Install on cPanel, DirectAdmin, Plesk or compatible PHP hosting

Updated 2026-09-08 · Pharos 0.5.10

Three ways in, one result: the application lives outside the web root, only its public files are served by the web server, and one cron line runs every minute. Pick the way that fits your host — no SSH, SSH, or by hand. Prefer containers? Skip to Docker. Every path downloads the same signed release: the installer verifies the Ed25519 manifest and the SHA-256 before it unpacks a single file.

A. Without SSH — the web installer (cPanel, DirectAdmin, Plesk)

Download pharos-install.php and upload it into the document root of the domain you want the status page on — File Manager → public_html, or the subdomain's folder.
Open https://status.example.com/pharos-install.php. Unlock it with the private installation key from the file shown on screen, using your hosting File Manager. Keep this key for the administrator form. The next screen checks PHP 8.3+, extensions, writable folders and access to the release server.
Download fetches the release, checks the signed manifest and checksum, unpacks the application into a private pharos-app-<domain-id> folder — next to the web root, never inside it — and copies public/ into the document root with an index.php that points at the app. No document-root change is needed, and .env is never reachable from the web.
Configure asks for the site address and the database (SQLite needs nothing from your host; MySQL if you prefer), writes .env with a fresh key and runs the migrations.
Cron shows the one line with the right PHP binary for your host. Add it under Cron Jobs (cPanel, DirectAdmin) or Scheduled Tasks (Plesk), press Finish: the installer deletes itself and opens the setup form — name the page, create your administrator.

The installer keeps whatever your panel already put in .htaccess (PHP handler, ini blocks) and adds Pharos's rules underneath, including DirectoryIndex index.php so a placeholder index.html from the panel does not shadow the page. A half-finished install resumes where it stopped; a finished one refuses to run twice.

Start — unlock the installer. Open the indicated private file in your hosting File Manager. The logo is embedded; no external image download is needed.

The web installer's requirements screen: PHP version, required extensions, app and web folder, outbound HTTPS and existing-install check, each marked OK. — **Screen 1 — check requirements.** Every requirement on one list; fix what is red, press Continue.

The configure screen after the download: signature valid, archive verified, unpacked, public folder copied; site address and database fields. — **Screen 2 → 3 — downloaded, verified, unpacked.** The app went to a private `pharos-app-<domain-id>` folder, `public/` into the web folder. Now the site address and the database.

The cron screen: one crontab line with a Copy button and where to add it in cPanel, DirectAdmin and Plesk. — **Screen 4 — the one cron line**, with the PHP binary that matches the version the installer found. The private installation key is hidden in this screenshot. Finish deletes the installer and opens the setup form.

B. With SSH — one command

curl -fsSL https://pharos.solutionmax.net/get | sh -s -- --php --url https://status.example.com

The script reads the machine (PHP version and extensions), verifies the manifest and the archive, unpacks into a private pharos-app-<domain-id> folder (change it with --dir), writes .env, migrates, links storage and adds the cron line to your crontab with the PHP binary pinned to the version it found. Where it cannot write the crontab — DirectAdmin's jailed shell, for one — it prints the line for you to add in the panel. Read it first if you like: curl -fsSL https://pharos.solutionmax.net/get | less.

Then point the document root at ~/pharos-app/public. Unlike the web installer, the script does not touch your web folder — this is the one step it leaves to you:

cPanel: Domains → Manage → Document Root. Over SSH, for a subdomain: uapi SubDomain changedocroot domain=status.example.com docroot=pharos-app/public.
DirectAdmin: Domain Setup if your host lets you set a document root. Most do not for user accounts; then replace the web folder with a link, which DirectAdmin's Apache follows: cd ~/domains/status.example.com && mv public_html public_html.orig && ln -s ~/pharos-app/public public_html
Plesk: Hosting Settings → Document root → pharos-app/public.
Your own server: an nginx or Apache vhost with its root at /home/you/pharos-app/public, PHP-FPM 8.3, and every unknown path rewritten to index.php — the .htaccess in public/ does that on Apache.

Apache and LiteSpeed pick the new root up within a minute. Open the site: the setup form appears. Never set the document root to a private pharos-app-<domain-id> folder itself — that exposes your .env.

Updating is the same command again: the script hands over to Pharos's own updater, which backs the current version up first. The Updates screen in the admin does the same with a button.

A terminal running the get script: OS detected, manifest signature valid, archive downloaded and verified, PHP checked, unpacked, .env written and migrated, cron line added, then the document-root instructions per panel. — **The SSH route, start to finish.** Same release, same checks; the last lines are the document-root step for your panel.

The setup form Pharos shows on first visit: installation key, status page name, time zone, your name, e-mail and password. — **Either way it ends here.** The first visit shows the setup form; the account you create is your administrator and the form is gone.

Installing a specific version

Both installers take the newest release from /releases/latest.json unless you pin one — to reproduce something, or to walk through an update yourself:

curl -fsSL https://pharos.solutionmax.net/get | sh -s -- --php --url https://status.example.com --version 0.5.10
https://status.example.com/pharos-install.php?version=0.5.10

A pinned install reads pharos-<version>.json, the manifest signed for that exact release; a version that was never published fails cleanly. Each release on the releases page also carries its own pre-pinned copy of the web installer, pharos-install-<version>.php, for when a query string is awkward. Afterwards the Updates screen offers the newest release as usual. Pharos never downgrades on its own: to go back, use Roll back under Updates, restore a verified backup. The get --version option is for new installations and refuses to overwrite an existing PHP install.

C. By hand

If you would rather not run either installer, it is a standard PHP 8.3 application:

git clone https://github.com/solutionmax/pharos.git ~/pharos && cd ~/pharos
composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader
cp .env.example .env && php artisan key:generate
touch database/database.sqlite && chmod -R 775 storage bootstrap/cache database
php artisan migrate --force && php artisan storage:link
php artisan config:cache && php artisan route:cache && php artisan view:cache

Set at least APP_ENV=production, APP_DEBUG=false, APP_URL and DB_CONNECTION=sqlite in .env, point the document root at ~/pharos/public as in B, and add the cron line below. Run php artisan optimize:clear after any .env change.

SQLite needs a writable directory, not just a writable file. It writes its journal next to the database, so permissions on the folder matter as much as on the file itself.

The first browser visit shows the setup form. From the command line instead: php artisan pharos:user [email protected] --name="Your Name" prints a generated password once, updates an existing account rather than failing, and is also how you get back in if you lock yourself out.

The one cron line

Everything time-based hangs off one scheduled command. Both installers give you the exact line; by hand, add a job that runs every minute — cPanel Cron Jobs, DirectAdmin Cron Jobs, Plesk Scheduled Tasks; in the panel's form the five stars go in the time fields and the rest in the command field:

* * * * * cd /home/you/pharos-app && php artisan schedule:run >/dev/null 2>&1

If your host's default php is not 8.3, use the full path to the 8.3 binary — cPanel exposes it as /opt/cpanel/ea-php83/root/usr/bin/php or /opt/alt/php83/usr/bin/php, Plesk as /opt/plesk/php/8.3/bin/php, and DirectAdmin as /usr/local/php83/bin/php. Pharos shows a warning in the admin until it sees the first run; verify by hand with php artisan pharos:check --force.