Server requirements

What the server has to provide. The installer checks every item on this page and tells you which ones fail.

CertiFlow is written for ordinary shared hosting with a control panel. It needs no shell access, no Node.js, no Docker, and no Composer: the dependencies ship already installed inside the package.

Hosting

Item	Requirement
Web server	Apache with `mod_rewrite`, or Nginx. The package includes the Apache rules; the Nginx equivalent is in installation.
Database	MySQL 5.7 or newer, or MariaDB 10.3 or newer. The schema uses JSON columns, so older versions will not accept it.
HTTPS	Required in practice. Sign-in cookies are marked HTTPS-only as soon as you enable it, and certificate links you publish should not be plain HTTP.
Disk space	About 60 MB for the application, plus your own growth: one issued PDF is typically 100 KB to 2 MB, and background images are stored once per template.
Email	An SMTP mailbox you control. Sending through your own domain is what keeps delivered certificates out of spam folders.
Scheduled jobs	The ability to run a PHP file on a schedule, called Cron Jobs in most control panels.

PHP

PHP 8.1.0 or newer. PHP 8.2 and 8.3 are also supported.

Required PHP extensions

The installer stops if any of these is missing.

Extension	What it is used for
`pdo_mysql`	The database driver. Enable it in the hosting control panel, under PHP extensions.
`mbstring`	Multibyte string handling, used by every piece of text in the interface.
`openssl`	Encryption of stored SMTP credentials and two-factor secrets.
`json`	Configuration, audit metadata and certificate layouts are stored as JSON.
`ctype`	Character checks used by validation.
`fileinfo`	Detects the true type of an uploaded file, which the upload checks rely on.
`zip`	Reading .xlsx import files and writing exports.
`curl`	Secure outbound delivery of signed webhook events.

Optional PHP extensions

The installer reports these as advice. The product runs without them.

Extension	What it adds
`gd`	Faster image handling for logo and certificate background uploads.
`intl`	Locale-aware sorting and formatting.

Writable directories

The web server user must be able to write to each of these. The installer checks them all.

storage/
storage/cache/
storage/certificates/
storage/exports/
storage/logs/
storage/private/
storage/qr/
storage/translations/

PHP settings

The package ships a .user.ini that sets these on most shared hosting. If your host ignores it, set them in the control panel instead.

Setting	Value	Why
`upload_max_filesize`	10M or more	Import files and certificate background images. Keep it at or above `UPLOAD_MAX_MB`.
`post_max_size`	12M or more	Must exceed `upload_max_filesize`, or a large upload is silently discarded. Keep it at or above `REQUEST_MAX_MB`.
`memory_limit`	128M or more	Rendering a PDF and reading an `.xlsx` both hold the file in memory.
`max_execution_time`	60 or more	Confirming a large import in one request.
`display_errors`	Off	An error page must never show a visitor your file paths.

Checking before you buy hosting. Most providers publish their PHP version and extension list. The two that are most often missing on cheap plans are zip and fileinfo. Without zip the product cannot read .xlsx imports or write exports.

Checking after installation

Sign in as an Admin and open /admin/diagnostics. It runs the same checks as the installer and adds the PHP version, the web server, the database version, the active language and the timezone. That page is the right thing to send with a support request.