Bytecode Compilation

zphp build compiles a PHP file to serialized bytecode without executing it:

zphp build app.php
zphp run app.zphpc

For a .php input, the output replaces that suffix with .zphpc in the same directory. For other filenames, .zphpc is appended.

Running the bytecode skips parsing and compiling the entry point. This does not bundle files loaded with include or require, or application assets. Keep those runtime dependencies available at their expected paths.

zphp serve accepts a PHP source entry point and retains compiled bytecode across requests; it does not require a separate build step. A .zphpc file is for zphp run, not zphp serve.

For an executable containing the runtime and entry-point bytecode, see Standalone Executables.