# Deploy on Plesk PNLCS runs well on a Plesk server, either through Plesk's **Laravel Toolkit** extension (recommended — handles most of the build steps for you) or fully manually over SSH. This guide covers both paths and the gotchas that are easy to miss on Plesk specifically. ## Prerequisites - A Plesk subscription/domain already created for the app (e.g. `app.example.com`) - PHP **8.4 required** in Plesk (check **Domain → PHP Settings**) — see note below - MySQL 8 (or MariaDB 10.11+) - Root or SSH access to the server for the manual steps below !!! warning "Use PHP 8.4, not 8.3" PNLCS's `composer.json` states `^8.3`, but the shipped `composer.lock` resolves to package versions (Symfony 8.x in particular) that require PHP `>=8.4`. `composer install` will fail on PHP 8.3 with errors like `symfony/xyz requires php >=8.4`. Set the domain's PHP version to **8.4** in Plesk before installing — this avoids the issue entirely. If 8.4 isn't available on your server, the alternative is running `composer update --no-dev --optimize-autoloader` once to re-resolve an 8.3-compatible lock file, but starting on 8.4 is simpler and is what this guide assumes from here on. ## Option A — Using Plesk's Laravel Toolkit (recommended) 1. Install the **Laravel Toolkit** extension in Plesk if it isn't already. 2. Go to Laravel in Plesk and click on Install Application image image 3. Choose a Domain, add the repository `https://github.com/Panelica/pnlcs.git`, and click **Install Application** image 4. Set **Deployment mode** to **Manual** (safer for a first install — you control exactly when it deploys) or **Automatic** if you want it to redeploy on every push. 5. Under **Deployment steps**, leave the defaults checked: fetch source, install Composer dependencies, install npm dependencies, disable maintenance mode. The "Run deployment script" step is only needed if you add a custom `.deploy` script later. 6. Click **Deploy**. 7. Once deployed, edit the app's **environment variables (.env)** from the toolkit's dashboard tab (see [Environment](#environment) below). 8. Run the [Artisan commands](#artisan-commands) from the toolkit's **Artisan** tab — no SSH needed for this part. 9. Enable the **Scheduled Tasks** and **Queue** toggles on the toolkit dashboard. This replaces the manual cron/systemd steps in Option B entirely — Plesk manages the worker process and the `schedule:run` cron entry for you. !!! note "Node.js version" PNLCS pins a Node version in `.node-version` (check the file — it may be ahead of what your distro's package manager ships, e.g. Node 26). The Laravel Toolkit's own **Node.js** tab lets you pick a Node version for the *build step* independently of what's installed system-wide, so this usually isn't a manual concern under Option A. ## Option B — Manual deployment over SSH 1. **Clone outside the web root**, then point the document root at `public/` rather than the repo root — Laravel apps must never serve their own project root: ```bash cd /var/www/vhosts/example.com git clone https://github.com/Panelica/pnlcs.git pnlcs ``` In Plesk: **Domain → Hosting Settings → Document Root** → `pnlcs/public`. 2. **Install PHP extensions.** PNLCS needs: `pdo_mysql, mbstring, bcmath, ctype, fileinfo, json, openssl, tokenizer, xml, curl, gd, zip, intl`. On Plesk/Debian-based systems these come as `plesk-php84-` packages — check what's active first: ```bash /opt/plesk/php/8.4/bin/php -m | sort ``` 3. **Install Composer dependencies** using the Plesk PHP binary explicitly, so you don't accidentally use a different system PHP: ```bash /opt/plesk/php/8.4/bin/php $(which composer) install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader ``` 4. **Install Node and build assets.** If the version in `.node-version` isn't available via your distro's package manager (common for very recent versions), use [nvm](https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm) rather than fighting distro packages: ```bash curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.1/install.sh | bash export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm" [ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" nvm install "$(cat .node-version)" npm ci npm run build ``` 5. **Configure `.env`** — see [Environment](#environment) below. 6. **Run the Artisan commands** — see [below](#artisan-commands). 7. **Fix ownership/permissions.** Anything run as `root` during setup (e.g. an interactive `su` session that didn't fully take, or a manual `chown` that Plesk's ACL model disagrees with) can leave files owned incorrectly for the subscription's system user. Rather than hand-crafting `chown`/`chmod`, let Plesk reconcile it against its own conventions: ```bash plesk repair fs example.com -y ``` 8. **Queue worker.** Plesk doesn't run long-lived processes on its own — create a systemd unit: ```ini # /etc/systemd/system/pnlcs-queue.service [Unit] Description=PNLCS Queue Worker After=network.target mysql.service [Service] User=your_subscription_system_user WorkingDirectory=/var/www/vhosts/example.com/pnlcs ExecStart=/opt/plesk/php/8.4/bin/php artisan queue:work --tries=3 --timeout=90 Restart=always [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target ``` ```bash systemctl enable --now pnlcs-queue ``` 9. **Scheduler cron.** Add to the subscription's crontab (Plesk → Scheduled Tasks, or `crontab -u your_subscription_system_user -e`): ``` * * * * * php /var/www/vhosts/example.com/pnlcs/artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1 ``` ## Environment Set at minimum: ``` APP_NAME=PNLCS APP_ENV=production APP_DEBUG=false APP_URL=https://app.example.com DB_CONNECTION=mysql DB_HOST=127.0.0.1 DB_PORT=3306 DB_DATABASE=your_db_name DB_USERNAME=your_db_user DB_PASSWORD=your_db_password QUEUE_CONNECTION=database ``` Leave `APP_KEY` blank if you haven't generated one yet — the Artisan step below handles it. If you're deploying through the Laravel Toolkit, it may already have generated a key for you during the first deploy; check before overwriting it. ## Artisan commands Run these once, in order, after dependencies are installed and `.env` is set: ```bash php artisan config:clear php artisan key:generate # skip if APP_KEY is already set php artisan migrate --force --seed php artisan storage:link ``` `migrate --seed` creates the default administrator account (`admin` / `admin123`). **Log in and change this immediately** — see [First Login](../getting-started/first-login.md). ## Verify 1. Visit `https://app.example.com/admin/login` and confirm the login page loads (not a 500 or blank page — if so, check `storage/logs/laravel.log`). 2. Confirm SSL is active (Plesk → SSL/TLS Certificates → Let's Encrypt) with HTTP→HTTPS redirect enabled. 3. Confirm the queue worker and scheduler are actually running — see [Scheduled Commands](../reference/scheduled-commands.md). 4. Continue with the [Setup Checklist](../getting-started/setup-checklist.md).