Installation

Learn how to install Plainpad on your web server. The process is straightforward and takes only a few minutes.

Requirements

Before installing Plainpad, make sure your server meets the following requirements:

• Web Server — Apache or Nginx with URL rewriting enabled
• PHP 7.4+ — with the following extensions: mbstring, pdo, json, openssl
• Database — MySQL 5.7+ or SQLite 3
• File Permissions — Write access to the application directory

Step 1: Download

Download the latest release from the Plainpad GitHub releases page. Extract the archive to get the application files.

Step 2: Upload Files

Upload the extracted files to your web server using FTP, SFTP, or SSH. Place them in the public web directory (e.g., /var/www/html/plainpad or your hosting's public_html folder).

# Example using SCP
scp -r plainpad/ user@yourserver:/var/www/html/plainpad

Step 3: Set Permissions

Ensure the web server has write access to the application directory:

chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/plainpad
chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/plainpad

Step 4: Configure Web Server

Apache

Ensure mod_rewrite is enabled and that .htaccess files are allowed:

<Directory /var/www/html/plainpad>
    AllowOverride All
</Directory>

Nginx

Add the following location block to your Nginx configuration:

location /plainpad {
    try_files {'$'}uri {'$'}uri/ /plainpad/index.php?{'$'}query_string;{'
'}{'}'}

Step 5: Run Setup Wizard

Open your browser and navigate to your Plainpad URL (e.g., https://yourdomain.com/plainpad). The setup wizard will guide you through:

1. Database connection configuration
2. Creating the admin account
3. Basic application settings