Tech Stack

VoxelSite is a PHP application. Every file is included, readable, and yours to modify.

The stack

No Laravel. No Symfony. No Composer dependencies. No npm packages on the server. The backend is plain PHP with a SQLite database — the kind of stack that runs on any hosting with zero configuration.

What's in the box

When you extract the VoxelSite ZIP, you get two distinct codebases in one directory:

The Studio (_studio/)

This is the application — the admin panel, AI engine, API layer, visual editor, and all the tools that generate and manage your website.

_studio/
├── engine/             # Core PHP: AI providers, streaming, file generation,
│                       #   Tailwind compiler, publishing, snapshots, forms,
│                       #   revision tracking, and all server-side logic
├── api/                # API endpoints the Studio frontend calls
├── ui/                 # Studio frontend (JavaScript, CSS, build system)
│   ├── app.js          # Main application logic
│   ├── state.js        # State management
│   ├── router.js       # Client-side routing
│   ├── api.js          # API client
│   ├── theme.js        # Dark/light mode toggle
│   ├── src/            # Source files (Tailwind CSS, icons, entry point)
│   └── dist/           # Compiled output (studio.css, studio.js)
├── templates/          # PHP templates for the Studio interface
├── prompts/            # AI system prompts (the instructions VoxelSite sends
│                       #   to the AI provider before your message)
├── custom_prompts/     # Your overrides — survives updates
├── static/             # Static assets (Monaco editor, fonts)
├── data/               # SQLite database, configuration
├── preview/            # AI workspace for in-progress generation
├── revisions/          # Undo/redo history
├── snapshots/          # Manual save points
└── logs/               # Error and AI interaction logs

The generated website (everything outside _studio/)

These are the files your visitors see. VoxelSite generates them; you can also edit them directly.

your-site/
├── index.php           # Homepage
├── about.php           # About page (and any other pages)
├── submit.php          # Form handler
├── mcp.php             # MCP server endpoint
├── _partials/          # Shared includes (header, nav, footer, schema)
├── assets/
│   ├── css/            # style.css (design tokens) + tailwind.css
│   ├── js/             # Vanilla JavaScript (no frameworks)
│   ├── images/         # Uploaded images
│   ├── data/           # Structured data (JSON)
│   ├── icons/          # SVG icons
│   └── library/        # Built-in image library
├── sitemap.xml         # Generated on publish
├── robots.txt          # Generated on publish
└── llms.txt            # AI discovery map

For a detailed breakdown of the generated files, see File Output & Ownership.

Why no framework

Frameworks add layers. Every layer is a surface for bugs, version conflicts, and compatibility issues across hosting environments. VoxelSite runs on shared hosting, VPS, Forge, Herd, Valet, cPanel, Plesk — everywhere PHP runs. A framework dependency would either lock out hosting environments or require maintaining compatibility shims for each one.

The same logic applies to the generated websites. No React, no Vue, no npm. The output is HTML, CSS, PHP, and vanilla JavaScript. Delete _studio/ and the website keeps running. No runtime dependency on VoxelSite at all.

For AI coding tools like Cursor, Windsurf, or Antigravity, this is an advantage. A clean PHP codebase with linear logic and no abstraction layers is easier for AI agents to read, understand, and modify. See Take Your Future Into Your Own Hands for how to extend VoxelSite using AI IDEs.

Key architectural decisions

SQLite over MySQL. One file, zero configuration, included in every PHP installation. No database server to set up, no connection strings, no user management. The database lives at _studio/data/studio.db and backs up with a simple file copy.

Server-side Tailwind compiler. VoxelSite compiles Tailwind CSS on the server using a PHP-based compiler — no Node.js required at runtime. The AI generates HTML with Tailwind utility classes, and the compiler produces a minimal CSS file containing only the utilities actually used. This runs automatically on every generation and publish.

Streaming AI responses. VoxelSite streams the AI provider's response in real time. As the model generates each file, the Studio writes it to disk and updates the preview immediately. If the connection drops (common on shared hosting with short timeouts), the server continues generating in the background and the Studio polls for completion. See Requirements → PHP execution timeout for timeout configuration.

Update-safe customization. AI system prompts use a two-layer system: _studio/prompts/ contains the defaults (overwritten on update), and _studio/custom_prompts/ contains your overrides (preserved on update). The engine loads from custom_prompts/ first, falling back to prompts/ if no override exists. See Code Editor → System Prompts.

Building the Studio frontend

The Studio UI ships as compiled files (dist/studio.css and dist/studio.js) — you don't need Node.js to run VoxelSite. But if you want to modify the Studio interface, the full source and build system are included:

• CSS: Tailwind CSS source in _studio/ui/src/studio.src.css, compiled with @tailwindcss/cli
• JavaScript: ES modules bundled with esbuild into a single file
• Build: npm run build compiles both; npm run watch for live rebuilding

See Customizing the Studio for the full module map, setup instructions, and common customizations.

Server requirements

VoxelSite runs on any hosting with PHP 8.2+ and the standard extensions (PDO SQLite, cURL, OpenSSL, mbstring, JSON, fileinfo, GD/Imagick, ZipArchive). See Requirements for the full list and hosting recommendations.

Related

• File Output & Ownership — what the generated website looks like
• The AI Engine — how conversations become websites
• Customizing the Studio — modifying the admin interface
• Requirements — server and PHP requirements
• Take Your Future Into Your Own Hands — extending VoxelSite with AI coding tools