# Lightweight alternative to Ember-cli **URL:** \ **Category:** Ember CLI\ **Created:** [September 6, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://discuss.emberjs.com/t/lightweight-alternative-to-ember-cli/8746 "2015-09-06T16:17:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jay\_hoffmann](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/discuss.emberjs.com/jay_hoffmann/32/11371_2.png) [@jay\_hoffmann](https://discuss.emberjs.com/u/jay_hoffmann)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://discuss.emberjs.com/t/lightweight-alternative-to-ember-cli/8746/1 "2015-09-06T16:17:56Z")
I am just getting started with Ember, but am using it on the front-end of a WordPress plugin. For that reason, a lot of things that come loaded with ember-cli really don’t apply. For instance, the server component is unnecessary. And, I have been trying to find a way to modify the “index.html” file to a PHP file, but that doesn’t seem possible. I like the build process, the testing and the generators that come with ember-cli, but everything else seriously gets in the way of development. Does anyone know of a lightweight alternative to ember-cli, or a way of simplifying ember-cli to fit this kind of use case? ---
**Author:** ![rytis](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/discuss.emberjs.com/rytis/32/11242_2.png) [@rytis](https://discuss.emberjs.com/u/rytis)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2015, 9:13pm UTC](https://discuss.emberjs.com/t/lightweight-alternative-to-ember-cli/8746/2 "2015-09-06T21:13:24Z")
I don’t think there’s much you can do. ember-cli is designed to work with single page apps. Either create a symlink to /dist folder of your ember-cli app or work without ember cli. ---
**Author:** ![lightblade](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/discuss.emberjs.com/lightblade/32/15632_2.png) [@lightblade](https://discuss.emberjs.com/u/lightblade)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 7:01am UTC](https://discuss.emberjs.com/t/lightweight-alternative-to-ember-cli/8746/3 "2015-09-08T07:01:24Z")
Well, I don’t know much about WordPress, but feels strange that it can’t straight up host HTML files. There are no light weight alternative because `ember-cli` is already the light weight. If you need any more than what it offers, you can pull an [add-on](http://www.emberaddons.com) or [roll your own](http://www.ember-cli.com/extending/). If all you need is to rename `index.html` to `index.php`, you can pull a [broccoli plugin](https://www.npmjs.com/package/broccoli-rename-files) and hook it into your [production build only](http://www.ember-cli.com/user-guide/#test-assets) ---
**Author:** ![bttf](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/discuss.emberjs.com/bttf/32/9898_2.png) [@bttf](https://discuss.emberjs.com/u/bttf)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2015, 5:14pm UTC](https://discuss.emberjs.com/t/lightweight-alternative-to-ember-cli/8746/4 "2015-09-08T17:14:11Z")
You might want to look into the `rootElement` property of the Ember.Application class as well as the [buildURL param in ember-cli](http://www.ember-cli.com/user-guide/#history-api-and-base-url). With these you should be able to build the ember-cli app and use the build assets on your own html/php page. P.S. Also ember-cli’s `storeConfigInMeta` and `fingerprint` params could be helpful ---
**Author:** ![broerse](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/discuss.emberjs.com/broerse/32/9497_2.png) [@broerse](https://discuss.emberjs.com/u/broerse)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 8:30pm UTC](https://discuss.emberjs.com/t/lightweight-alternative-to-ember-cli/8746/5 "2015-09-09T20:30:12Z")
We use WordPress as a backend on sites like [http://kerstenconstructie.com/](http://kerstenconstructie.com/) We use ember-cli and let a WordPress template generate json for ember-data. It is not what you are trying but it does the job. ---
**Author:** ![robotarmy](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/discuss.emberjs.com/robotarmy/32/5536_2.png) [@robotarmy](https://discuss.emberjs.com/u/robotarmy)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 9:51pm UTC](https://discuss.emberjs.com/t/lightweight-alternative-to-ember-cli/8746/6 "2015-09-09T21:51:00Z")
you could try using brunch instead of ember-cli to build your code into a dist. ---
**Author:** ![jay\_hoffmann](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/discuss.emberjs.com/jay_hoffmann/32/11371_2.png) [@jay\_hoffmann](https://discuss.emberjs.com/u/jay_hoffmann)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2015, 10:26pm UTC](https://discuss.emberjs.com/t/lightweight-alternative-to-ember-cli/8746/7 "2015-09-09T22:26:32Z")
Thanks everyone for the tips. I think for now I’ll be using ember-cli with a bit of configuration. Seems a bit heavy-handed, but it does the trick.