Getting Started

Installation

Upload, point the document root at public_html/, run install.sh, and finish in the browser. No build step, no Composer, no Node — about 10 minutes.

Requirements

PHP 8.3+ (8.4 recommended).
MySQL 8.0+ or MariaDB 10.5+, with an empty database and a user that has full privileges on it.
SSH or FTP access to upload and extract the release.
A domain or subdomain whose document root points to public_html/.

Tip · PHP extensions

Required: pdo, pdo_mysql, mbstring, json, curl, openssl, session. fileinfo is optional (image-upload validation). Verify everything with php app/bin/console check.

Install

Extract the .zip as the user that will own the site — not root.
Point the domain's document root at public_html/ (app/ stays above the web root and is never served).
Run the helper — it creates the storage directories and fixes permissions:
```
bash install.sh
```
Open the wizard at https://your-domain/install.php and follow it.

The setup wizard

A self-contained, 5-step wizard (no dependency on the app bootstrap):

Language — installer and panel default.
Database — host, port, name, user, password. Test connection runs a live check and enforces MySQL 8.0+ / MariaDB 10.5+.
Admin — name, email, and a password of at least 8 characters. This becomes the superadmin.
Branding — panel name, short name, accent color, optional logo and favicon.
Confirmation — review and install; optionally seed demo data (example users, roles, notifications).

On install it writes app/.env, runs the migrations, seeds settings, creates the admin, saves branding, and creates the storage directories. When it finishes it deletes install.php and check.php automatically.

After install

Log in at https://your-domain/login with the admin credentials you just created.
Delete the .zip you uploaded.
Confirm install.php is gone from public_html/ — it must not stay publicly reachable.

Notes & troubleshooting

Pointing the document root (subdomain / vhost): Set the domain's document root to this installation's public_html/. On Apache: DocumentRoot /home/youraccount/public_html with AllowOverride All. On cPanel, set the subdomain's Document Root to that folder. Everything in app/ (your .env, logs, uploads) lives above it and is never served.
Permission errors / app/storage not writable: Re-run bash install.sh — it sets app/storage/ to 755, and when run as root it also fixes ownership to the hosting user. On shared hosting, make sure ownership matches your account user.
"PHPFoundry is already installed": The installer refuses to run once app/.env exists, to protect an existing install. If you are done, just remove public_html/install.php. To reinstall intentionally, delete app/.env (and drop the database) first — destructive, so back up.
"Could not connect to the database": Re-check host, port, name, user and password; the database must already exist and the user needs privileges on it. The host is usually localhost or 127.0.0.1, and on shared hosting the database/user are prefixed with your account name.
"Could not auto-delete install.php": Install succeeded but the file could not remove itself (permissions). Delete public_html/install.php manually.
Logo / favicon uploads rejected: The Branding step uses the fileinfo extension to validate image MIME types. It is optional — without it the panel still works; enable fileinfo if you need upload validation.