Ahead Of Time (OAT)¶

An AOT, Ahead-of-Time, compiler is a tool or extension that compiles PHP code directly into machine code, instead of interpreting it at runtime, which can significantly improve performance.

Unlike PHP’s traditional JITm, Just-in-Time, compilation, which compiles PHP to bytecode and then to machine code at runtime, AOT compilation compiles PHP code to machine code before execution, resulting in faster startup times and reduced overhead.