Your first site: three ways
Every learning path in this folder starts with a site you can use. This page compares the ways to get one, so you can pick the right one in five minutes. All of them are documented in Getting started: install Exponential and Installing Exponential 6.0.
Contents
- The options at a glance
- Which one for your path
- What every installation gives you
- What you need on your computer
- Before you begin
The options at a glance
| Way | Needs | Good for | Limits | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The public demo | A browser | A first look at the site and the administration | Shared with everyone, reset regularly, administrator passwords cannot be changed; no terminal | Trying the public demo |
One command (exp:install) | PHP 8.0 or newer (PHP 7.4 usable without support), Composer | Every learning path; fast to rebuild | Runs on your computer, so you set it up yourself | Installing a study site in one command |
| The setup wizard | PHP, Composer, a browser | Learners who prefer clicking to commands | Slower to repeat than one command | Installing with the setup wizard |
| Git clones | The above, plus Git | The developer path, and contributing | A larger download (the kernel has its full history) | Installing from Git clones for study |
A fourth installer, the kickstarter, reads its answers from a file kickstart.ini. It is made for repeating the
same installation on several servers (Getting started);
learners rarely need it.
Which one for your path
| Path | First choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Editor | The demo for day one, then one command | The demo shows you around; your own site lets you work without others changing it |
| Administrator | One command | You will reinstall, change settings and read logs |
| Developer | Git clones | You will read history, change code and send fixes back |
| Designer | One command, or Git clones | You will change templates and create a design extension |
What every installation gives you
From Installing Exponential 6.0:
- the Exponential kernel and the extensions listed in
composer.json; - a site package with its content and design (the default is
sevenx_multisite; see Site packages for learners); - three siteaccesses, always called
site(visitors),admin(administrators) andeditor(editors: the administration for content only).
With exp:install on its defaults, the database is SQLite in a file, so you need no database server
(Getting started).
What you need on your computer
| Need | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| PHP | 8.0 to 8.5; check with php -v | Requirements |
| PHP settings | memory_limit at least 64M, date.timezone set | Requirements |
| Composer | version 2 | Getting started |
| Git | 2.28 or later, only for Git clones | Develop with Git |
| A database server | None to start: SQLite is the default | Database support |
| A web server | None to start: Exponential can start PHP's own server for you | Getting started |
On a running installation, php bin/php/console exp:velocity ext check lists the PHP extensions the installation
wants and marks what is missing (Requirements).
Before you begin
- Use your own machine or a training machine you may change. Do not install on a server of your school or employer without permission.
- Keep the administrator password the installer prints. It is shown once.
- Use invented data. Test accounts get addresses at
example.invalid, so no exercise sends mail to a real person (the same rule trainers keep, Trainers: start here). - Write down your release (
php bin/php/console --version) in your study journal.
Related pages
- Resetting and rebuilding your study site
- Your first hour in the administration
- Installing Exponential 6.0
- Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.
Become an Exponential Partner
Partners share their information, provide funding, contribute back and develop the products with us, and that is how Exponential grows. A partner website and dashboard are planned for mid-2027: please become a partner today to speed up our growth rate and land new features faster.