# leafo/lessphp

LESS compiler written in PHP

Repository: https://github.com/leafo/lessphp
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/lessphp
Homepage: http://leafo.net/lessphp
Language: PHP
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Last push: 2024-05-16T00:46:15+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 6252, "days_push": 840, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2179, forks 509 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:23.098332+00:00)

## What it is
lessphp is a compiler for the LESS CSS preprocessor language written entirely in PHP, distributed as a single includable class with an optional command-line interface. It is designed to be compatible with less.js and serve as a drop-in replacement for compiling LESS to CSS in PHP projects.

## Use cases
- compile LESS to CSS in a PHP project
- compile stylesheets from the command line
- auto-recompile LESS files only when they change
- set LESS variables from PHP at compile time
- register custom LESS functions in PHP
- compress CSS output for production

## When to choose
- your project is in PHP and you need server-side LESS compilation without Node.js
- you want a single-file dependency with no build tooling
- you need a CLI compiler with watch mode on a PHP-only stack

## When to avoid
- you need the latest LESS language features, since less.js is the reference implementation
- your build pipeline already uses Node.js tooling like less.js or webpack
- you need actively developed features or fast bug turnaround

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: maintenance
- function: compiler, cli, developer-tools
- domain: web-development, frontend, developer-tools
- platform: php, cli
- tags: less, css-preprocessor, stylesheet-compiler, single-file-library, web-server

## Member repositories
- leafo/lessphp (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:23.098332+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 2026-08-30T02:48:46.345179+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/leafo/lessphp (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:23.098332+00:00, sha 6a9b7256f3d7)
  - homepage: http://leafo.net/lessphp (fetched 2026-08-29T10:28:44.754586+00:00, sha 2aec6898dd38)
  - site_page: https://leafo.net/lessphp/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T10:28:44.766763+00:00, sha 422bfe7d1712)
  - site_page: https://leafo.net/lessphp/changelog.html (fetched 2026-08-29T10:28:44.764464+00:00, sha c4cbcfe3ca23)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.