# PNLCS Documentation

Welcome! **PNLCS** is a free, open-source, self-hosted **hosting billing and
client management platform** — an open alternative to WHMCS. This is the user
guide: it explains how to run your hosting business with PNLCS, in plain
language, with no prior WHMCS experience assumed.

!!! tip "New here and not sure where to start?"
    Follow these three pages in order and you'll have a working, selling
    billing system:

    1. [First Login](getting-started/first-login.md) — sign in and secure your account
    2. [Setup Checklist](getting-started/setup-checklist.md) — configure the essentials
    3. [Your First Sale](getting-started/your-first-sale.md) — sell and provision your first plan end-to-end

## What can PNLCS do?

- **Sell hosting, VPS, domains and SSL** through a customer-facing shop and portal
- **Bill customers automatically** — recurring invoices, reminders, suspensions, renewals
- **Provision accounts automatically** on Panelica, cPanel, Plesk, DirectAdmin,
  HestiaCP, Proxmox and Vultr when an order is paid
- **Take payments** via Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.Net and bank transfer
- **Support your customers** with tickets, a knowledge base and announcements
- **Run in 30 languages**, with themes, staff roles, reports and an API

## How this guide is organized

| Section | What's in it |
|---------|--------------|
| **Getting Started** | The fastest path from a fresh install to your first paid, provisioned order |
| **Concepts** | Plain-English explanations of the core ideas — clients, products, services, orders, invoices, servers, modules |
| **Guides** | Task-by-task how-tos: email, payment gateways, connecting a server, selling domains, tax, migrating from WHMCS, and more |
| **Troubleshooting** | Fixes for the most common "why isn't this working?" moments |
| **Reference** | Scheduled commands and the developer API/hooks |

## Before you begin

You should already have PNLCS **installed** and be able to reach
`https://your-domain/admin/login`. If not, see the
[installation instructions in the README](https://github.com/Panelica/pnlcs#self-hosted-installation)
or the [Docker quick start](https://github.com/Panelica/pnlcs#quick-start-with-docker).

## Need help?

- **Community forum** — [forum.panelica.com](https://forum.panelica.com)
- **Bug reports & feature requests** — [GitHub Issues](https://github.com/Panelica/pnlcs/issues)
- **Email** — [info@panelica.com](mailto:info@panelica.com)

---

PNLCS is built and maintained by the team behind
**[Panelica](https://panelica.com)**, a modern hosting control panel and a
cPanel / Plesk alternative that needs no CloudLinux.