Building a PHP Front Controller: Why index.php Belongs in the Public Directory

A front controller is a single, centralized entry point that handles all incoming client requests in a web application. In this PHP project tutorial, an index.php file is created inside the public directory rather than the project root to prevent public access to sensitive code. File permissions and directory separation are used together to ensure only public resources are externally accessible. Unlike the front controller pattern, the page controller approach assigns a separate controller to each individual page request. The front controller also requires server-side configuration in addition to the PHP application setup.