How to install JournalPHP

Installation brings up JournalPHP in Docker: locally for development or on a server for production.

Check the system requirements before installing.

Local environment

Clone the repository and create .env from the example:

git clone https://github.com/ADamCarraway/journalphp.git
cd journalphp
cp .env.example .env

Add the local domains to /etc/hosts (on Windows, to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts):

echo "127.0.0.1 journalphp.test adminer.journalphp.test" | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts

Start the containers:

docker compose up -d --build

The first start takes a few minutes. The site opens at http://journalphp.test. Other service addresses are listed in Service URLs.

Containers

• app: PHP-FPM, Horizon, task scheduler, Reverb
• frontend: Vite dev server
• nginx: web server
• db: MySQL
• redis: cache, sessions, queues
• adminer: database web interface
• meilisearch: search engine, starts only with the meilisearch profile

Seed data

On the first start, the database is filled with seed data: roles, platform settings, a comment bot, a reaction set, report reasons, automatic restriction rules, badges, a subscription with plans and features, and the super administrator account:

Email	Password
admin@mail.com	password

Production

The production environment is described in docker-compose.prod.yml and Dockerfile.prod.

Preparing .env

git clone https://github.com/ADamCarraway/journalphp.git
cd journalphp
cp .env.example .env

Fill in .env:

Variable	Value
APP_ENV	production
APP_DEBUG	false
APP_URL	site address, for example https://example.com
DB_PASSWORD	database password, required
REVERB_APP_ID, REVERB_APP_KEY, REVERB_APP_SECRET	arbitrary unique values
REVERB_HOST	site domain
FORCE_HTTPS	true if the site runs over HTTPS

Other variables are described in Configuration.

Build and start

docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml build
docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d

Nginx in Docker listens on 127.0.0.1:8080; ports 80 and 443 are served by the reverse proxy on the host. An example of its configuration with a certbot certificate is docker/nginx/host-ssl.example.conf; installation steps are in the comments at the top of the file.

After installation

Sign in as the super administrator, change the password and set up email, sign-in methods and other integrations — see Admin panel.