Installation

Contensio installs into a fresh Laravel application as a Composer package. Two install paths are available — both do the same thing, pick whichever fits your comfort level:

• CLI installer — one command, great for developers and CI pipelines.
• Browser wizard — guided 4-step form for non-technical users.

#Requirements

• PHP 8.3 or later
• Laravel 13 or later
• MySQL / MariaDB / PostgreSQL
• Composer 2.x
• A configured database (Contensio owns its schema — use a fresh DB or a schema with no table-name collisions)

#Step 1 — Set up a Laravel application

If you already have a Laravel app, skip to Step 2.

composer create-project laravel/laravel my-site
cd my-site

Edit .env and configure your database credentials (DB_CONNECTION, DB_HOST, DB_DATABASE, DB_USERNAME, DB_PASSWORD). The CLI installer needs these before it can run migrations.

#Step 2 — Require Contensio

composer require contensio/contensio

Composer pulls in Contensio and its dependencies (Laravel Fortify, league/commonmark, etc.). This step is the same for both install paths.

#Method A — CLI installer

The fastest path for developers. Single command, flag-driven or interactive.

#Interactive (you'll be prompted)

php artisan cms:install

The command asks for:

1. Site name — shown in the admin and in emails (default: your Laravel app name).
2. Default language — pick from a list of seven seeded languages (en, ro, de, es, fr, it, pt). You can add more from the admin later.
3. Admin full name
4. Admin email — validated as a real email address.
5. Admin password — entered without echo, minimum 8 characters.

Then it:

• Publishes config files to config/cms.php
• Publishes core assets (logo, favicon) to public/vendor/cms/
• Runs all migrations
• Seeds languages, settings, content types (Page, Post), taxonomies (Category, Tag), block types, roles (Super Admin, Admin, Editor) and permissions
• Creates your admin account and assigns Super Admin
• Writes CMS_INSTALLED=true to your .env

You'll see a summary at the end with the admin URL and your email — sign in at /login.

#Non-interactive (flags — CI-friendly)

All prompts can be skipped with flags. Perfect for scripted installs:

php artisan cms:install \
    --site-name="My Site" \
    --language=en \
    --admin-name="Ana Popescu" \
    --admin-email="ana@example.com" \
    --admin-password="s3cret-pass"

Mix and match — any flag you leave out will still prompt.

#Flag reference

#Re-running the installer

Contensio guards against accidental re-installation: if CMS_INSTALLED=true in your .env, the command refuses to run without --force. The most common reason to re-run is resetting the admin password:

php artisan cms:install --force \
    --admin-email="existing@example.com" \
    --admin-password="new-s3cret"

Existing data is preserved — only the admin user row gets updated (Contensio uses updateOrInsert keyed on email).

#Method B — Browser wizard

Non-technical users run composer require contensio/contensio and then visit the site in a browser. Contensio detects that CMS_INSTALLED isn't set and redirects to /install, where a 4-step wizard guides them through setup.

#Step 1 — System check

Contensio verifies PHP version, required extensions (pdo, mbstring, openssl, etc.), writable directories, and shows a pass/fail checklist. Fix anything red before continuing.

#Step 2 — Database

Enter host, port, database name, username, password. Contensio tests the connection live — you'll see a green check or a clear error.

Behind the scenes, writing these values updates the project's .env (the web installer has write access since you're running the server locally).

#Step 3 — Website

• Site name — used in emails and the default window title.
• Default language — the language your content is authored in first.

Contensio generates a Laravel app key if one isn't set, saves APP_NAME, seeds the language + settings + content types + taxonomies + block types.

#Step 4 — Admin account

• Full name, email, password (min 8 chars, with confirmation).

On submit, Contensio seeds roles + permissions, creates the user and assigns Super Admin, writes CMS_INSTALLED=true to .env, and redirects to the "complete" page with a link to /login.

#When to use this path

• You're setting up a Contensio site on a managed hosting panel where you can't SSH in.
• You want the step-by-step guidance with validation at every stage.
• You're installing for a client who doesn't know what php artisan is.

#After install

You're signed in to the admin panel at /admin. From here:

• Create content — Pages or Posts from the sidebar.
• Add languages — Configuration → Languages. Each language can have its own slugs, meta, and content.
• Install a theme — Themes. Ships with one default theme; drop more into packages/themes/ or install via Composer.
• Install a plugin — Plugins. contensio/plugin-social-connect is a good starter (social login).

#Troubleshooting

php artisan cms:install says "already installed"

CMS_INSTALLED=true is already set in .env. Either edit .env to remove it (fresh-install) or re-run with --force (resets the admin account, keeps data).

"Class not found" errors immediately after install

Run composer dump-autoload — sometimes the autoloader needs a kick after Contensio's package provider registers new classes.

Migration fails with a foreign-key error

Contensio's migrations assume a fresh schema. If your database already has tables named contents, users, settings, etc., drop them (or use a different database) and re-run.

Admin panel returns 404 at /admin

Check config/cms.php — the route_prefix defaults to admin. If you changed it (e.g. to panel), the admin lives at /panel. You can override via the CMS_ROUTE_PREFIX env var too.

Login page says "Route [password.request] not defined"

This was a real bug in 1.0.0-rc.1 and rc.2. Fixed from rc.3 onwards — Fortify's service provider is now auto-registered by Contensio. If you hit this, upgrade to the latest ^1.0@rc.

The browser wizard shows "write permission denied" when saving DB credentials

The web installer writes to .env — make sure it's writable by the web server user. On Linux: chmod 664 .env && chown www-data:www-data .env (or equivalent for your stack).

Mail doesn't work after install (password reset, verification)

Install works without SMTP configured. Once installed, go to Configuration → Email and set your SMTP credentials (or choose log mailer during development — emails go to storage/logs/laravel.log).

#What's next

• First login — a tour of the admin panel.
• Plugins & themes — extend Contensio with ready-made plugins and themes.
• Developers → Getting started — if you want to build your own plugin or theme.