phpBolt is a free PHP encoder and source code encryption tool designed to protect PHP scripts from unauthorized access and reverse engineering. It consists of a native PHP extension called bolt.so and an encryption utility, encryption.php, that together scramble and encode PHP source code into an unreadable format that is decrypted at runtime by the extension. Key features include support for PHP versions 7.1 through 8.4, cross-platform compatibility with Linux, macOS, and Windows, and straightforward integration by placing bolt.so in the PHP extension directory and enabling it in php.ini. Users can then run encryption.php to encrypt their PHP files quickly. Typical use cases include protecting commercial PHP applications, safeguarding proprietary algorithms and business logic, securing scripts distributed to clients, and preventing casual source code theft. A Laravel integration package is also available for developers using that framework. For organizations requiring stronger protection, a custom-built exte