technical-services-exchange/docs/INSTALL.md

Install And Update

Provider Exchange is a Laravel application. A server install needs PHP-FPM, Nginx, Composer, Node/npm for asset builds, and a database.

Quick Ubuntu Install

From a fresh Ubuntu host:

sudo APP_URL=https://example.com \
    APP_DIR=/var/www/technical-services-exchange \
    bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jasonybird/technical-services-exchange/main/scripts/install-ubuntu.sh)"

The installer defaults to SQLite for a small test deployment. For production, use MariaDB/MySQL or PostgreSQL and set the database values in .env before running migrations.

Update Existing Install

From the app directory:

bash scripts/update.sh

To create a database/storage backup immediately before updating:

TSE_BACKUP_BEFORE_UPDATE=1 bash scripts/update.sh

Or from anywhere:

APP_DIR=/var/www/technical-services-exchange bash /var/www/technical-services-exchange/scripts/update.sh

The preferred working loop for this project is:

1. Make and test changes locally.
2. Commit and push to GitHub.
3. SSH to the server and run bash scripts/update.sh from the deployed Git checkout.
4. Smoke test the live URL after the update completes.

Backups And Health Checks

Create an on-demand backup from the app directory:

bash scripts/backup.sh

Backups default to storage/app/backups. Set TSE_BACKUP_DIR=/path/to/backups to store them elsewhere. Set TSE_BACKUP_STORAGE=0 to back up only the database.

Run a deployment health check from the app directory:

bash scripts/health-check.sh

Important Notes

• The installer is a first-pass Ubuntu/Nginx helper, not a universal hosting panel installer.
• Local and CI test runners need PHP SQLite and upload-test support: pdo_sqlite, sqlite3, fileinfo, and gd.
• Public attachment serving needs php artisan storage:link; the checked-in update script runs this automatically.
• Tune upload policy with TSE_ATTACHMENT_DISK, TSE_ATTACHMENT_ROOT, TSE_ATTACHMENT_MAX_KB, and TSE_ATTACHMENT_MIME_TYPES.
• Tune backup policy with TSE_BACKUP_DIR, TSE_BACKUP_STORAGE, and optional TSE_BACKUP_BEFORE_UPDATE=1.
• Review .env before production use.
• Configure real mail before inviting users.
• Move sessions, cache, and queues to Redis before serious traffic.
• Move uploads to shared or object storage before multi-server deployment.
• Use a real database server before treating the platform as production data.