Installation

Install Curator Engine from the packaged release zip and boot it against a clean database.

This installation flow matches the packaged Curator Engine release artifact. The goal is a clean first boot with no manual SQL editing.

Download and unpack the release

You can download the current stable build from the public endpoint and unpack it into a new project directory.

curl -L https://curator.snippetsupply.com/download/curator-latest -o curator-core.zip
mkdir curator
unzip curator-core.zip -d curator
cd curator

Prepare your environment

The release includes an installer and an example environment file. Start by creating your local environment values and database credentials.

cp .env.example .env

Create an empty database, then make sure the values in .env or the installer inputs point at that database.

Run the installer

The packaged installer applies the canonical schema, seeds the minimum defaults, and writes the runtime database config used by the application.

php install/install.php

If you are installing into a database that already contains tables, use the installer carefully and only with the documented force flag.

php install/install.php --force

Verify first boot

After install, load the application in your browser and create the first account. On a fresh install, the first registered account becomes the admin account.

Check these basics before moving on:

• the home page responds normally
• login and registration work
• the admin area is accessible from the first account
• the storage/ directory is writable

Common installation issues

Database connection failures

If the installer cannot connect, double-check host, port, database name, and credentials first. Most early boot failures come from bad database settings rather than missing PHP code.

Permissions problems

If uploads, logs, or runtime config cannot be written, fix ownership and write permissions on storage/ before going further.

Missing admin access

On a truly fresh install, the first registered user should become admin automatically. If that did not happen, confirm you were not using an existing database with prior users already present.