Getting Started

Park Your Projects Folder

Open Herd and go to Settings → General → Paths. Add your projects directory (e.g., ~/Herd). Every folder inside a parked directory automatically becomes a .test domain.

Extract Project Files

Extract the downloaded ZIP into your parked directory. The folder name becomes the URL:

# Extract to ~/Herd/automationhub
# URL will be: http://automationhub.test

Install Dependencies

cd ~/Herd/automationhub
composer install

Configure Environment

cp .env.example .env
php artisan key:generate

Open .env and set APP_URL=http://automationhub.test, APP_ENV=local, and APP_DEBUG=true.

Build Frontend Assets

npm install && npm run build
php artisan storage:link

Create Database and Run Migrations

Open TablePlus (or any MySQL client) and create an empty database named automation_hub. Update .env with the database credentials:

DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=automation_hub
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=

Then run the migrations:

php artisan migrate --seed

Visit http://automationhub.test in your browser. Use 127.0.0.1 as the database host and root / empty password (Herd default).

Extract Project Files

Extract the downloaded ZIP into Laragon's web root. Laragon auto-creates a virtual host for each folder:

C:\laragon\www\automationhub

The artisan file must be at the root of this folder. Laragon will auto-create automationhub.test as the virtual host.

Start Services

Open Laragon and click "Start All". This launches Apache, MySQL, and sets up the virtual host automatically. If prompted, allow Laragon to update the Windows hosts file.

Install Dependencies

Click "Terminal" in Laragon (or open Cmder/cmd) — Laragon adds PHP, Composer, and Node to the PATH automatically:

cd C:\laragon\www\automationhub
composer install
cp .env.example .env
php artisan key:generate

Build Frontend and Create Symlink

npm install && npm run build
php artisan storage:link

Open .env and set APP_URL=http://automationhub.test, APP_ENV=local, and APP_DEBUG=true.

Create Database and Run Migrations

Open HeidiSQL (built into Laragon — right-click tray icon → MySQL → HeidiSQL) and create an empty database named automation_hub. Update .env:

DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=automation_hub
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=

Then run migrations:

php artisan migrate --seed

Visit http://automationhub.test. Default Laragon MySQL credentials: host 127.0.0.1, port 3306, user root, password empty.

Install and Configure Valet

composer global require laravel/valet
valet install

# Park your projects directory
cd ~/Sites
valet park

Every folder inside ~/Sites is now automatically served as folder-name.test.

Set Up MySQL and Create Database

brew install mysql
brew services start mysql
mysql -u root -e "CREATE DATABASE automation_hub;"

Extract and Install Project

Extract the ZIP to ~/Sites/automationhub, then install dependencies:

cd ~/Sites/automationhub
composer install
cp .env.example .env
php artisan key:generate
npm install && npm run build
php artisan storage:link

Set APP_URL=http://automationhub.test in .env.

Run Migrations and Access the App

php artisan migrate --seed

Visit http://automationhub.test. Use 127.0.0.1 as the host, root as the user, and an empty password (Homebrew MySQL default).

Bootstrap Composer via Docker

Extract the ZIP to your desired folder, then install PHP dependencies using a temporary Docker container:

cd automationhub

docker run --rm \
  -u "$(id -u):$(id -g)" \
  -v "$(pwd):/var/www/html" \
  -w /var/www/html \
  laravelsail/php83-composer:latest \
  composer install --ignore-platform-reqs

Configure Environment for Sail

cp .env.example .env

Edit .env and set the following values for Sail's MySQL container:

APP_URL=http://localhost
DB_HOST=mysql
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=automation_hub
DB_USERNAME=sail
DB_PASSWORD=password

Start Sail Containers

./vendor/bin/sail up -d

Wait for all containers to start. The first run downloads Docker images and may take a few minutes.

Install Dependencies Inside Sail

./vendor/bin/sail artisan key:generate
./vendor/bin/sail npm install
./vendor/bin/sail npm run build
./vendor/bin/sail artisan storage:link

Run Migrations and Access the App

Sail's MySQL container auto-creates the database. Run migrations and visit the app:

./vendor/bin/sail artisan migrate --seed

Visit http://localhost. Database credentials: host mysql, user sail, password password, database automation_hub.

Extract Project Files

C:\wamp64\www\automationhub

Create Database via phpMyAdmin

Start WAMP (tray icon should turn green), then open http://localhost/phpmyadmin. Create a new database named automation_hub with utf8mb4_unicode_ci collation.

Install Dependencies

Open Command Prompt or PowerShell:

cd C:\wamp64\www\automationhub
composer install
cp .env.example .env
php artisan key:generate
npm install && npm run build
php artisan storage:link

Set APP_URL=http://localhost/automationhub/public in .env.

Configure Database and Run Migrations

Update .env with WAMP MySQL credentials:

DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=automation_hub
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=

Then run migrations:

php artisan migrate --seed

Visit http://localhost/automationhub/public. Default WAMP MySQL credentials: host 127.0.0.1, user root, password empty.

Install LEMP Stack Inside WSL

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install -y nginx mysql-server php8.2-fpm php8.2-mysql \
  php8.2-mbstring php8.2-xml php8.2-curl php8.2-zip php8.2-gd \
  php8.2-bcmath php8.2-intl php8.2-readline unzip

Configure MySQL

sudo service mysql start
sudo mysql -e "CREATE USER 'automationhub'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'secret';"
sudo mysql -e "CREATE DATABASE automation_hub;"
sudo mysql -e "GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON automation_hub.* TO 'automationhub'@'localhost';"
sudo mysql -e "FLUSH PRIVILEGES;"

Extract and Install Project

# Extract ZIP to /var/www/automationhub
cd /var/www/automationhub
sudo chown -R $USER:www-data .
composer install
cp .env.example .env
php artisan key:generate
npm install && npm run build
php artisan storage:link
chmod -R 775 storage bootstrap/cache

Configure Nginx Virtual Host

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name automationhub.test;
    root /var/www/automationhub/public;
    index index.php;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.2-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $realpath_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }

    location ~ /\.(?!well-known).* {
        deny all;
    }
}

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/automationhub /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t && sudo service nginx restart

Update Windows Hosts File and Run Wizard

Open C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts in Notepad (as Administrator) and add:

127.0.0.1   automationhub.test

Set APP_URL=http://automationhub.test in .env and visit http://automationhub.test/install. Use host 127.0.0.1, user automationhub, password secret in the wizard.

Configure DDEV Project

Extract the ZIP to a folder and initialize DDEV:

cd automationhub
ddev config --project-type=laravel --docroot=public --php-version=8.2

Start DDEV and Install Dependencies

ddev start
ddev composer install
ddev exec "npm install && npm run build"

Configure Environment

ddev exec cp .env.example .env
ddev artisan key:generate
ddev artisan storage:link

Edit .env with DDEV database credentials:

APP_URL=https://automationhub.ddev.site
DB_HOST=db
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=db
DB_USERNAME=db
DB_PASSWORD=db

Run the Installation Wizard

https://automationhub.ddev.site/install

In the wizard database step, use host db, user db, password db, database db.

Install the LEMP Stack

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y nginx mysql-server \
  php8.2-fpm php8.2-mysql php8.2-mbstring php8.2-xml php8.2-curl \
  php8.2-zip php8.2-gd php8.2-bcmath php8.2-intl nodejs npm unzip

# Install Composer
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
sudo mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer

# Install Node.js 18 LTS (if not already available)
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_18.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs

Set Up MySQL and Project

sudo mysql -e "CREATE DATABASE automation_hub;"
sudo mysql -e "CREATE USER 'automationhub'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'secret';"
sudo mysql -e "GRANT ALL ON automation_hub.* TO 'automationhub'@'localhost';"

# Extract project
cd /var/www/automationhub
sudo chown -R $USER:www-data .
composer install
cp .env.example .env
php artisan key:generate
npm install && npm run build
php artisan storage:link
chmod -R 775 storage bootstrap/cache

Quick Test with Artisan Serve (Optional)

For quick testing without configuring Nginx, you can use Laravel's built-in server:

php artisan serve --host=0.0.0.0 --port=8000
# Visit http://localhost:8000/install

Production-like Nginx Configuration (Recommended)

For a proper setup, create an Nginx vhost:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name automationhub.local;
    root /var/www/automationhub/public;
    index index.php;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.2-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $realpath_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }

    location ~ /\.(?!well-known).* {
        deny all;
    }
}

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/automationhub /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl restart nginx
# Add "127.0.0.1 automationhub.local" to /etc/hosts
# Visit http://automationhub.local/install

Place the Files

Extract the downloaded ZIP into MAMP's document root:

/path/to/automationhub/

The file artisan must be at the root of this folder.

Start MAMP and Create Database

Open MAMP and start both Apache and MySQL services. Go to MAMP → Preferences → PHP and confirm PHP 8.2 or 8.3 is selected.

Create an empty database named automation_hub using phpMyAdmin at http://localhost:8888/phpMyAdmin.

Install Dependencies

On MAMP you may need to use MAMP's PHP binary explicitly:

cd /path/to/automationhub
php /usr/local/bin/composer install

If Composer is not in your PATH, download it from getcomposer.org and run it as php composer.phar install.

Configure Environment

cp .env.example .env
php artisan key:generate

Open .env and configure the following critical MAMP settings:

APP_URL=http://localhost:8888
APP_ENV=local
APP_DEBUG=true

DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=8889
DB_DATABASE=automation_hub
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=root
DB_SOCKET=/tmp/mysql.sock

Important: MAMP uses port 8889 for MySQL (not 3306). Check MAMP → Preferences → Ports to confirm. The DB_SOCKET line is optional but can help if TCP connections fail.

Build Frontend and Create Symlink

npm install && npm run build
php artisan storage:link

Run the Installation Wizard

http://localhost:8888/automationhub/public/install

Follow the wizard. Use host 127.0.0.1, port 8889, user root, password root.

Place the Files

Extract the downloaded ZIP into XAMPP's document root:

• Windows: C:\xampp\htdocs\automationhub\
• macOS: /Applications/XAMPP/htdocs/automationhub/

The file artisan must be at the root of this folder.

Start XAMPP and Create Database

Open the XAMPP Control Panel and start Apache and MySQL. Then open phpMyAdmin at http://localhost/phpmyadmin and create a new database named automation_hub with utf8mb4_unicode_ci collation.

Install Dependencies

cd C:\xampp\htdocs\automationhub
composer install
cp .env.example .env
php artisan key:generate

cd /Applications/XAMPP/htdocs/automationhub
composer install
cp .env.example .env
php artisan key:generate

Set APP_URL=http://localhost/automationhub/public, APP_ENV=local, and APP_DEBUG=true in .env.

Configure Database

Update .env with XAMPP MySQL credentials:

DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=automation_hub
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=

Build Frontend and Create Symlink

npm install && npm run build
php artisan storage:link

For active development, use npm run dev instead of npm run build for hot module replacement.

Run the Installation Wizard

http://localhost/automationhub/public/install

Follow the wizard. Default XAMPP MySQL credentials: host 127.0.0.1, port 3306, user root, password empty.