One-shot with Opus: a PHP 4.1.1 simulator with Zend Engine compiled to WebAssembly
generativist · x · 2026-09-27
Developer generativist built simphp.infinitefun.com — jsfiddle, but for PHP 4.1.1 — more or less in one shot with Claude Opus 5.5.
Highlights:
- Original Zend Engine v1.1.1 C sources compiled to WebAssembly, running in the browser
- Simulated Apache/1.3.22 CGI environment: fresh PHP process per request, persistent files under /var/www, /tmp, /etc
- Emulated MySQL 3.23.49 backed by SQLite, with real mysql functions talking to it — classic connection errors included
- Links and forms on rendered pages route back into the simulated server with cookies, referer, and POST data
- Editable php.ini, timezone config, hard-kill for runaway scripts
Both a nostalgia toy and a showcase of one-shot vibe coding for complex, runnable systems.
Related event: Claude Opus One-Shots a Browser-Based PHP 4.1.1 Emulator(2 posts)→
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