Last Updated: 3/13/2026

Setup without Docker

This guide covers installing LinkAce directly on your server without Docker. This method requires more manual configuration but offers greater control over your environment.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure your server has:

PHP 8.2 or higher with required extensions
Composer for dependency management
Node.js 16+ and npm for asset compilation
MySQL 8.0+ or PostgreSQL 13+
Web server: Apache or Nginx
At least 512 MB RAM

Required PHP Extensions

BCMath
Ctype
Fileinfo
JSON
Mbstring
OpenSSL
PDO
Tokenizer
XML
cURL
GD or Imagick

Installation Steps

1. Download LinkAce

Clone the repository:


cd /var/www
git clone https://github.com/Kovah/LinkAce.git linkace
cd linkace
git checkout 2.x

Or download the latest release:


wget https://github.com/Kovah/LinkAce/archive/refs/heads/2.x.zip
unzip 2.x.zip
mv LinkAce-2.x linkace
cd linkace

2. Install Dependencies

Install PHP dependencies:


composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader

Install Node.js dependencies and build assets:


npm install
npm run production

3. Configure Environment

Copy the example environment file:


cp .env.example .env

Edit .env with your settings:


# Application
APP_NAME=LinkAce
APP_ENV=production
APP_KEY=
APP_DEBUG=false
APP_URL=https://linkace.example.com
 
# Database
DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=linkace
DB_USERNAME=linkace
DB_PASSWORD=YourSecurePassword
 
# Cache & Queue
CACHE_DRIVER=file
QUEUE_CONNECTION=database
SESSION_DRIVER=file

Generate an application key:


php artisan key:generate

4. Set Up Database

Create a database and user:


CREATE DATABASE linkace CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'linkace'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'YourSecurePassword';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON linkace.* TO 'linkace'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Run migrations:


php artisan migrate --force

5. Configure Web Server

Nginx Configuration

Create a new site configuration:


server {
    listen 80;
    server_name linkace.example.com;
    root /var/www/linkace/public;
 
    add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN";
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff";
 
    index index.php;
 
    charset utf-8;
 
    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }
 
    location = /favicon.ico { access_log off; log_not_found off; }
    location = /robots.txt  { access_log off; log_not_found off; }
 
    error_page 404 /index.php;
 
    location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.2-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $realpath_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }
 
    location ~ /\.(?!well-known).* {
        deny all;
    }
}

Apache Configuration

Create a .htaccess file in the public directory (usually included):


<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
    RewriteRule ^ index.php [L]
</IfModule>

Configure your virtual host:


<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName linkace.example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/linkace/public
 
    <Directory /var/www/linkace/public>
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
 
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/linkace-error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/linkace-access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

6. Set Permissions

Ensure proper permissions:


chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/linkace
chmod -R 755 /var/www/linkace
chmod -R 775 /var/www/linkace/storage
chmod -R 775 /var/www/linkace/bootstrap/cache

7. Set Up Queue Worker

LinkAce uses queues for background tasks. Set up a supervisor configuration:


[program:linkace-worker]
process_name=%(program_name)s_%(process_num)02d
command=php /var/www/linkace/artisan queue:work --sleep=3 --tries=3
autostart=true
autorestart=true
user=www-data
numprocs=1
redirect_stderr=true
stdout_logfile=/var/www/linkace/storage/logs/worker.log

Start the worker:


sudo supervisorctl reread
sudo supervisorctl update
sudo supervisorctl start linkace-worker:*

8. Set Up Cron Jobs

Add a cron job for scheduled tasks:


* * * * * cd /var/www/linkace && php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

Updating LinkAce

To update LinkAce:


cd /var/www/linkace
git pull origin 2.x
composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader
npm install
npm run production
php artisan migrate --force
php artisan cache:clear
php artisan config:clear
php artisan view:clear

Troubleshooting

500 Internal Server Error

Check the Laravel logs:


tail -f /var/www/linkace/storage/logs/laravel.log

Permission Denied Errors

Reset permissions:


chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/linkace
chmod -R 775 /var/www/linkace/storage
chmod -R 775 /var/www/linkace/bootstrap/cache

Queue Jobs Not Processing

Ensure the queue worker is running:


sudo supervisorctl status linkace-worker:*

Next Steps

Post Setup Steps: Complete the initial configuration