shikiphp

shikiphp is a pure-PHP port of Shiki, the syntax highlighter that powers VS Code's own coloring. It tokenizes code with the same TextMate grammars and paints it with the same VS Code themes Shiki uses, producing the same HTML — entirely in PHP.

No Node runtime. No PHP extensions beyond json and mbstring. No native Oniguruma binding. No shelling out to a JavaScript process, and no hosted API.

use Shikiphp\Shikiphp;

echo Shikiphp::codeToHtml(<<<'PHP'
<?php
function greet(string $name): string {
    return "Hello, {$name}!";
}
PHP, [
    'lang'  => 'php',
    'theme' => 'github-dark',
]);

Why shikiphp

Server-rendered syntax highlighting in PHP usually means one of three compromises: shelling out to Node, calling a hosted API, or settling for a regex-based highlighter that does not actually understand the language. None of those fit cleanly into a Laravel, WordPress, or static-site build step.

shikiphp removes the compromise by porting Shiki's real pipeline to PHP:

a TextMate grammar tokenizer (a faithful port of vscode-textmate), including embedded languages, injections, and nested repositories
VS Code theme resolution with scope-selector specificity and parent-scope matching
Shiki-compatible HTML: dual light/dark themes via CSS variables, codeToHast, transformers (every hook), decorations, colorReplacements, structure: 'inline', and ANSI (lang: 'ansi') highlighting
the full Shiki bundle — every tm-grammars language (200+) and tm-themes theme (65)

Byte-identical to Shiki

The output is not "close enough." shikiphp is validated token-for-token against Shiki.js by an oracle regression harness of 214 scenarios spanning the full grammar and theme set. Shiki.js itself is the oracle: each scenario highlights a sample with both engines and asserts the HTML is identical.

How it works

shikiphp is built on a vendored pure-PHP JavaScript regex engine from inline0/phasis, fed by a PHP port of oniguruma-to-es. Modern Shiki converts the Oniguruma patterns in TextMate grammars to JavaScript RegExp, so a JS regex engine is the natural substrate — it lets shikiphp match Shiki's output offset-for-offset.

code → grammar tokenizer → theme resolver → themed tokens → HTML
              │
              └─ OnigScanner → PatternConverter (oniguruma-to-es) → Shikiphp\Regex (JS RegExp engine)

See Architecture for the full pipeline.

Requirements

PHP 8.2 or later
ext-json and ext-mbstring (both ship with virtually every PHP build)

Where to next

Getting Started — install and render your first block.
API — the full method surface.
Options — every option codeToHtml accepts.
Transformers — the hook pipeline and the built-ins.
CLI — bin/shikiphp highlight, langs, and themes.

License

MIT, copyright inline0. Bundled TextMate grammars and themes retain their upstream licenses.