Installation

Step-by-step install on a bare-metal server or VM. Prefer containers? Use Docker production instead.

Requirements

PHP 8.2+ (with the extensions listed in Requirements)
Node.js 20+
PostgreSQL 14+ or MySQL 8+
Redis 6+
Composer 2.x

Install

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/trypostit/trypost.git
cd trypost

2. Install PHP and Node dependencies

composer install
cp .env.example .env
php artisan key:generate
npm install

php artisan key:generate writes APP_KEY into .env. Without it the app will not boot.

3. Configure the environment

Edit .env before migrating. Minimum for a working self-hosted instance:

APP_URL=https://your-domain.com
APP_ENV=production
APP_DEBUG=false

SELF_HOSTED=true

DB_CONNECTION=pgsql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=5432
DB_DATABASE=trypost
DB_USERNAME=postgres
DB_PASSWORD=your_password

REDIS_HOST=127.0.0.1
REDIS_PORT=6379

QUEUE_CONNECTION=redis
CACHE_STORE=redis
SESSION_DRIVER=database
BROADCAST_CONNECTION=reverb

FILESYSTEM_DISK=public

Block	Why
`APP_KEY`	Already set by `key:generate` — encrypts sessions, cookies, encrypted data
Database	Where posts, users, and Passport clients live
Redis + queue/cache drivers	Horizon publishes posts and runs automations from Redis queues
`BROADCAST_CONNECTION=reverb`	Live dashboard updates
`FILESYSTEM_DISK=public`	Local media on disk (use `s3` / `r2` / `spaces` for object storage)
`SELF_HOSTED=true`	Disables Stripe billing and public `/register`

Also configure mail (invites / password reset) and optional social OAuth / AI keys — see Configuration.

Prefer a one-liner for deps? composer setup runs install + key:generate + migrate + npm build, but it migrates before you edit .env. Safer path for a real server: follow the steps above (configure .env, then migrate yourself).

4. Run migrations

php artisan migrate --force

5. Passport keys (and local storage symlink)

Passport needs an RSA key pair on disk to sign and verify API / MCP tokens:

php artisan passport:keys

Run once. Do not regenerate later unless you intend to invalidate every existing API token. If you keep FILESYSTEM_DISK=public, also create the public media symlink:

php artisan storage:link

Skip storage:link when using object storage (s3, r2, spaces) — those disks serve from the bucket URL.

6. Seed Passport client and admin user

Self-hosted installs close /register. Bootstrap the database once:

php artisan db:seed
php artisan db:seed --class=UserSeeder

Seeder	What it creates
`DatabaseSeeder` (`db:seed`)	Passport Personal Access Client (required to issue API tokens) + plan rows
`UserSeeder`	Admin account

Passport is two independent pieces:

Keys (passport:keys) — files on disk
Personal Access Client (db:seed) — row in oauth_clients

API keys in Settings need both. MCP OAuth uses the same Passport keys (not API-key Bearer headers).

Admin credentials — change the password immediately on first login:

Field	Value
Email	`admin@trypost.it`
Password	`password`

Further accounts come from workspace invites (Settings → Members).

Only on a brand-new empty database you may use php artisan migrate:fresh --seed && php artisan db:seed --class=UserSeeder. migrate:fresh drops every table.

7. Build the frontend

npm run build

8. Run the app

Local / smoke test (one terminal):

composer dev

This starts php artisan serve, a queue listener, log tail, and Vite. Open http://localhost:8000 and sign in with the admin user. Production — do not use composer dev. You need long-running processes:

Process	Command	Purpose
Web (PHP-FPM + Nginx)	see Production	Serve HTTP
Horizon	`php artisan horizon`	Queues — publish posts, notifications, automations
Reverb	`php artisan reverb:start`	WebSockets
Scheduler	cron → `php artisan schedule:run`	Due posts, token refresh, automations

Full Supervisor configs, Nginx (including Reverb /app/ + /apps/), SSL, and caches: Production setup.

End-to-end checklist

Step	Done when
`APP_KEY` set	`key:generate` ran
Database reachable	`.env` `DB_*` correct
Queues on Redis	`QUEUE_CONNECTION=redis` + Redis up
Migrations applied	`php artisan migrate`
Passport keys	`storage/oauth-private.key` exists
Passport client	`php artisan db:seed` ran
Admin user	`UserSeeder` ran; you can log in
Media (local)	`storage:link` if `FILESYSTEM_DISK=public`
Frontend built	`npm run build`
Horizon running	posts actually publish
Reverb + scheduler	live UI + cron jobs
Mail configured	invites / password reset work

Verify

Sign in at APP_URL with the admin credentials
Create an API key under workspace Settings → API Keys (fails with 500 if Passport keys or client are missing)
Connect an MCP client via OAuth (Settings → MCP), or call the REST API with the key above
Upload a media file (404s if you use public disk without storage:link)
Schedule a test post and confirm Horizon processes it

Next steps

Configuration — mail, storage, social OAuth, AI
Production setup — Nginx, SSL, Horizon, Reverb, cron
Docker — same stack via Compose

​Installation

​Requirements

​Install

​1. Clone the repository

​2. Install PHP and Node dependencies

​3. Configure the environment

​4. Run migrations

​5. Passport keys (and local storage symlink)

​6. Seed Passport client and admin user

​7. Build the frontend

​8. Run the app

​End-to-end checklist

​Verify

​Next steps

Installation

Requirements

Install

1. Clone the repository

2. Install PHP and Node dependencies

3. Configure the environment

4. Run migrations

5. Passport keys (and local storage symlink)

6. Seed Passport client and admin user

7. Build the frontend

8. Run the app

End-to-end checklist

Verify

Next steps