QuickInstall is a tool we built to support the community of phpBB extension developers (and previously MOD authors). It simplifies and speeds up the process of creating and configuring local phpBB3 forum installations. These boards can then be used to safely install, develop, and test extensions in isolation without having to worry about external conflicts.

⚠️ QuickInstall is not intended for use on a live production website.

QuickInstall stores all board and database passwords in a plain text file. They are hidden in the user interface but can be read by anyone with access to the QuickInstall directory. Therefore, if you do use QuickInstall on a public server, you do so at your own risk and must protect access to the directory where it resides from unauthorised users. No support is provided for QuickInstall other than local use.

1. Get the latest version of QuickInstall.

2. Extract it and copy the quickinstall folder to your local web server.

3. Download a copy of phpBB3. Extract it and copy the phpBB3 folder to quickinstall/sources/.

4. Point your web browser to the QuickInstall directory (http://localhost/quickinstall for instance) and follow the setup instructions.

Alternate phpBB Profiles:
You can store additional versions of phpBB and boards with alternate styles or language packs in sources/phpBB3_alt/ . You can name these alternate phpBB folders whatever you want, e.g.: sources/phpBB3_alt/phpBB-3.0.12, sources/phpBB3_alt/phpBB-sv, etc. They will then be available as alternative phpBB3 boards you can choose to install or save as Profiles. Past releases of phpBB can be downloaded here.

Adding phpBB Extras:
If you want additional files/folders, such as extensions, to be copied to your boards when they are created, you can put them in the sources/extra/ directory. By using the same directory structure in sources/extra/ as phpBB, the files/folders should be mapped to the correct locations in your boards. For example: sources/extra/ext/phpbb/pages.

1. Get the latest version of QuickInstall and extract it.

2. Copy everything into your existing QuickInstall directory. Keep existing copies of these folders; copy them if missing:

   • 📁.qi/ (might be hidden by your operating system)
   • 📁boards/
   • 📁customisations/
   • 📁sources/
   • 📁settings/

If you are upgrading from QuickInstall 1.1.8 (or older), you MUST review and re-save your old Profile settings.

QuickInstall is designed to run on all modern browsers. Please don't use old stuff anymore...seriously.

Desktop:	60+	60+	12+	80+	40+
Mobile:	12+	6+

phpBB boards require a web server running PHP and one of the following database management systems.

QuickInstall now includes a cross-platform, Docker-based CLI and local Dashboard UI for creating phpBB test boards. They work on macOS, Linux, and native Windows and write generated state to .qi/ without changing the legacy web application.

Requirements:

• Docker Desktop, installed and running
• PHP 8.0 or newer for the CLI command
• Git when using Git sources

Create your first new board:

php bin/qi board:create test --phpbb 3.3 --db mariadb --port 8081 --populate development

The QuickInstall CLI targets phpBB 3.2+ installer-based boards. phpBB 3.0/3.1 remain legacy-web-app territory and are not planned for the QuickInstall CLI.

All fixture presets run through one phpBB-aware seeding runtime with shared manifests, reset behavior, generated-file tracking, and version compatibility.

If you prefer a browser workflow, start the QuickInstall Dashboard UI:

php bin/qi ui:start

The examples use php bin/qi, which works on every supported operating system when PHP is in PATH. Windows users can alternatively use .\bin\qi.cmd from either Command Prompt or PowerShell.

See the complete QuickInstall CLI docs.

You can receive support at the phpBB3 QuickInstall Discussion/Support forum.

Please report all bugs to our Issues Tracker. Even reports for small bugs are welcome to help make QuickInstall even better than it is now.

Feel free to contribute to this project. Please read our Contributing Guidelines before submitting Pull Requests with any bug fixes or feature enhancements to this repository.

This project is maintained by the phpBB Customisations Team.

• Credits go to the phpBB team, especially the development team which created such a wonderful piece of software.
• Originally created by Igor “igorw” Wiedler in the summer of 2007.
• Maintained by Jari “tumba25” Kanerva from March 2010 to March 2015.
• Maintained by Matt “MattF” Friedman since 2016.
• Thanks to Vinny for creating phpBB Style Tester, which inspired QuickInstall's development seed preset.
• Thanks to the phpBB.com MOD team (especially Josh, aka “A_Jelly_Doughnut”) for AutoMOD.
• Thanks to the beta testers!
• Thanks to the phpBB community including phpBB.com, startrekguide.com, and phpBBModders.net!

phpBB QuickInstall is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License 2 (GPL).