**Phiki** stands out as the strongest modern candidate for replacing WackoWiki's outdated syntax highlighters. It delivers high-quality, server-side rendering using TextMate grammars and VS Code themes, with zero third-party dependencies.
==== Current WackoWiki Situation ====
WackoWiki relies on:
- **Pear Text_Highlighter** — outdated and unmaintained.
- Handcrafted highlighters and the built-in PHP highlighter (limited scope and maintenance).
- **GeSHi** plugin — also outdated/unmaintained.
- **Highlight.js** as an optional plugin — excellent language coverage but client-side JavaScript rendering (re-renders on each load, adds JS dependency, and less ideal for static/server-rendered output).
This setup creates maintenance burden, inconsistent quality, and suboptimal performance (especially with client-side JS).
====Recommended Primary Replacement: Phiki====
**Phiki** (by Ryan Chandler) is a pure-PHP syntax highlighter inspired by Shiki. It uses TextMate grammar files for accurate tokenization and VS Code themes for styling.
**Key strengths**:
- **High-quality highlighting** — Matches VS Code/editor accuracy for many languages.
- **Server-side only** — Generates static HTML once (no repeated client-side work).
- **Fast and lightweight** — Pure PHP, no Node.js or heavy deps.
- **Themes** — Supports popular VS Code themes (e.g., GitHub Light/Dark).
- **Extensible** — Transformers for custom features (line numbers, highlighting, etc.).
- **Actively maintained** — Recent releases (v2.x as of 2026), good documentation at phiki.dev.
**Basic usage** (Composer install: ##composer require phiki/phiki:^2.0##):
%%(hl php)
use Phiki\Phiki;
use Phiki\Grammar\Grammar;
use Phiki\Theme\Theme;
$phiki = new Phiki();
$code = 'your code here...';
$highlighted = $phiki->codeToHtml($code, Grammar::Php, Theme::GithubLight);
echo $highlighted; // Ready-to-use HTML
%%
It also supports terminal output and various grammars/themes.
**Integration into WackoWiki**:
- Create a new formatter (e.g., ##phiki.php## in the formatters directory).
- Hook it into the ##""%%(language) code %%""## syntax (Wacko already supports language specifiers).
- Map common language names to Phiki's ##Grammar::*## constants.
- Add configuration for default theme, line numbers, etc.
- Cache highlighted output (Wacko already does some caching; enhance for code blocks).
- Provide a fallback for unsupported languages.
**Pros for Wacko**:
- Replaces multiple outdated systems with one modern library.
- Consistent, beautiful output that matches modern editors.
- Better performance than JS-based solutions for page loads.
- Easy to extend with Wacko-specific features (e.g., copy button, line highlighting).
**Potential cons**:
- Language support depends on included TextMate grammars (strong for popular languages; may need additions for obscure ones).
- Initial integration effort (but far less than maintaining old highlighters).
==== Strong Alternative: Tempest Highlight ====
Another excellent modern PHP option is **Tempest Highlight** (##tempest/highlight##).
- Very fast, extensible, server-side.
- Good for common languages (PHP, HTML, CSS, Blade, etc.).
- Easy API and custom language support.
- Actively developed and used in real projects.
It could serve as a lighter alternative or complement if Phiki's grammar approach feels heavy for some use cases.
==== Other Options ====
- **Keep/enhance Highlight.js** — As a progressive enhancement or for rare languages. Load it lazily or only when Phiki doesn't support a language. This gives the best of both (server for most, client for edge cases).
- **Pygments** — Excellent Python library with massive language support, but requires a bridge (e.g., exec or microservice), adding complexity and a Python dependency. Not ideal for pure-PHP Wacko.
- **Shiki (via shiki-php)** — Similar quality to Phiki but spawns Node.js (slower for live rendering).
- **Prism.js** or updated **highlight.php** — Client- or older server-side; generally inferior to Phiki/Tempest now.
==== Implementation Roadmap Suggestion ====
1. **Evaluate** — Test Phiki + Tempest on Wacko sample pages with various languages.
2. **Core Integration** — Build a ##PhikiFormatter## (or make it configurable between Phiki/Tempest).
3. **Backward Compatibility** — Alias old formatters or migrate gradually.
4. **Configuration** — Admin settings for default theme, enabled languages, line numbers.
5. **Enhancements** — Add common features: copy-to-clipboard, line numbers, diff highlighting, language auto-detect (fallback).
6. **Performance** — Benchmark render times and implement caching for code blocks.
7. **Plugins** — Optional full Highlight.js fallback or additional themes.
8. **Documentation & Testing** — Update Wacko docs and test with real user content.
**Phiki** is the clear frontrunner: modern, high-quality, pure PHP, and designed exactly for this use case. It would significantly modernize WackoWiki's code presentation and reduce long-term maintenance.
If you share more details (e.g., target Wacko version, priority languages, or specific requirements like line numbers), I can help refine the integration approach or suggest code snippets.