The framework for Makers & what it means for you

Over the years, we’ve introduced powerful features and enhancements, but not always with a clear focus on what matters most: helping you build and launch full applications quickly. With Leaf MVC v4 on the horizon, it’s time to double down on what Leaf is truly about—being the framework for Makers.

At the core, we all just want to build our ideas and ship them—fast. That’s why we choose Leaf and other frameworks to help us get there. Leaf has introduced lots of powerful features over the years, making it an incredibly capable framework, but we’ve come to realize that features alone aren’t enough—what really matters is how quickly and efficiently you can turn an idea into a working application. The goal of a framework isn’t just to provide tools; it’s to make the entire development process as smooth and frictionless as possible.

The Shift: From Features to Full Experience #

We realized that the real value of a framework isn’t just in how many features it has, but in how well it helps you turn ideas into reality—fast. Leaf is now the framework for Makers—for indie hackers, solo founders, and small teams who need to build and launch fast, for you to ship as fast as you can think. This isn’t just about a tagline change; it’s about doubling down on what makes Leaf special and making you build, iterate, and ship with speed and confidence.

What this means for you #

With all this in mind, we’re making some big changes to Leaf to help you build and ship faster:

• A Focused Developer Experience - We’re refining Leaf to be even more intuitive and lightweight. The new direction prioritizes minimalism, efficiency, and clarity, ensuring that every feature serves the goal of getting your product live faster. Beyond that, we're also making sure that all features work out of the box with ZERO setup. This means less time configuring and more time building.

• Better Documentation & Quickstarts - Learning and building with Leaf should be seamless. We’re improving our docs, adding quickstarts right from the CLI, and examples to help you go from idea to working app in record time.

• Leaf Zero: Prebuilt UI Components & Templates - To speed up frontend development, we’re introducing Leaf Zero—a free collection of copy-paste Blade, Tailwind, and Alpine.js components and templates to help you design stunning UIs effortlessly. This will mean spending less time on how your app looks and more time on what it does.

• MVC v4: A Leaner, Smarter Framework - The upcoming Leaf MVC v4 release embraces this vision fully, with a cleaner, more modular architecture that keeps things simple while giving you the flexibility to scale whenever you need to. Truly becoming a framework that grows with you.

• Leaf 4 - We only announced this on our most recent hangout, but we’re working on a new version of Leaf that will supercharge your development experience. This new version will come with Zero breaking changes, which means a simple composer update for you, but this will unlock a whole new developer experience for you.

While this came out of nowhere, we believe this is the right direction for Leaf and for you...and it fits right into our roadmap for 2025. If you don't care about our antics and just want to build, this is the right direction for you too. We promise to keep Leaf 4 clear of any breaking changes, so you can keep building without any interruptions.

What we are not building #

Our goal has never been to replace Laravel or compete with traditional enterprise frameworks, and that’s not changing. We’re not trying to be everything to everyone. Instead, we’re focused on being the best framework for Makers—people who want to build and ship fast, without getting bogged down in complexity.

We want Leaf to be the go-to framework for people who don’t have time for endless boilerplate, steep learning curves, or overly complex configurations. We’re bringing Leaf back to its roots—speed, simplicity, and focus on getting things done.

If you prefer the batteries-included approach, Leaf might not be the best fit for you. But if you want a framework that gets out of your way and lets you build quickly, we’re here for you.

What’s Next? #

As tradition demands, every new major version of a framework or library comes with a new website, refreshed documentation, and all of that. We will be pushing out a few things with the Leaf v4 release, including:

• A new website with a focus on what we're building and how it can help you
• A refreshed documentation with more examples and learning paths
• Leaf Zero - Free UI components, page sections, and templates for Leaf MVC 4
• Paperplane kit for Leaf MVC 4
• Leaf CLI v3 with quickstarts and better tooling
• Leaf 4 with a focus on developer experience and speed

Beyond that, we will be focusing on:

• Making Leaf the best framework for people and teams who just want to build and ship fast.
• Prioritizing real-world usability over "looking good on paper."
• Ensuring you can go from idea to production in the shortest time possible.

This is just the beginning. Leaf’s rebrand as the framework for Makers means that everything we build from now on will focus on one thing: helping you ship your ideas faster. Whether it’s through improved tooling, better developer experience, or new features that save you time, Leaf will continue to evolve with the needs of Makers in mind.

If you’ve been using Leaf for a while, we appreciate you being part of this journey. And if you’re new, there’s never been a better time to dive in. Let’s build and ship—together. We can’t wait to show you what’s next.