Install apps
On every site page, the Applications tab installs a ready-made application in one click: the panel downloads the official package, checks its integrity, verifies that the site's PHP fits, creates the database, runs the application's installer as the site user and configures nginx with the right rules. Accounts install in their own sites too.
Available applications
| Application | For | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress | websites and blogs | with the page cache, Redis and the protections of the WordPress section |
| WooCommerce | online shop | WordPress + WooCommerce set up to sell: currency, prices with taxes, shop pages; it stays in "coming soon" mode until you open it |
| PrestaShop | online shop | back office folder renamed, install folder removed, official nginx rules (product images, reserved folders) |
| Joomla | websites and portals | command line installation, installation folder removed |
| Drupal | structured sites | installed with Composer and drush; the site serves the web/ subfolder |
| Nextcloud | private cloud | data outside the site folder (private/nextcloud-data), background jobs through cron, PHP limits raised (512 MB, 1 GB uploads) |
| Matomo | analytics | reports archived by cron every hour, anonymised IPs |
| Laravel | developers | a new project or yours from a public Git repository; .env, key, migrations and scheduler; the site serves public/ |
The list comes from a signed catalog Koapanel publishes and keeps up to date (the panel checks it twice a day): new versions and new applications arrive without updating the panel. If the online catalog cannot be read, the panel uses the one shipped with its version.
How to install
- Open the site, Applications tab. The site folder must be empty (only the panel's welcome page): one application per site.
- Choose the application. If it does not work with the site's PHP version, the panel offers a suitable installed version and switches the site during the installation.
- Enter the site name, the administrator's user and email. You generate the password or choose it: a generated one is shown only once, save it right away.
- Follow the progress: checks, database, verified download, extraction, installation, configuration, final check. If something fails, the panel removes the files and the database of the attempt and the site is as before.
The database appears in Databases and belongs to the site; the application's cron jobs appear in the site's Cron.
Security
- Every package is downloaded from the official site and compared with the SHA-256 fingerprint written in the catalog; the catalog is signed with Koapanel's key. When the catalog is prepared, every package is compared with the fingerprint published by its vendor (WordPress, Nextcloud, Composer, wp-cli) or with the one GitHub computes for the release (PrestaShop, Joomla).
- Everything runs as the site user, never as root. Passwords never go on the command line of the programs (where other users of the server could read them).
- The nginx rules of each application block the reserved folders (configuration, logs, sources, data).
Updates
The tab shows when a new version is available. For WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Nextcloud and Matomo, Update first copies files and database (into private/app-backups, kept until the next update), runs the application's update and, if it fails, puts the copy back by itself. PrestaShop updates from its back office (1-Click Upgrade module); a Laravel project stays under your control. WooCommerce updates with WordPress, from the WordPress tab.
Uninstall
Uninstall deletes the application's files, its cron jobs and (unless you keep it) its database; for Nextcloud also the data folder. The site stays, with the welcome page. Take a backup first if you need the data.
KoaApps for cPanel and Plesk
The installer engine is a separate component, meant to become a free plugin for cPanel and Plesk too ("KoaApps").