PHP: what the FFI binding needs

The PHP package calls the engine through FFI, which has two hard requirements and one platform exclusion.

The PHP package is a binding, not an extension. It calls the engine through PHP's FFI, which means there is nothing to compile and nothing to install into your PHP build -- but it does mean FFI has to be available.

You need PHP 7.4 or newer with the FFI extension loaded. For anything other than a command-line script you also want the preload bootstrap the package ships, because loading the definitions per request is measurably slower than loading them once at start-up.

One platform is excluded, and it is worth knowing before you order rather than after: 32-bit Windows is not supported by this package. The engine uses the stdcall calling convention there and PHP's FFI has no syntax to express it. Every other platform the package lists works normally. If your deployment is 32-bit Windows, a different package is the answer.

Last updated 2026-09-09.

Bitness has to match the interpreter A 64-bit interpreter cannot load a 32-bit engine. This is the most common first-run failure in the script packages.

PHP: what the FFI binding needs

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