A lightweight, next-generation IDE for PHP & Laravel that delivers 90–95% of PhpStorm's developer experience at a fraction of the resource cost.
PhpStorm intelligence · VS Code performance · Cursor UX · JetBrains polish · native desktop feel.
This bundle is the complete, venture-scale engineering and product specification for Photon IDE (working codename). It is organized as a documentation repo: each deliverable is a standalone file so it can be owned, reviewed, and versioned independently.
| Metric | Target | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Cold startup | < 2 s to interactive editor | The single most-felt difference vs. JVM IDEs |
| Warm startup | < 600 ms | Re-opening a known project must feel instant |
| Idle memory (medium project) | < 500 MB RSS | Leaves headroom for the rest of the dev machine |
| Large project | 1M+ files indexed without UI stall | Monorepos, vendor trees, generated code |
| Keystroke-to-paint latency | < 16 ms (60 fps) | Typing must never feel laggy |
| Go-to-definition | < 50 ms p95 (warm index) | Navigation must feel "free" |
| Search Everywhere first results | < 100 ms | The command palette is the IDE's front door |
These numbers are the product. Every architectural decision in this bundle is justified against them.
- Performance is a feature, not a tuning pass. The architecture is designed cold-start-first and memory-first. Nothing heavy runs on the UI thread, ever.
- Laravel-first. Where a generic PHP IDE stops, Photon keeps going — routes, Eloquent, the container, Blade, config, queues are first-class domain objects, not regex heuristics.
- Intelligence over features. A smaller set of deeply correct features beats a large set of shallow ones.
- Extensible by default. Core capabilities (PHP intelligence, Laravel intelligence, DB tools) are themselves plugins built on the same SDK third parties use.
- Native feel, web velocity. Tauri + Rust for the shell and engines; React + TypeScript for a UI that ships fast — but with strict guardrails so it never feels like Electron.
- Desktop runtime: Tauri 2 (Rust core, OS WebView for UI — no bundled Chromium).
- UI: React + TypeScript + Tailwind, with a custom virtualized editor surface.
- Backend services: Rust workspace (multi-crate), async via Tokio.
- Language intelligence: Tree-sitter for syntax + an LSP host + a bespoke PHP semantic engine.
- Persistence: SQLite (symbol index, project intelligence, caches) + RocksDB-style append log for incremental updates.
- AI: Pluggable provider layer (Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, local LLMs) behind a stable internal contract.
See 09 — Tauri/Rust backend for the full rationale, including why not Electron and where the WebView boundary sits.
| # | Document | Covers |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | System Architecture | Process model, layering, data flow, threading, IPC |
| 02 | Domain-Driven Module Design | The 16 modules, bounded contexts, editor/nav/refactor/db/git/terminal |
| 03 | Database Schema | SQLite symbol & intelligence schema, migrations, indexes |
| 04 | Indexing Engine | Incremental indexing, file watching, scale to 1M+ files |
| 05 | PHP Analysis Engine | Type inference, generics, traits, attributes, PHPDoc |
| 06 | Laravel Intelligence Engine | Routes, Eloquent, container, Blade, config, queues |
| 07 | Plugin SDK Specification | Sandboxing, versioned APIs, marketplace, hot reload |
| 08 | UI Component Architecture | Component tree, state, virtualization, theming, panels |
| 09 | Tauri / Rust Backend Architecture | Crate layout, IPC, async runtime, memory strategy |
| 10 | AI Subsystem Architecture | Providers, context engine, agent mode, inline completion |
| 11 | MVP Roadmap | What ships first, 0→1 milestones, definition of done |
| 12 | Production Roadmap | 1.0 → maturity, feature sequencing |
| 13 | Scaling Strategy | Performance scaling, team scaling, infra scaling |
| 14 | Technical Risk Analysis | Top risks, likelihood/impact, mitigations |
| 15 | Monetization Strategy | Pricing, packaging, GTM, unit economics |
- Investors / leadership: Start with this README, then 11 MVP, 15 Monetization, 14 Risk.
- Architects: 01 System → 02 Modules → 09 Backend.
- Language tooling engineers: 04 Indexing → 05 PHP → 06 Laravel → 03 Schema.
- Plugin authors: 07 Plugin SDK.
Codename "Photon". This document is a design specification, not shipping code. Interface sketches in Rust/TypeScript are illustrative of contracts and shapes, not final signatures.