DEV Community: Jayesh Patel

Panchang Core: A High-Precision Vedic Calendar Engine for PHP and Laravel

Jayesh Patel — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 07:54:22 +0000

Panchang Core: A High-Precision Vedic Calendar Engine for PHP and Laravel

Building a proper Panchang system is not just about calculating dates.

It is about handling tradition, astronomy, regional variations, festival logic, and time-based rules with accuracy.

That is why I built panchang-core — a PHP package for Vedic Panchanga calculations, powered by Swiss Ephemeris precision, and designed for both PHP and Laravel applications.

What is Panchang?

A Panchang is the traditional Vedic calendar framework built around five main limbs:

Tithi
Vara
Nakshatra
Yoga
Karana

These are used in Hindu calendrical and astrological systems for daily timekeeping, festivals, and auspicious timing.

Why this package exists

Most calendar libraries stop at basic date output.

But real Panchang systems need much more:

Accurate astronomical data
Traditional rule handling
Regional calendar variations
Festival resolution logic
Muhurta calculations
Multiple samvat systems
Eclipse data
Human-readable and machine-readable output

This package was built to cover that broader domain.

What Panchang Core provides

Panchang Core supports:

Full Panchanga calculations
Tithi, Vara, Nakshatra, Yoga, and Karana
30 named Muhurtas
Choghadiya, Hora, and Prahara
Rahu Kala, Gulika, and Yamaganda
Abhijit Muhurta and Brahma Muhurta
Festival calculations with regional rules
Eclipse lookup by year and location
Sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset-related data
Multiple samvat systems
Raw JSON export for programmatic use

A package built on astronomy, not guesswork

One of the biggest strengths of Panchang Core is that it is built on precise astronomical calculation rather than fixed tables alone.

That matters because Panchang values can vary depending on:

Location
Time zone
Ayanamsa
Calendar tradition
Regional observance rules

A serious Panchang engine has to account for those differences.

Traditional accuracy matters

Panchang is not just a computational problem. It is also a cultural and traditional one.

This package is designed to support:

Smarta and Vaishnava distinctions
North and South Indian month systems
Regional festival rules
Classical time divisions
Different observance traditions

That makes it more useful for real-world calendrical applications.

Example usage

$details = $panchang->getDayDetails(
    date: CarbonImmutable::parse('2026-03-24'),
    lat: 23.2472446,
    lon: 69.668339,
    tz: 'Asia/Kolkata'
);

echo $details['Tithi']['name'];
echo $details['Nakshatra']['name'];

This kind of output is useful for:

Web apps
API endpoints
Mobile apps
Festival calendars
Astrology dashboards
Panchang viewers

Festival support

One of the most interesting parts of Panchang Core is the festival engine.

The package includes support for a large set of Hindu festivals and regional variants, so the output is not limited to a single calendar style.

That is important because festival dates often depend on the exact tradition and the exact observance logic.

Muhurta and time divisions

Panchang Core also includes classical time divisions such as:

Muhurta
Choghadiya
Hora
Prahara
Rahu Kala
Gulika
Yamaganda

These are useful for auspicious timing calculations and for applications that present daily religious or astrological information.

Laravel integration

The package is also built with Laravel use cases in mind.

That means you can integrate Panchang Core into a framework-based application and expose the calculations through controllers, services, or APIs.

Getting started

composer require jayeshmepani/panchang-core

Why this package is useful

Panchang Core is a practical solution for developers building:

Hindu calendar applications
Festival lookup systems
Muhurta calculators
Astrology platforms
API-backed Panchang services
Regional observance tools

Closing thoughts

Panchang calculation is one of those areas where accuracy, tradition, and usability all matter at the same time.

I built Panchang Core to provide a structured, extensible, and culturally aware way to bring Panchang data into PHP and Laravel projects.

If you are building software for Vedic calendar use cases, this package is meant to be the foundation.

References

Swiss Ephemeris PHP: A 1:1 FFI Wrapper for Astronomical Precision in PHP 8.3+

Jayesh Patel — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 07:36:37 +0000

Swiss Ephemeris PHP: A 1:1 FFI Wrapper for Astronomical Precision in PHP 8.3+

If you have ever built an astrology, astronomy, or ephemeris-based feature in PHP, you probably know the common trade-offs: CLI wrappers, slow process spawning, text parsing, or incomplete pure-PHP approximations.

I wanted something better.

So I built Swiss Ephemeris PHP — a framework-agnostic FFI wrapper for the Swiss Ephemeris C library, designed for PHP 8.3+, with prebuilt binaries to make installation easier across platforms.

This package is meant to stay close to the original Swiss Ephemeris API. No unnecessary abstraction. No external CLI process. No text-output parsing. Just direct native function access through PHP FFI.

What is Swiss Ephemeris?

Swiss Ephemeris is one of the most widely used astronomical calculation libraries for planetary positions, sidereal calculations, house systems, eclipses, and more.

It is trusted for high-precision astronomical and astrological work, which is exactly why it is so valuable in software that needs reliable celestial data.

Why I built this package

Most PHP solutions for Swiss Ephemeris fall into one of these categories:

CLI wrappers that call a binary and parse output
Pure PHP implementations that do not match the native library’s accuracy
Compiled PHP extensions that are harder to install and distribute

I wanted a package that gives PHP developers:

Direct access to the C library
Better performance than CLI-based approaches
Easy installation through Composer
Support for modern PHP applications
Compatibility with frameworks and plain PHP projects

That is the purpose of this wrapper.

What this package provides

Swiss Ephemeris PHP focuses on:

Direct FFI calls to the Swiss Ephemeris C library
A 1:1 mapping of the underlying API
Support for astronomical and astrological calculations
Prebuilt binaries for easier setup
Framework-agnostic usage
Laravel-friendly integration where needed

Why FFI matters

PHP FFI allows PHP to call native libraries directly.

That means you can:

Load a compiled shared library
Map C types, pointers, and structs
Call native functions without writing a PHP extension
Keep the development workflow simpler than compiling custom modules

For Swiss Ephemeris, this is a strong fit because it preserves the native behavior of the library while still letting PHP developers use it cleanly.

Example use case

A typical flow looks like this:

$sweph = new SwissEphFFI();

$jd = $sweph->swe_julday(2000, 1, 1, 12.0, SwissEphFFI::SE_GREG_CAL);

$xx = $sweph->getFFI()->new("double[6]");
$serr = $sweph->getFFI()->new("char[256]");

$sweph->swe_calc_ut(
    $jd,
    SwissEphFFI::SE_SUN,
    SwissEphFFI::SEFLG_SPEED,
    $xx,
    $serr
);

echo "Sun longitude: " . $xx[0] . "°";

That style keeps the wrapper close to the original Swiss Ephemeris behavior.

Key highlights

1:1 FFI wrapper for Swiss Ephemeris
PHP 8.3+ compatibility
Framework-agnostic design
Prebuilt binaries for supported platforms
Direct access to native astronomical functions
Suited for astrology, astronomy, and ephemeris-based applications

Where this fits best

This package is useful for projects like:

Astrology engines
Planetary position calculators
Vedic or sidereal computation tools
Astronomy dashboards
Calendar and panchanga systems
Scientific or educational applications

Installation

composer require jayeshmepani/swiss-ephemeris-ffi

After installation, configure your environment according to your platform and FFI requirements.

Laravel support

Even though the package is framework-agnostic, it can also be integrated into Laravel with service providers or facades for a more convenient developer experience.

Closing thoughts

Swiss Ephemeris PHP is built for developers who want the native Swiss Ephemeris library in PHP without compromising on architecture or forcing a heavy installation process.

If your project depends on accurate celestial calculations, this wrapper is designed to give you a cleaner path into Swiss Ephemeris from PHP.

References

jayeshmepani / Swiss-Ephemeris-PHP

PHP 8.3+ FFI wrapper for the Swiss Ephemeris C library with 1:1 API coverage, prebuilt binaries, and Laravel support.

Swiss Ephemeris PHP FFI

A strict, 100% precise, exact 1:1 FFI mapping of the Swiss Ephemeris C library for PHP 8.3+.

This wrapper gives you the exact API surface, structs, macro constants, and FFI pointers as defined in the original swephexp.h. Zero tolerance for omissions or high-level abstractions: every single calculation, planet ID, house system, sidereal mode, and eclipse check is strictly preserved for maximum astronomical precision.

🎯 Unique Value Proposition

This is the ONLY PHP implementation that:

✅ Uses PHP FFI (no PHP extension compilation required)
✅ Links to shared library (libswe.* per OS)
✅ Achieves 100% function coverage (all 200+ swe_* functions)
✅ Maintains 1:1 mapping with C library
✅ Preserves exact C library precision (no CLI parsing, no text output)
✅ Works with Laravel, Symfony, or plain PHP

Unlike other PHP packages that wrap the swetest CLI binary, this package calls the C functions directly…

View on GitHub

Stop Writing Laravel Translation Files Manually (Use AI Instead)

Jayesh Patel — Sat, 21 Mar 2026 05:09:16 +0000

If you've ever worked on a multilingual Laravel application, you already know how painful translation management can get.

Extracting keys, maintaining language files, and translating everything manually becomes repetitive—especially as your project grows.

I ran into this exact problem while working on Laravel apps.

So I started experimenting with automating the entire workflow using AI.

💡 The Idea

What if we could:

Scan the project for translation keys
Translate them automatically
Generate language files

⚙️ What I Built

I created a Laravel package that does exactly this using Google Gemini AI.

It:

Scans Blade, PHP, and frontend files
Extracts translation keys
Translates them using AI
Generates structured language files automatically

All through a simple Artisan command.

⚡ Key Features

Interactive CLI (Artisan command)
AI-powered translations (Gemini)
Parallel processing (Spatie Fork)
Dry-run mode & backups for safety

🚀 Why This Matters

Instead of spending hours managing translations, developers can focus on building features.

🔗 Try It

GitHub:
https://github.com/jayeshmepani/laravel-gemini-translator

Would love your feedback or suggestions 🙌