MTXWEB

set up your site in 5 minutes.

mtxweb is a single-file php engine that turns mtx files into web pages.
no npm. no build step. no framework. just mtxweb.php + .htaccess + your content.

what you need

shared hosting with php + apache (mod_rewrite)
a text editor
thats it

setup

step 1 — download

grab 3 files from the mtxweb repo:

mtxweb.php — the engine
.htaccess — url routing
style.css — default stylesheet (optional, editable)

step 2 — upload

upload all 3 files to your web root. thats it — the engine is installed.

step 3 — write your first page

create index.txt in the same folder:

;#mtx;.;#mn;.

;==== MY SITE ;.

hello world. this is my first mtx page.

;- it works ;.
;- no config needed ;.
;- just text ;.

the ;#mtx;.;#mn;. header on line 1 tells the engine this is an mtx file.

step 4 — visit your site

open yourdomain.com in a browser. your page renders.

file types

mtxweb resolves files in priority order:

priority	extension	level	header needed
1	`.mt.txt`	lvl2 (doc markup)	no
2	`.ht.txt`	lvl3 (html-ish)	no
3	`.tx.txt`	lvl1 (headings only)	no
4	`.txt`	any (base parser)	yes: `;#mtx;.;#mn;.`

if about.mt.txt and about.txt both exist, the .mt.txt wins.

clean urls

mtxweb gives you clean urls automatically:

/about serves about.mt.txt (or .ht.txt, .tx.txt, .txt)
/ serves index.txt (or index.mt.txt, etc.)
/guide serves guide.ht.txt

no config needed. the .htaccess routes everything to the engine.

styling

mtxweb ships with built-in css that covers all mtx elements.
if style.css exists next to the engine, it loads on top — your values win.

style.css uses css variables:

--mtx-bg           background color
--mtx-fg           text color
--mtx-accent       links, accents
--mtx-border       borders, dividers
--mtx-code-bg      code block background
--mtx-max-width    content width
--mtx-font         body font
--mtx-code-font    code font

dark mode works automatically via prefers-color-scheme.
override the variables in style.css to customize.

local development

test locally with php built-in server:

php -S localhost:8000 mtxweb.php

open localhost:8000 in your browser. done.

adding pages

just create more .txt files. every file becomes a page:

mysite/
  mtxweb.php
  .htaccess
  style.css
  index.txt        ->  yourdomain.com/
  about.mt.txt     ->  yourdomain.com/about
  story.mt.txt     ->  yourdomain.com/story
  guide.ht.txt     ->  yourdomain.com/guide
  404.txt          ->  yourdomain.com/anything-missing

no routing config. no database. no build step. just files.

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