CakePHP is a free and open source rapid development framework based on the MVC architecture. It provides reusable code through components, helpers, behaviors, and elements. Out of the box features include email, cookie, security, session, and request handling as well as caching. The framework follows conventions for separating code into models, views, and controllers, and uses directories to organize configuration files, controllers, models, views, temporary data, third party libraries, and webroot assets.