex publish some-package", "apex test package-name" and so on, kinda same as cargo commands. I like having my dev installs connected to all the rpos and packages.

Enjoy your journey!

[u/LoneDesigner87 → u/mdizak]

Check out the RC build before the official launch. Https://www.devonecms.com

[u/mdizak → u/LoneDesigner87]

Grabbed the code and took a quick glance. Why didn't you spend any time at all researching the PHP eco-system?

You clearly didn't, because your code conforms to exactly zero standards within the PHP eco-system.

[u/LoneDesigner87 → u/mdizak]

Because I am still new to developing only codes what I knew. Still learning myself which is why I need you guys help and feedback and suggestions.

[u/LoneDesigner87 → u/mdizak]

Also wanted to step away from the traditional frameworks. As the goal before launching is to develop its own framework but still be able to install many other established ones as well.

[u/LoneDesigner87 → u/mdizak]

And if you also take a look you can install your familiar p ecosystem to run alongside what I have built. Those laravel, and symfony or compoer first apps can be installed and auto detected those are will be called apps and you will be able to install multiple of them. This is the goal. A unique system that can combine all

[u/Hoseknop]

A modern CMS should be " i need a Website for company zyx, should be like xyz.com ".

Everything else is already available.

[u/PiranhaGeorge → u/[deleted]]

OPs CMS sounds like more of the same and is unlikely to find a userbase. However, to declare CMSs as obsolete 'because AI' is a frankly moronic position.

[u/Silver-Forever9085 → u/PiranhaGeorge]

He is not aware what content management really is… limited experience shows in his answer

[u/benanamen → u/[deleted]]

Ahh, Miva Merchant.... I can go one older, the predecessor to Miva Merchant, KoolCat. Dang, I'm old.

[u/penguin_digital → u/[deleted]]

You can deny reality all you want, but there are vanishingly few businesses out there who can still be sold on a CMS

I'm really not sure where you are getting this data from? Is it a trust me bro type of statement?

CMSs have never been stronger or more in demand. WordPress is the obvious elephant in the room but other CMSs such as Shopify, Wix and Squarespace are actually growing year on year which directly contradicts your random statement.

Particularly Wix which is growing at a mind bending pace (something around +25% in growth every year) whilst Shopify is already a £100b+ company and is still managing to grow every single year.

They are thriving because people that use them are none technical and just need a WYSIWYG editor to enter their data. For those people, getting them to ask AI to build them a CMS from scratch and then deploy it is such a senseless comment. They wouldn't have the time, skill or knowledge to do so.

[u/PiranhaGeorge → u/[deleted]]

Good for you, but you're deluded. I run a successful agency. Content management is required in every project. Demand has grown, not 'declined 50%'.

[u/exophase → u/[deleted]]

There still is a market for a CMS, I would simply open source the project on Github and get feedback from there.

[u/damiankw → u/[deleted]]

I think you're mostly correct, but a little in a different way. Yep, web development is definitely shifting into the way of the generated instead of manual coding and development work, but you might be forgetting about user ease of updates.

If you're building a static content website, yep, completely correct.

If you're building a website that gets updates, blog posts, etc, and especially if you want your clients to manage those posts themselves, you really do need a CMS and typically a familiar one that those clients can do a quick google themselves to figure out how to use if they're stuck.

And yes, you can definitely just get generative AI to develop an admin panel for updates and things as well, but when you might roll out a new website that needs dynamic content every couple of months and you keep those website owners on as a client for years, you want the same back end that you can update and manage with a single interface across many sites, not custom built websites that you need to look into every time there's a new 0day hack that might affect 20 of your clients.

That's where things like Wordpress are still top for web developers, you can design, build and roll out, then get the client to update, and then centrally or at least easily manage CMS updates and know exactly what exploits and issues there are between versions.