Bootstrap & Dispatcher

A Nibiru request takes one trip through three files: index.php, core/framework.php, and core/c/dispatcher.php. Reading them in that order tells you everything.

index.php

<?php
require_once 'core/framework.php';

That’s the whole file. index.php exists only to give the web server a target.

core/framework.php

framework.php requires the framework’s classes in dependency order — settings, registry, router, engine, autoloader, all DB drivers, all 28 form types, view, controller, modules, auth, debug, display — and finishes with:

Nibiru\Dispatcher::getInstance()->run();

That single call is your application’s heartbeat.

Dispatcher::run()

The simplified flow:

public function run() {
    date_default_timezone_set(Config::getInstance()->getConfig()
        [View::NIBIRU_SETTINGS]['timezone']);

    if (Config::getInstance()->getConfig()
        [self::CONFIG_GENERATOR_SECTION][self::GENERATOR_DATABASE]) {
        new Model(false);                          / 1. (re)generate models from schema
    }

    Router::getInstance()->route();                / 2. parse the URL
    Auto::loader()->loadModelFiles();              / 3. load model files
    Auto::loader()->loadModules();                 / 4. load module classes

    $tpl = Router::getInstance()->tplName();
    $controllerFile = __DIR__ . "/../../application/controller/{$tpl}Controller.php";

    if (is_file($controllerFile)) {                / 5. controller file exists
        require_once $controllerFile;
        $class = "Nibiru\\{$tpl}Controller";
        $controller = new $class();

        if (array_key_exists('_action', $_REQUEST)) {
            $action = $_REQUEST['_action'] . 'Action';
            $controller->navigationAction();
            if (method_exists($controller, $action)) {
                $controller->$action();            / 6. optional named action
            }
            $controller->pageAction();
        } else {
            $controller->navigationAction();
            $controller->pageAction();
        }

        Display::getInstance()->display();         / 7. render Smarty
    } else {
        / 8. soft 404 — render the configured error controller
    }
}

The action sequence

Every request goes through the same three steps if ?_action=foo is set:

1. navigationAction() — populate menus, breadcrumbs.
2. fooAction() — run the named action.
3. pageAction() — last chance to assign template data.

Without _action, only steps 1 and 3 run.

This means stateless render-time logic belongs in pageAction(), and navigation data belongs in navigationAction(), even if it feels like duplicating effort. Two controllers in the same project will both have a navigationAction(); that’s correct.

Soft 404

If the matched controller file doesn’t exist, Nibiru renders a soft 404 — it returns a 200 OK and renders the controller named in [ENGINE] error.controller (default: error). This is intentional: it lets you serve nice error pages without server-level configuration.

If you want a real 404 Not Found HTTP code, set it in your error controller:

public function pageAction() {
    http_response_code(404);
    View::assign(['title' => 'Lost in the void']);
}

Auto::loader()

Two auto-loaders run before the controller is constructed:

• loadModelFiles() scans application/model/ and includes every .php file there. Generated models are flat files, not namespaced packages, so this is a simple require_once loop.
• loadModules() walks application/module/<name>/ and loads each module’s main class plus its trait, plugin and interface files. The Registry indexes each module’s settings INI at the same time.

Both use the configured paths in [SETTINGS] modules.path etc., so you can override them per environment.

SEO URL handling

Before the controller resolution, Router::route() runs handleSeoUrls() which detects URLs of the form /controller/<slug>/<id> (where the second segment is not a known action and the third is numeric). Those get rewritten internally to /controller/detail/ with $_REQUEST['id'] and $_REQUEST['slug'] populated. Read more in Routing.

When to override the dispatcher

Almost never. The cleaner extension points are:

• Custom error controller — set [ENGINE] error.controller.
• Pre-controller hooks — load a module that registers an observer, then attach it inside navigationAction().
• Cron-style entry — run the framework headless via the nibiru CLI rather than index.php.