Installation Guide

Choose your preferred installation method below. For most users, we recommend using a control panel like cPanel or aaPanel for easier management.

Quick Start Guide

⏱️ Estimated Time: 15-30 minutes

📋 Prerequisites:

PHP 8.4 or higher
MySQL 8.0 or PostgreSQL 14
Composer installed
Node.js 20.x and NPM
SSL certificate (Let's Encrypt recommended)

System Architecture Overview

Diagram showing ChatOn components

Installation via cPanel

Step 1: Upload Files

Upload all ChatOn files to your server via File Manager or FTP.

cPanel File Manager

Screenshot: File upload process

Step 2: Create Database

Create a new MySQL database and user in cPanel > MySQL Databases.

MySQL Database Wizard

Screenshot: Database creation

Step 3: Configure .env

Copy .env.example to .env and update database credentials.

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_DATABASE=your_database_name
DB_USERNAME=your_database_user
DB_PASSWORD=your_secure_password

Step 4: Run Installation

Access your domain and follow the installation wizard.

Installation Wizard

Screenshot: Setup process

Installation via aaPanel

Step 1: Setup Website

Create a new website in aaPanel > Website > Add site.

aaPanel Website Setup

Screenshot: Add website

Step 2: Install PHP 8.4

Go to App Store > Install PHP 8.4 and required extensions.

PHP Installation

Screenshot: PHP version selection

Step 3: Deploy Files

Upload files to your website root directory via File Manager.

Step 4: Configure Database

Create database in aaPanel > Database, then update .env file.

Installation via CyberPanel

Step 1: Create Website

Go to Websites > Create Website in CyberPanel dashboard.

CyberPanel Dashboard

Screenshot: Create website

Step 2: Select PHP Version

Choose PHP 8.4 from the dropdown menu.

Step 3: Upload & Configure

Upload files and configure database similar to cPanel method.

VPS Installation (Advanced)

Advanced Users Only

This method requires Linux server administration knowledge. Recommended for experienced users.

Step 1: Server Requirements

Ensure your VPS meets minimum requirements:

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or CentOS 8+
2GB RAM minimum (4GB recommended)
20GB storage minimum
Root access

Step 2: Install LAMP/LEMP Stack

# Update system
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

# Install Apache, MySQL, PHP
sudo apt install apache2 mysql-server php8.4 php8.4-mysql php8.4-cli php8.4-common php8.4-mbstring php8.4-xml php8.4-curl php8.4-zip php8.4-gd php8.4-bcmath -y

Terminal Commands

Screenshot: Server setup

Step 3: Clone & Install

# Clone repository
cd /var/www/html
git clone https://github.com/your-repo/chaton.git

# Install dependencies
composer install --optimize-autoloader --no-dev
npm install && npm run build

# Configure environment
cp .env.example .env
php artisan key:generate

# Run migrations
php artisan migrate --seed

Step 4: Configure Virtual Host

Set up Apache virtual host or Nginx server block.

Virtual Host Configuration

Screenshot: Apache config

Step 5: Setup SSL & Cron

# Install SSL (Let's Encrypt)
sudo certbot --apache -d your-domain.com

# Setup cron jobs
crontab -e
* * * * * cd /var/www/html && php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

System Requirements

Server Requirements

PHP ≥ 8.4 Required extensions: BCMath, Ctype, Fileinfo, JSON, Mbstring, OpenSSL, PDO, Tokenizer, XML
MySQL ≥ 8.0 or PostgreSQL ≥ 14.0
Composer Latest stable version
Node.js ≥ 20.x and NPM for frontend assets