Torch VS Eloquent

Torch is the proof that it's tightly coupled. Why do you even need a repo to show how to do it? Symfony doesn't have this issue. Just look at how much crap you need to wire to use a simple validation component: https://github.com/mattstauffer/Torch/blob/master/components/validation/index.php, it's garbage.

Other than the big frameworks, you could look at using Slim and other libraries/Symfony components to build your own framework - you could even use some Laravel components too.

You can check out https://github.com/mattstauffer/Torch to see them in action

This is was game changer for me: https://github.com/mattstauffer/Torch

Interesting! I actually found an example here: https://github.com/mattstauffer/Torch/tree/master/components/view

Eloquent (docs for query builder and ORM) or Doctrine (docs for (ddbal query builder) and ORM - note, these are separate libraries, but the ORM includes dbal).

You can use the database component: https://github.com/illuminate/database

A similar example: in Laravel's codebase, every line in a doc block is 3 characters shorter than the line above it.

Example: https://github.com/illuminate/database/blob/master/Eloquent/...

View on GitHub

In this case, getting started might be rough unless you know Laravel well, because there's not even a readme there (in contrast to e.g. https://github.com/illuminate/database#illuminate-database which has a clear guide how to use it)