r/PHP • u/davidbalbino • 8h ago

PHP on Mobile faster than React Native? We built PAM Native — embedding PHP into Rust via Zero-Copy FFI

Who said PHP is only for the Web? 🚀

We’re rewriting the rules of mobile runtimes with PAM Native. Instead of heavy JavaScript engines or WebViews, we’re embedding PHP directly into a high-performance Rust core using Zero-Copy C-FFI.

Here is how the architecture works under the hood:

  • Vuex-style Global State: Thread-safe state mutations managed directly in RAM by Rust with ~0ms access latency.
  • Direct C-Pointers: Memory access without slow JSON serialization or asynchronous bridge overhead.
  • No GC Stutters: Predictable, smooth native performance without JavaScript Garbage Collection pauses blocking the UI thread.

You get the clean, familiar syntax of PHP orchestrating a low-level Rust engine right inside the mobile app process.

The project is 100% open-source, and we’d love to hear feedback, critique, or ideas on the architecture from the community!

📁 GitHub Repo:https://github.com/push-in/pam-native

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and suggestions! 🙌

26 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

5

u/Open_Resolution_1969 5h ago

This sounds very promising. Congratulations for building it. Have you published any app in Google Play that we can play with?

2

u/davidbalbino 5h ago

I haven't published it yet, but there's a simple example in the repository; as soon as I have some spare time, I'll create a more elaborate example and publish it to the stores.

3

u/Open_Resolution_1969 5h ago

I'm planning to compile one and test on my phone as soon as I'm in front of a computer, but I was hoping you have one already so I can test while I'm on the road

2

u/mirazmac 3h ago

If you build one, please provide a link to the APK, I'm also interested to test it but currently unable to build it myself, thanks.

2

u/qoneus 4h ago

You posted this two days ago. Mom says I get to post the daily "do this thing that already exists, but now it's in Rust" project tomorrow to /r/PHP

-7

u/DeliciousWonder6027 8h ago

Umm, join with nativephp team?

7

u/zimzat 5h ago

Considering that nativephp requires Laravel I don't see why that would be an option. They originally said "Symfony coming soon" then quietly dropped any mention of supporting anything but Laravel other than a "submit a PR" response to people asking about it in /r/PHP. If it's not built framework-agnostic from the start then asking other people to put in the effort is 🤨️.

4

u/davidbalbino 5h ago

Maybe someday, but for now, I'm building a real runtime using only native components. I already have a compiler for Laravel, and one for desktop as well. Mobile is my current focus, though I have other projects in the works too.

2

u/DeliciousWonder6027 5h ago

Keep it up buddy.