Elgg is an open source rapid development framework for socially aware web applications.

• Well-documented core API that allows developers to kick-start their new project with a simple learning curve
• Composer is the package manager of choice that greatly simplifies installation and maintenance of Elgg core and plugins
• Flexible system of events that allows plugins to extend and modify most aspects of application's functionality and behavior
• Extendable system of views that allows plugins to collaborate on application's presentation layer and built out complex custom themes
• Cacheable system of static assets that allows themes and plugins to serve images, stylesheets, fonts and scripts bypassing the engine
• User authentication is powered by pluggable auth modules, which allow applications to implement custom authentication protocols
• Security is ensured by built-in anti CSRF validation, strict XSS filters, HMAC signatures, latest cryptographic approaches to password hashing
• Client-side API powered by asynchronous ES modules and a built-in Ajax service for easy communication with the server
• Flexible entity system that allows applications to prototype new types of content and user interactions
• Opinionated data model with a consolidated API layer that allows the developers to easily interface with the database
• Access control system that allows applications to build granular content access policies, as well as create private networks and intranets
• Groups - out of the box support for user groups
• File storage powered by flexible API that allows plugins to store user-generated files and serve/stream them without booting the engine
• Notifications service that allows applications to subscribe users to on-site and email notifications and implement integrations with other their-party services
• RPC web services that can be used for complex integrations with external applications and mobile clients
• Internationalization and localization of Elgg applications is simple and can be integrated with third-party services such as Transifex
• Elgg community that can help with any arising issues and hosts a repository of 1000+ open source plugins

Under the hood:

• Elgg is a modular OOP framework that is driven by DI services
• NGINX or Apache compatible
• Symfony2 HTTP Foundation handles requests and responses
• modular javascript with ECMAScript modules
• Laminas Mail handles outgoing email
• htmLawed XSS filters
• DBAL
• Phinx database migrations
• CSS-Crush for CSS preprocessing
• Imagine for image manipulation
• Persistent caching with Memcached and/or Redis
• Error handling with Monolog

Elgg is managed by the Elgg Foundation, a nonprofit organization that was founded to govern, protect, and promote the Elgg open source social network engine. The Foundation aims to provide a stable, commercially and individually independent organization that operates in the best interest of Elgg as an open source project.

The Elgg project was started in 2004 by

• Ben Werdmuller ([email protected], http://benwerd.com)
• Dave Tosh (https://twitter.com/davetosh).

Copyright (c) 2008-2024, see COPYRIGHT.txt

Elgg is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL) Version 2 and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT-X11) License.

See LICENSE.txt in the root of the package you downloaded.

For installation instructions, see http://learn.elgg.org/en/stable/intro/install.html.

For upgrade instructions, see http://learn.elgg.org/en/stable/admin/upgrading.html.

The project site can be found at https://elgg.org/.

Visit http://learn.elgg.org for more information about Elgg.

For development credits, see CONTRIBUTORS.txt.