Get GCX Pass running in under 15 minutes.

1 · Quick start

For experienced operators on a fresh server:

1. Upload the release zip to your web root and extract it.
2. Create a MySQL database and a user with full privileges on it.
3. Visit https://yourdomain.com/install in a browser.
4. Follow the wizard — it will migrate, seed, create your admin, configure cron and run a health check.
5. Log in at /admin/login.

2 · Requirements

3 · Upload & unpack

Choose whichever path matches your hosting.

cd /var/www
unzip gcxpass-release.zip -d gcxpass
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data gcxpass
sudo chmod -R 775 gcxpass/storage gcxpass/bootstrap/cache

4 · Create the database

From cPanel → MySQL Databases (or your hosting panel):

1. Create a new database, e.g. gcxpass
2. Create a user, e.g. gcxpass_app with a strong password
3. Grant all privileges on that database to the user
4. Note the host (usually localhost or 127.0.0.1) and port (usually 3306)

5 · Run the installer wizard

Open https://yourdomain.com/install. The wizard runs ten steps:

1. 1. Welcome
   Splash screen.
2. 2. Requirements
   Verifies PHP version & extensions.
3. 3. Permissions
   Checks writable folders (storage, cache).
4. 4. Environment
   DB host, port, name, user, password.
5. 5. Purchase code
   Activate your CodeCanyon licence.
6. 6. Database
   Auto migrate + seed.
7. 7. Admin user
   Replace the default seeded admin with your own credentials.
8. 8. Cron
   Copy the cron line; the page verifies the first tick live.
9. 9. Health check
   14 background checks across DB, mail, queue, push, cache, JWT…
10. 10. Finished
    Jump straight to /admin/login.

Steps 7–9 are unique to GCX Pass and are highlighted above.

6 · Set up cron

The cron step displays the exact line for your server. For a typical cPanel host it looks like:

* * * * * cd /home/USER/public_html && /usr/local/bin/php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

Add it via cPanel → Cron Jobs → Add New (set every field to *) or crontab -e on a VPS. The installer polls a heartbeat file every 10 s and turns green once the first tick lands (≤ 60 s).

7 · Health check (14 points)

The wizard runs these checks in the browser and renders a pass/warn/fail table you can re-run.

8 · First-login checklist

• 1 Visit Settings → Company; upload your logo and set timezone (Africa/Accra).
• 2 Create departments, designations, then employees (or bulk-import — see User Guide).
• 3 Configure SMTP under Settings → Mail and send a test message.
• 4 Enable push notifications in the navbar (browser will prompt for permission).
• 5 Create a reception user and walk through a visitor sign-in to confirm the flow end-to-end.

9 · Mail & notifications

Set these in your .env (the wizard writes the DB section; mail is configured later):

MAIL_MAILER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=smtp.your-provider.com
MAIL_PORT=587
MAIL_USERNAME=you@yourdomain.com
MAIL_PASSWORD=•••
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=tls
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=noreply@yourdomain.com
MAIL_FROM_NAME="GCX Pass"

10 · Web Push (VAPID)

Generate VAPID keys once. They get written into your .env automatically:

php artisan push:vapid-keys --write

Push requires HTTPS. On localhost, Chrome treats http://localhost as secure; ngrok works for testing real devices.

11 · Updates & backups

mysqldump -u USER -p DB > backup.sql
tar -czf storage.tgz storage/app/public

12 · Troubleshooting