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Installing tinymash

This document covers the normal way to install tinymash on a server.

tinymash is a flat-file CMS and publishing platform for PHP 8.4+. It does not need a database server, but it does need a working PHP runtime, a web server pointed at public/, and writable runtime directories.

The usual production path is:

  1. start from a prepared tinymash runtime tree
  2. copy it to the server
  3. point the web server at public/
  4. configure the site
  5. create the first admin user
  6. enable housekeeping from cron

What you need

  • PHP 8.4 or newer
  • a web server such as Nginx or Apache
  • PHP-FPM or another supported PHP SAPI
  • local filesystem write access for runtime data

Required PHP extensions:

  • mbstring
  • json
  • dom
  • session
  • openssl
  • fileinfo

Recommended PHP extensions for full feature coverage:

  • curl
  • gd or imagick
  • simplexml
  • exif
  • intl
  • zip

1. Prepare the runtime tree

If you already have a tinymash deploy package or prepared runtime tree, start there.

If you are building one yourself, create a clean deploy tree with:

php8.4 bin/tinymash.php deploy /tmp/tinymash-deploy

That produces a clean runtime tree with empty data/, users/, and runtime directories instead of copying a live site.

2. Copy tinymash to the server

Copy the prepared runtime tree to the target host, for example:

rsync -a /tmp/tinymash-deploy/ /path/to/tinymash/

Do not layer a fresh install on top of an old tree full of stale data/, users/, or tmp/ content unless you actually intend to preserve that site state.

3. Point the web server at public/

The document root must be:

/path/to/tinymash/public

Do not point the web server at the repository root or runtime root.

Use the shipped sample configs as your starting point:

  • samples/server/nginx.sample.conf
  • samples/server/apache.sample.conf
  • samples/server/php-fpm.sample.conf

If you want explicit OPcache settings, use:

  • samples/server/php-opcache-production.ini
  • samples/server/php-opcache-development.ini

4. Set directory ownership and write permissions

The PHP/web-server user must be able to write to:

  • data/
  • users/
  • tmp/

If login works but saving drafts, uploads, cache writes, or housekeeping fail, treat it as a filesystem-permissions problem first.

5. Create and review the main config

The main runtime config file is:

app/config/tinymash.json

Prepared deploy packages ship a sample config at:

app/config/tinymash.json.example

For a new install, copy the example to the runtime config path:

cp app/config/tinymash.json.example app/config/tinymash.json

Do not overwrite an existing app/config/tinymash.json during upgrades or redeploys. That file is site-local runtime state.

Check at least:

  • site.base_url
  • site.name
  • site.default_language
  • locale.timezone
  • smtp settings if you want password reset, notifications, or plugin mail

If the tree was created with tinymash deploy, expect tinymash.json.example to contain a sanitized empty-site config. That is deliberate.

6. Create the first admin user

Before you can use /admin/login, create at least one local admin user:

php8.4 bin/tinymash.php user set-password admin strong-password-here superadmin

The command creates the user if it does not exist, or updates the password if it does.

7. Reload PHP-FPM

After copying new code or changing PHP-FPM pool settings, reload PHP-FPM.

Example:

sudo systemctl reload php8.4-fpm

8. Set up housekeeping from cron

tinymash has a web-cron fallback, but real cron is still the better operational path.

Example:

*/15 * * * * cd /path/to/tinymash && /usr/bin/php8.4 bin/tinymash.php housekeeping run >/dev/null 2>&1

If you use the Fediverse plugin actively, also schedule:

*/5 * * * * cd /path/to/tinymash && /usr/bin/php8.4 bin/tinymash.php fediverse run-queue >/dev/null 2>&1

There is also a sample cron file at samples/cron/tinymash.cron.

Run these cron entries as the tinymash runtime user. Running mutating CLI commands as root requires confirmation or --allow-root and can leave runtime files owned by root.

9. First checks

Before you call the installation done, check these things:

  1. the front page loads
  2. /admin/login loads
  3. the first admin user can log in
  4. saving a draft works
  5. uploaded media lands in data/media/
  6. php8.4 bin/tinymash.php housekeeping status runs cleanly

Common mistakes

  • wrong document root; it must be public/
  • stale data/, users/, or tmp/ left from an older site
  • site.base_url not set correctly
  • missing write permissions for data/, users/, or tmp/
  • treating web-cron fallback as the same thing as a real scheduler

Installing from a source checkout

This is the developer/operator path, not the normal end-user install path.

If you are running tinymash directly from a source checkout, install PHP dependencies first:

composer install --no-dev --prefer-dist

After that, the runtime setup is the same:

  • point the web server at public/
  • copy app/config/tinymash.json.example to app/config/tinymash.json if needed, then configure it
  • create an admin user
  • set write permissions
  • enable housekeeping

License

Copyright 2026 Joaquim Homrighausen; all rights reserved.

tinymash is licensed under AGPL-3.0-or-later. See LICENSE.

#docs #install