Grav

Grav is a modern, open-source flat-file CMS written in PHP that delivers fast, flexible websites without a database. It uses Markdown for content, Twig for templating, YAML for configuration and provides a package manager and rich plugin ecosystem for extensibility.

Key Features

• Flat-file architecture: pages are simple Markdown files organized in folders for easy versioning and deployment.
• Twig templating and theme inheritance for flexible, performant presentation layers.
• YAML-based configuration with environment overrides and blueprint-driven admin forms.
• Built-in package manager (GPM) to install and update plugins, themes and Grav itself.
• Optional Admin plugin offering a responsive GUI, page blueprints, forms and one-click installs/updates.
• Smart caching and image processing to optimize performance for production sites.

Use Cases

• Marketing or brochure websites that benefit from fast static-like performance and simple content workflows.
• Documentation and knowledge portals using skeletons and modular pages to structure content.
• Blogs, portfolios and small-to-medium sites that prefer file-based versioning and easy backups without a database.

Limitations and Considerations

• Requires a PHP environment (minimum supported version historically noted as PHP 7.3.6+); verify current PHP compatibility for recent releases before deployment.
• Ecosystem quality varies: many plugins and themes are community-contributed; some premium themes/plugins are commercial or maintained by third parties.

Grav provides a compact, extensible alternative to database-backed CMSes, focusing on developer-friendly tools and fast runtime behavior. It is suitable for projects where simple content workflows, file-based versioning and flexible theming are priorities.