Statamic: a Laravel-based CMS and content platform

Sources and evidence limits

It is based only on one supplied source: the front page of the Statamic documentation. That page is mostly a navigation list plus a short welcome. It does not state versions, PHP compatibility, licence terms, prices or support status, so this guide treats all of those as unknown.

What Statamic is

Statamic is a CMS, meaning a content platform product. It is not PHP core, not a PHP runtime, not an async library and not a framework adapter. The assignment describes it as Laravel-based. The source supports that indirectly: it lists Blade Templates, Task Scheduling and Laravel-oriented learning material. The page does not spell out the exact relationship, so confirm it in the Requirements and Core Concepts pages.

Keep three distinctions in mind:

• PHP core is the language and its extensions. A CMS runs on top of it.
• Framework components are libraries that you assemble. A CMS product ships an editing interface, a content model and conventions. Drupal is the usual comparison: Drupal CMS is a product, while PHP itself is the language underneath.
• Statamic is therefore something you install and configure as an application, not a component you require in someone else's runtime.

Content model, as far as the source shows

The navigation names the building blocks of the content model: Collections, Structures, Navigation, Taxonomies, Globals, Blueprints, Fieldsets, Fields, Relationships, Routing, Revisions and Validation. Further topics cover computed values and data inheritance. The packet gives no definitions, so read the Content Modeling overview before designing anything. It also does not say how content is stored. Stache and Git Automation appear as topics, but storage details are unknown from this evidence.

Architecture and frontend

The documentation is organised around these areas:

• A Control Panel with users, roles, permissions, multi-site, live preview, multi-user collaboration and white labeling.
• A frontend layer with Antlers templates, Blade templates, views, controllers, forms, search, asset handling, Glide image manipulation, and REST and GraphQL APIs.
• Backend extension points: addons, events, hooks, repositories, actions, query scopes, custom fieldtypes, tags, modifiers and widgets.
• Starter kits for creating, installing and updating a pre-built site.

The source does not explain how these pieces interact, so this guide does not either.

Request lifetime and persistent workers

In the classic PHP model, each request boots the application, handles the request and discards process state. Persistent workers keep an application in memory across many requests. They are a different execution model, and a CMS is not automatically safe in one.

The source lists a Lifecycle page, plus Caching, Static Caching, Blink Cache and Stache. It does not say whether Statamic supports persistent workers. Treat that as unknown and check the docs and your hosting setup before trying it.

If you do run any application in a persistent worker, plan for state leakage:

• Static properties, singletons and in-memory caches can carry one user's data into the next request.
• Per-request values such as the current user, site, locale or request object must be reset or rebuilt for every request.
• Cleanup means clearing or resetting that state after each request, closing resources and watching memory growth.
• Caches are a separate concern. They are meant to persist, so deliberate invalidation matters more than per-request cleanup.

Note also that Swoole and Open Swoole are different projects. Do not assume that guidance for one applies to the other, and none of this is evidence about Statamic.

Practical use cases

The documentation structure suggests editor-managed websites with structured content, multi-site setups, content served through APIs, and sites with custom addons. Treat these as reading hints rather than verified claims. The packet also lists a WordPress to Statamic guide and a Content Manager's Guide, which suggests migration and editor-training material exists.

Installation approach

The docs have a Requirements page, a Quick start guide and a How to install Statamic page. The packet shows their titles but not their contents, so this guide does not reproduce install commands or the required PHP version. Follow the official install page. Our learning track uses PHP 8.4, with PHP 8.5 planned. Whether Statamic supports either version is unknown here, so check Requirements first.

The example below is a small, plain-PHP preflight script. It checks that your CLI PHP meets the course baseline and, optionally, that a project folder looks like a Composer-managed Laravel-style application. The artisan check is a heuristic from Laravel convention, not something from the source. It is not a Statamic installer, and it is a command-line exercise that needs a local PHP CLI, not a browser exercise.

Strengths

What the source shows is breadth of documentation: content modeling, a control panel, two templating options, APIs, addons and starter kits are all documented. Whether any of that is better than alternatives is not something this evidence can establish, and this guide makes no performance claims.

Limitations

• Version, PHP compatibility, licence, pricing and support status are unknown from the supplied evidence. The Licensing and Release Schedule pages are the places to check.
• Lifecycle is recorded as unknown.
• The packet does not describe storage, deployment specifics or worker support.
• The example only prepares for installation. Any real setup should follow the official install steps.

Deployment

The docs include Deploying, Recommended Hosts, Caching and Static Caching pages, but the packet gives no content for them. Read them before choosing a host. Any development server you start should bind to 127.0.0.1, and any FastCGI service must never be exposed publicly. Keep secrets in environment configuration and out of version control.

Links

The only supplied official source is the Statamic documentation front page. Every topic named above is reachable from its navigation.

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

// Course-baseline check only. Statamic's own PHP requirements are NOT
// established by the source packet; read the official Requirements page.

$ok = true;

echo 'PHP version: ' . PHP_VERSION . PHP_EOL;

if (PHP_VERSION_ID < 80400) {
    echo 'FAIL: the course track expects PHP 8.4 or newer.' . PHP_EOL;
    $ok = false;
} else {
    echo 'OK: meets the course baseline.' . PHP_EOL;
}

$target = $argv[1] ?? null;

if ($target !== null) {
    $dir = rtrim($target, '/');

    if (!is_dir($dir)) {
        echo "FAIL: directory not found: {$dir}" . PHP_EOL;
        $ok = false;
    } else {
        foreach (['composer.json', 'artisan'] as $file) {
            if (is_file($dir . '/' . $file)) {
                echo "Found: {$dir}/{$file}" . PHP_EOL;
            } else {
                echo "Missing: {$dir}/{$file}" . PHP_EOL;
                $ok = false;
            }
        }
    }
}

exit($ok ? 0 : 1);

php preflight.php
php preflight.php ./statamic-site