Installation

Slotara ships with a visual web installer — no command line required. Upload the files, open your browser, and the wizard handles migrations, seeding, and .env configuration automatically.

The 6-step installer progress bar showing Welcome → Requirements → Permissions → Database → Admin → Finish

Before You Begin

Have the following ready before opening the installer:

What you need Details
Web server Nginx or Apache — document root pointed at public/
PHP 8.2+ With BCMath, Ctype, JSON, Mbstring, OpenSSL, PDO, PDO_MySQL, Tokenizer, XML, ZIP extensions
MySQL 8.0+ An empty database already created, plus its hostname, port, name, username, and password
Admin email & password The credentials you want to use for the super admin account

Upload and extract the files first:

unzip slotara.zip -d /var/www/slotara

Point your web server document root to /var/www/slotara/public. See Web Server Setup for Nginx and Apache config examples.

{warning.fa-exclamation-triangle} The installer is only accessible when no .installed file exists in the project root. If you are reinstalling, delete the .installed file first.

Step 1 — Welcome

Navigate to your domain in a browser. If no .installed file exists, you are automatically redirected to:

https://yourdomain.com/install
Step 1 — Welcome screen listing the three prerequisites: database details, admin account info, and directory write permissions

The welcome screen confirms you have three things ready:

  • ✓ Database connection details
  • ✓ Administrator account information
  • ✓ Write permissions on required directories

Click Get Started → to proceed.

Step 2 — Requirements

The installer checks your PHP version and all required extensions automatically.

Step 2 — Requirements list showing green checkmarks for each passing requirement and a red X for any that fail
Requirement Minimum
PHP Version 8.2 or higher
BCMath Extension ✅ Required
Ctype Extension ✅ Required
JSON Extension ✅ Required
Mbstring Extension ✅ Required
OpenSSL Extension ✅ Required
PDO Extension ✅ Required
PDO MySQL Extension ✅ Required
Tokenizer Extension ✅ Required
XML Extension ✅ Required
ZIP Extension ✅ Required

If a requirement fails:

All checks must show green before you can continue. To install a missing PHP extension on Ubuntu/Debian:

apt install php8.2-{ext}
# e.g. apt install php8.2-mbstring php8.2-xml php8.2-zip

After installing, reload PHP-FPM and refresh the page:

systemctl reload php8.2-fpm

{primary.fa-lightbulb-o} On shared hosting (cPanel, Plesk), most extensions are already enabled. If one is missing, contact your host — they can enable it from WHM without server access.

Step 3 — Permissions

The installer checks that your web server can write to all required directories.

Step 3 — Permissions list showing each directory path and its writable status
Directory Purpose
storage/ Framework cache, logs, uploaded files
bootstrap/cache/ Config and route cache
public/ Compiled assets, storage symlink

If a directory shows not writable, fix ownership and permissions on your server:

chmod -R 755 storage bootstrap/cache public
chown -R www-data:www-data storage bootstrap/cache public

Replace www-data with your web server user (nginx, apache, or nobody depending on your setup). Refresh the page — all checks should turn green.

Step 4 — Database

Enter your MySQL database credentials. The installer tests the connection before proceeding — you won't be able to continue if the connection fails.

Step 4 — Database form showing Host, Port, Database Name, Username, and Password fields with a Test Connection and Continue button
Field Default Description
Host 127.0.0.1 Database server hostname or IP
Port 3306 MySQL port (leave as 3306 unless your host uses a custom port)
Database Name — The name of your empty MySQL database
Username — MySQL user with full access to the database
Password — Leave blank if no password is set

{primary.fa-info-circle} Create the database before this step. The installer does not create the database — it only creates tables inside an existing one.

-- Create the database on your MySQL server first:
CREATE DATABASE slotara CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;

Click Test Connection & Continue →. If the connection fails, an error is shown inline — double-check your credentials and try again. Your database credentials are held in session memory until the final step, when they are written to .env.

Step 5 — Admin Account

Configure your site and create the super administrator account. This step runs all database migrations and seeds the initial data.

Step 5 — Admin form showing Site Title, Name, Email, Password fields and the Start with Demo Data checkbox

Site Settings:

Field Description
Site Title Your platform name — shown in the admin panel header and emails
Site Description A brief description of your platform (optional)

Admin Account:

Field Description
Name Full name for the super admin account
Email Address Login email — use something you have access to
Password Minimum 8 characters
Confirm Password Must match the password above

Demo Data:

Option Effect
☐ Start with Demo Data Installs a sample business, services, providers, and bookings to explore the platform

{primary.fa-lightbulb-o} Check Start with Demo Data if this is a trial install or you want to explore the platform with sample content. Leave it unchecked for a clean production install.

Click Create Account & Install →. This step:

Runs php artisan migrate     ← creates all database tables
Runs php artisan db:seed     ← seeds roles, settings, default data
Seeds BookingSaasSeeder      ← only if "Start with Demo Data" is checked
Creates your admin user      ← assigns the super_admin role
Saves site name & description

{warning.fa-exclamation-triangle} This step may take 20–30 seconds on shared hosting. Do not close the browser or navigate away while it runs.

Step 6 — Finish

When installation completes successfully, you land on the finish screen.

Step 6 — Final setup step before completing installation and accessing the Admin Panel

The installer has:

  • ✅ Run all database migrations
  • ✅ Seeded roles, default settings, and initial data
  • ✅ Created your super admin account
  • ✅ Written database credentials and APP_URL to .env
  • ✅ Set APP_ENV=production and APP_DEBUG=false
  • ✅ Generated an APP_KEY if one wasn't present
  • ✅ Created the .installed lock file (prevents re-running the installer)
  • ✅ Published Livewire assets

Click Go to Admin Panel → to log in with the email and password you set in Step 5.

{danger.fa-lock} The installer is automatically locked after completion — any visit to /install redirects to the homepage. If you need to reinstall, you must delete the .installed file from the project root manually.

After Installation

The installer handles the essentials, but a production deployment needs a few more steps:

1. Create the storage symlink (required for uploaded images to display):

php artisan storage:link

2. Set up the queue worker (required for emails to send):

Without a running worker, all emails queue silently and never send. See Web Server Setup → Queue Worker for the full Supervisor config.

# Quick test — run the worker manually:
php artisan queue:work --tries=3

3. Set up the cron job (required for scheduled reminders):

crontab -e

Add:

* * * * * cd /var/www/slotara && php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

4. Configure SMTP in Admin → Settings → Email so confirmation and notification emails can be sent.

5. Configure Stripe in Admin → Settings → Payments if you plan to charge for services or subscriptions.

{primary.fa-rocket} See Configuration → for a full walkthrough of every setting in the Admin panel.

Troubleshooting

Symptom Likely Cause Fix
Blank white page at /install Web server not pointing to public/ Check document root in your Nginx/Apache config
Stuck on Requirements with all green Browser cached an old redirect Clear browser cache or open in an incognito window
"Unable to connect to database" Wrong credentials or MySQL not running Verify with mysql -u username -p database_name from the command line
Step 5 times out Shared hosting with short execution limits Contact host to increase max_execution_time to 120s, or run php artisan migrate --force && php artisan db:seed --force via SSH
"Go to Admin Panel" redirects to /install .installed file not created Check storage/logs/laravel.log for the error from Step 6; ensure public/ is writable
Images or assets not loading after install Storage symlink missing Run php artisan storage:link
Emails not sending Queue worker not running Start queue worker: php artisan queue:work or configure Supervisor

{primary.fa-info-circle} All installation errors are written to storage/logs/laravel.log. If something goes wrong, that file is the first place to look.