Start a PHP Development Server

php-server is a utility that simplifies the process of starting PHP's built-in development web server directly from Node.js applications. It's designed for development environments, not production, and provides an API to control the server, including specifying port, hostname, base directory, and custom PHP configurations like INI directives or a router script. The package is currently at version 3.0.0 and maintains an active release cadence, primarily driven by Node.js version updates. Key differentiators include its simple API for programmatic control, automatic process management, and seamless integration with Node.js development workflows, making it easy to spin up a quick PHP backend for testing or local development without managing separate PHP processes manually. It is a pure ESM package.