A lightweight, blazing-fast PHP content management system built for developers who value clean code and for creators who demand beautiful results.
Prime Core ships with a complete set of professional CMS features out of the box, with zero bloat and zero dependencies.
Full-featured TinyMCE editor with autosave, media embedding, scheduled publishing, and draft management. Write with confidence.
Drag-and-drop uploads with automatic thumbnail generation in 4 sizes. Responsive srcset images served out of the box.
Hierarchical categories with parent/child relationships, custom images, SEO-friendly slugs, and post count tracking.
Three-tier role system: Admin, Editor, and Author. Granular access control for posts, settings, and user management.
Threaded comments with AJAX submission, moderation queue, Gravatar integration, and spam-resistant honeypot protection.
Meta titles, descriptions, Open Graph tags, Twitter Cards, automatic sitemap generation, and RSS feed. No plugins needed.
CSRF protection, XSS filtering, rate limiting, session fixation prevention, secure file uploads, and bcrypt password hashing.
Premium editorial theme with Tailwind CSS, dark-mode-ready design system, 4 layout modes, lazy loading, and smooth animations.
Built-in dashboard with page views, post performance charts, comment activity, and subscriber growth tracking via Chart.js.
AJAX contact form with email notifications, newsletter subscription system, subscriber management, and GDPR-ready cookie consent.
Web-based installer with database auto-configuration, demo content generation with real images, and admin account creation in under 60 seconds.
Live notification bell with auto-polling for pending comments, new contacts, subscriber signups, and scheduled post alerts.
Dark sidebar, clean data tables, inline actions, and zero page reloads. Everything is AJAX-powered and keyboard accessible.
Prime Core is pure PHP with zero external dependencies. No Composer, no npm, no build steps required for deployment. Upload, configure, done.
No Composer packages. No npm modules. Pure PHP 8+ with PDO, bcrypt, and native functions only.
Custom router, controller-based structure, PDO database layer with auto-prefix, and a proper template engine.
CSRF tokens, XSS filtering via HTML Purifier-style cleaner, rate limiting, session fixation prevention, and bcrypt hashing.
Runs on any shared host with PHP 8+ and MySQL 5.7+. Apache or Nginx. No CLI access required.
Premium editorial theme with standalone Tailwind CLI. Two separate configs for admin and frontend. No Node.js needed.
// One-click installation
// Upload → Visit /install → Done
$config = [
'db_host' => 'localhost',
'db_name' => 'my_site',
'db_user' => 'root',
'db_prefix' => 'pm_',
'site_name' => 'My Blog',
'admin_email' => 'me@site.com',
];
// Auto-generates:
// ✓ Database tables
// ✓ Admin account
// ✓ Demo content + images
// ✓ Default settings
// ✓ .htaccess routing
echo "Ready in <60 seconds.";We built Prime Core as the antithesis to bloated CMS platforms. Here's how it compares.
| Feature | Prime Core | WordPress | Ghost | Statamic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Install time | < 60 seconds | 3-5 minutes | 5-10 minutes | 5-10 minutes |
| Dependencies | Zero | Composer optional | Node.js required | Composer + Node.js |
| Total file size | ~2 MB | ~60 MB | ~100 MB | ~40 MB |
| PHP required | 8.0+ | 7.4+ | Node.js | 8.1+ |
| Shared hosting | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | Limited |
| Built-in SEO | ✓ | Plugin needed | ✓ | ✓ |
| Built-in analytics | ✓ | Plugin needed | ✓ | ✗ |
| Security hardening | Built-in | Plugin needed | Built-in | Built-in |
| Responsive theme | Premium included | Free basic | Default Casper | Starter kit |
| License | One-time | Free (GPLv2) | Subscription | One-time |
No subscriptions, no hidden fees, no per-site licenses. Buy once, use forever.
Prime Core requires PHP 8.0 or higher, MySQL 5.7+ (or MariaDB 10.3+), and Apache with mod_rewrite enabled (or Nginx with equivalent rewrite rules). It runs on virtually any shared hosting plan.
No. Prime Core has zero external dependencies. The Tailwind CSS theme includes a standalone CLI binary for optional CSS customization, but no build step is needed for deployment. Just upload and go.
Absolutely. The theme uses standard PHP templates, custom CSS, and Tailwind CSS utility classes. You have full access to all template files, partials, and stylesheets. The Tailwind standalone CLI is included for rebuilding after customizations.
Upload the files to your web server and visit yoursite.com/install. The web-based wizard guides you through database configuration, admin account creation, and optional demo content generation. The entire process takes under 60 seconds.
Yes. Prime Core includes CSRF token protection, XSS input sanitization, bcrypt password hashing, session fixation prevention, rate limiting on auth endpoints, secure file upload validation, and SQL injection prevention via PDO prepared statements.
Prime Core is designed as a fresh-start CMS. While there's no automatic WordPress import tool, the clean database schema (posts, categories, users, comments) makes manual content migration straightforward via CSV or SQL export/import.
Standard license includes community forum access and documentation. Extended license adds priority email support with a 24-hour response time during business days. Both licenses include access to all updates within their respective terms.
Stop fighting your CMS. Start creating. Prime Core gives you everything you need and nothing you don't.