Digital
JSON files are the database
One product = one .json file, one category = one file. No MySQL, no SQLite, no database setup. Backups are a folder copy.
Open-source project
Nano Cart
A flat-file PHP product catalogue for static client sites. Sells fixed-price products through hosted checkout links (Stripe, PayPal, Square, Gumroad, Ko-fi, or any URL). Drops in at /shop/. No database, no framework, just JSON files, hand-written PHP, and a portable admin.
The problem Nano Cart solves
Many small client sites need to sell a fixed catalogue of 20 to 50 products: a potter, a print-maker, a jewellery designer, an author, a gallery. Shopify is overkill (a hosted platform with monthly fees for 30 fixed-price items), and WooCommerce drags in WordPress, MySQL, and ongoing plugin patching that the static-site brief was built to avoid. Nano Cart exists for that gap. The host site stays static; Nano Cart slots a small catalogue into it that links each item out to a Stripe Payment Link, PayPal, Square, Gumroad, Ko-fi, or any processor-hosted URL. It's deliberately not a general-purpose e-commerce platform: no variants, no multi-item cart, no inventory. It does one thing, serve a small fixed catalogue with strong SEO and one-click external checkout, and does it well in around 5,750 lines of hand-written code.
How it works
External checkout, your choice
Each product links to Stripe, PayPal, Square, Gumroad, Ko-fi, or any URL. The buy button is a plain link, no SDKs, no embeds, no JavaScript on the shop page.
Drops in at /shop/
The reader-facing code sits in the webroot at /shop/, rendering the homepage, category pages, and product pages with full SEO metadata.
Admin is portable, not permanent
Upload the admin folder via SFTP when you want to edit, remove it afterwards. No persistent admin means a drastically smaller attack surface.
One-click web installer
install.php auto-detects your hosting layout, creates the outside-webroot config, writes bootstrap.php, and hands off to the setup wizard. No editing config by hand.
Full image manager built in
Drag-and-drop upload, drag-to-reorder gallery, alt-text editing, EXIF orientation, and three size variants generated in JPEG and WebP automatically.
0
Database tables
PHP 8.1+
Runtime
MIT
Licence
v1.0
Production ready
Free under MIT, paid licence removes the footer
Single domain
£29 one-time
- One licensed domain
- Footer attribution removed
- Perpetual, never expires
- Ed25519 verification
- Localhost / dev domains free
Best for small studios
Agency 3-pack
£69 one-time
- Three licensed domains
- £23 per site
- Manage a client portfolio cleanly
- Perpetual, never expires
Best value
Agency unlimited
£249 one-time
- Unlimited domains, one agency
- All current and future projects
- Perpetual, never expires
- Best value for active studios
Try Nano Cart
It's free under MIT. Grab it from GitHub, or buy a licence to remove the footer attribution.
Visit nanocart.co.uk