philosophy Clarity, constraints, and ownership

Vision

Zypher is built for engineers who want a framework they can reason about. The goal is not to hide complexity—it’s to structure it so you can see it, test it, and evolve it without surprises.

Explicit APIs

Configuration is code. Defaults are conservative. Behavior is visible at the call site.

When something happens, it should be traceable: where it was registered, how it was composed, and what it can touch.

Long-term maintainability

Zypher values stable mental models over short-term convenience.

Interfaces should survive large codebases, multiple contributors, and years of iteration without becoming opaque.

Learning-friendly internals

The framework is also a reference implementation of a modern web stack in Zig.

Contributors should be able to navigate the codebase without hero knowledge or hidden mechanisms.

Comparisons

Zypher takes inspiration from proven frameworks, but optimizes for a different set of constraints: explicitness, auditability, and high-performance execution.

Zypher vs Django

Django emphasizes batteries-included productivity. Zypher emphasizes explicit composition and a lower-level performance envelope.

Zypher Clear lifetimes, explicit middleware, and predictable performance costs.
Django Mature ecosystem and strong conventions that optimize for speed of development.

Zypher vs Node frameworks

Node frameworks are excellent for iteration speed, but often trade explicitness and predictable resource usage for convenience.

Zypher Build-time clarity, lower runtime overhead, and fewer moving parts in production.
Node Huge package ecosystem and strong tooling, with more runtime dynamics.