This article examines the architecture and functional characteristics of MVCA, an ultra-lightweight PHP MVC framework oriented toward building fast and clean web applications. The relevance of the study is driven by a recurring trade-off in contemporary PHP frameworks: tools designed to tame complexity often become sources of excessive abstraction and performance overhead themselves. This work aims to analyze MVCA in a multi-level manner, both architecturally and comparatively, to determine its position within the existing PHP frameworks and assess how it can be utilized for small- and medium-scale projects. The article is scientifically novel, as it conceptualizes minimalism as a design approach. MVCA abstraction overhead and ORM layers, integrating modern tooling that includes support for PHP 8.1+, WebSockets, and built-in debugging facilities. The framework's core security model particularly stresses, and it implements security by design through strict filtration of user input. MVCA constitutes a balanced alternative to heavyweight platforms like Laravel and Symfony. It can also provide for a balanced option to some classic lightweight solutions such as CodeIgniter, as well as offering a combination of high performance and simplicity, as it supports critically necessary capabilities that position it as an optimal choice for small and medium web projects, APIs, and microservices with heightened requirements for speed, architectural transparency, and security. The article is useful for developers, software architects, and researchers.

MVC, framework, minimalism, performance, architecture, security, web development

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