Personal Blog CMS · PHP

A lightweight CMS
built for blogging

KiraUI is a high-performance PHP content management system purpose-built for personal blogs. Modern architecture, responsive design, and a complete admin panel — without the bloat.

View on GitHub Visit Website ↗ Installation Guide ↓
www.kiraui.org
Mar 12
Getting started with KiraUI — a quick setup guide
TutorialPHP
Mar 08
Why I built my own blog engine instead of using WordPress
Opinion
Feb 27
Optimizing file-based caching in PHP 8 applications
PerformancePHP
Feb 14
Dark mode implementation with CSS custom properties
CSSUX
⚠️

Important: KiraUI can now be used in edge production environments. Always back up your files and database before updating.

Features

Everything a personal blog needs

From content creation to comment moderation, KiraUI covers the full lifecycle of running a personal blog.

🚀
High Performance
File-based caching reduces database hits and keeps page loads snappy, even under sustained traffic. Friendly to low-spec servers.
📱
Responsive Design
Fully adaptive layouts that look great on desktops, tablets, and phones without any extra effort.
🔒
Security Built In
Protections against common web vulnerabilities baked into the core — not bolted on as an afterthought.
📝
Article Management
Full CRUD for posts with categories and tags. Draft, publish, and organize your content from a clean admin panel.
💬
Comment System
Reader comments with threaded replies and admin moderation. Stay in control of your conversations.
👥
User Roles & Permissions
Multi-user support with role-based access control for collaborative blog setups.
📧
Email Notifications
Integrated PHPMailer handles transactional emails — comment alerts, password resets, and more.
🌗
Light / Dark Theme
One-click theme toggle with persistent preference, powered by CSS custom properties and a small JS module.
🔍
SEO Friendly
Clean URL structure, optimized meta tags, and semantic HTML give your posts the best chance of being discovered.
🔄
Built-in Updater
Online update from the admin panel with automatic database and file backup — your data is always preserved.
📄
Page & Menu Manager
Manage static pages and site navigation menus directly from the dashboard, no file editing needed.
⚡
Cache Management
Clear and refresh the file cache on demand from the admin panel for instant content updates.
Frontend
  • 📰 Latest posts homepage
  • 📖 Article detail with comments
  • 👤 User profile & settings center
  • 🔍 Full-text keyword search
Admin Panel
  • 📊 Dashboard with site statistics
  • ✏️ Publish, edit & delete articles
  • 👥 User registration & permissions
  • 💬 Comment review & moderation
  • ⚙️ System settings & site info
  • 📄 Pages & menu management
  • 🔄 Cache flush & online update
Tech Stack

Pragmatic and proven

Built on widely-supported, battle-tested technologies. No exotic dependencies, no lock-in.

PHP
PHP
8.0 or higher
SQL
MySQL
8.0 or higher
HTTP
Apache
mod_rewrite required
HTTP
Nginx
Rewrite rules needed
Mail
PHPMailer
v7.0.2
Cache
File Cache
Zero-dependency
Installation

Up and running quickly

A standard LAMP or LNMP stack is all you need. Follow these steps to get your blog live.

1
Clone the repository
Download the project and upload it to your web server's root directory.
$git clone https://github.com/YuSoLAB/KiraUI
2
Set up your environment
Install PHP 8.0+, MySQL 8.0+, and Apache or Nginx. Enable mod_rewrite on Apache, or configure rewrite rules on Nginx.
3
Install dependencies
The source ships with all required libraries. Only run this if you need to update them.
$composer install
4
Initialize via the admin panel
Create a MySQL database, then visit the setup page to complete initial configuration.
/admin/admin
5
Start blogging
Your blog is live at the domain root. Manage everything from the admin dashboard.
Project Structure
KiraUI/ ├── admin/ — back-end management ├── cache/ — file cache storage ├── img/ — static image assets ├── include/ — core class library ├── uploads/ — user-uploaded files ├── vendor/ — Composer dependencies ├── .htaccess — Apache rewrite rules ├── index.php — front-end entry point └── README.md
Access Points
Front www.kiraui.org/
Admin www.kiraui.org/admin/admin
Philosophy

Why KiraUI exists

The goal is a simple, efficient CMS for personal blogs — without wasted resources or unnecessary complexity.

🎯
No animation bloat
Storage space and render performance are not wasted on showy animations that add no value to readers.
🖥️
Low-spec friendly
Designed to run smoothly on cheap shared hosting and handle high-traffic blogs without expensive hardware.
🆓
Completely free
Features that other platforms charge for as premium plugins are built in and open-source under GPL 2.0.
📦
Out of the box
No marketplace of required paid themes or plugins. Everything you need to run a blog ships in the repository.
🚫
Escape WordPress
Break free from WordPress's heavy resource consumption, sprawling plugin ecosystem, and expensive premium themes.
🔧
Batteries included
PHPMailer, file caching, SEO routing, dark mode, and user management — all integrated, zero configuration glue required.
Nginx Reference

Running on Nginx

KiraUI is developed on Apache, but Nginx is fully supported. Use this rewrite configuration as a starting point.

nginx.conf (server block) 
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name www.kiraui.org;
    root /path/to/your-project;

    index index.php;

    location ~* ^/favicon\.(ico|png|svg)$ {
        try_files /img/favicon.$1 =404;
    }

    if ($request_uri ~ "^/index\.php(\?.*)?$") {
        return 301 /;
    }

    set $php_redir "";
    if ($request_method = GET)                        { set $php_redir "G"; }
    if ($uri ~ "^/(index|get_download_url)\.php")     { set $php_redir "skip"; }
    if ($php_redir = "G") {
        rewrite ^/([^/]+)\.php$ /$1 permanent;
    }
    rewrite ^/([^./]+(?:/[^./]+)*)/?$ /$1.php last;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }
}

⚠️ This is a reference configuration. Adjust paths and server_name to match your environment. For most setups with modest traffic, Apache with mod_rewrite is the recommended and simpler choice.