# Box

📦🚀 Fast, zero config application bundler with PHARs.

Repository: https://github.com/box-project/box
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/box
Homepage: https://box-project.github.io/box
Language: PHP
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: phar, php, console-application, command-line, archive
Last push: 2026-06-29T06:06:13+00:00
Link (homepage): https://box-project.github.io/box

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 87/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 90, release rhythm 75, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3224, "days_push": 65, "days_rel": 168, "gap_med": 12.0, "n_releases_24m": 9}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1320, forks 110 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:21.762981+00:00)

## What it is
Box is a fast, zero-configuration CLI application for building PHAR archives from PHP projects. It bundles application code into a single executable PHAR with features like code isolation, requirements checking, signature verification, and Docker support.

## Use cases
- build a phar from my php cli application
- package a php project into a single executable file
- compile php app into phar with zero config
- verify the signature of an existing phar
- inspect contents of a phar file
- add a requirements checker to my phar
- distribute a php command-line tool as one file

## When to choose
- you need to distribute a PHP CLI application as a single self-contained PHAR
- you want fast, mostly zero-config PHAR building with sensible defaults
- you need PHAR inspection, diffing, or signature verification tooling
- you want Git-tag-based versioning baked into your PHAR builds

## When to avoid
- your project is a web application not meant to run as a standalone PHAR
- you need to package non-PHP binaries or cross-language executables
- you are on Box2 and cannot migrate - use the legacy box2 project instead

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: build-tool, cli, compression, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools
- platform: cli, php, cross-platform
- tags: phar, php, bundler, packaging, humbug, command-line, automation, docker

## Member repositories
- box-project/box (main) score 87
- box-project/box2 (mirror) score 10

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:21.762981+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T04:47:22.035441+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/box-project/box (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:21.762981+00:00, sha bc2d8f9e5d6d)
  - homepage: https://box-project.github.io/box (fetched 2026-08-29T12:06:12.977484+00:00, sha 8a870fa14464)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.