Chyrp Lite is an ultra-lightweight blogging engine written in PHP that enables users to host traditional blogs, tumblelogs, or custom web publishing platforms on their own web servers with minimal setup.

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🚀 Overview

Chyrp Lite is a simple, extensible blogging platform designed for self-hosting on any PHP-compatible web server, including shared hosting. It comes with six beautiful responsive themes, a user-friendly admin console, and full accessibility through semantic HTML5 and ARIA labeling.

This project solves the problem of bloated, complex content management systems by offering a lightweight, standards-compliant alternative that's easy to install, maintain, and customize. It's perfect for environments where resources are limited but control and simplicity are key.

Built for bloggers, indie makers, and anyone wanting a personal publishing platform without the overhead of heavier CMS options. Originating from the original Chyrp project in 2008 (founded by Alex Suraci who was frustrated with bulky engines), Chyrp Lite has been developed since 2014 by a global community of contributors focused on reliability and extensibility.

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✨ Key Features

• Easy installation via simple file upload and install.php (or Docker), with straightforward upgrades (minimal setup and low maintenance burden)
• Responsive, accessible themes using Twig templating engine (modern, mobile-first design compliant with W3C standards)
• Flexible "feathers" content types: Text, Photo, Quote, Link, Video, Audio, Uploader (supports diverse posting like traditional blogs or Tumblr-style tumblelogs)
• Extensible modules: tagging, comments, webmentions, caching, syntax highlighting, infinite scroll, lightbox, sitemap, and more (customize without complexity)
• Optional: Community-driven extensions and ongoing releases like "Iriomote" (v latest 2026)

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🛠 Tech Stack

• Backend: PHP 8.1+, PDO, cURL, mbstring
• Database: MySQL 5.7+, SQLite 3+, PostgreSQL 10+
• Templating: Twig
• Auth: Custom comprehensive user rights model
• Hosting: Any PHP server, Docker support

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👥 Who Is This For?

This project is useful for:

• Developers who want a lightweight self-hosted blogging engine
• Bloggers looking for simplicity and full control on shared hosting
• Indie makers building personal sites, tumblelogs, or custom publishing platforms

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📸 Screenshots / Demo

• Live demo: No public hosted demo; download and install from releases
• GitHub: https://github.com/xenocrat/chyrp-lite

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🔥 Project Status

• 🟢 Actively building

Last updated: 2026-03-07

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❓ FAQ

Is this project free?

Yes / Open Source (Free to download, use, and modify under BSD-3-Clause license.)

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Is the source code available?

Yes — https://github.com/xenocrat/chyrp-lite

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Can I contribute?

Yes — Report issues, join discussions, or submit PRs on GitHub. Module authors and theme developers welcome; contributions from users worldwide.

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📬 Contact & Links

• Website: https://chyrplite.net
• GitHub: https://github.com/xenocrat/chyrp-lite
• Wiki: https://chyrplite.net/wiki/

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