Getting Started
Installation & Setup
A guided, seven-step web installer — no manual .env editing, no command line required.
1. Requirements check
Point your domain at the /public folder and visit it in a browser. If the application isn't installed yet, you're redirected straight into the installer. The first screen checks PHP version and required extensions, and confirms key storage folders are writable — every item must be green before you can continue.
2. Database connection
Enter your MySQL/MariaDB host, port, database name, username, and password. The installer opens a real connection with these credentials before letting you proceed, so a typo is caught immediately rather than after the fact.
3. Application settings
Set your public application URL, application name, and environment (production/local). These are written directly into your .env file.
4. Demo data choice & admin account
This is the step that matters most for a fresh production launch. You choose one of two paths:
Fresh installation (the default)
No sample accounts or transactions are created. This is what you want for a real production launch, and it is what the installer selects for you — you have to opt in to demo data deliberately.
Import demo data
Loads 10 fully-populated demo subscriber accounts spread across every pricing tier, with real sample transactions, budgets, debts, recurring bills, savings goals, and more — for exploring the app or running a staging/demo environment.
The demo data never contains an admin account, and its subscriber accounts are seeded with a long random password that is generated at seed time and never written down, printed, or documented — so importing demo data cannot hand anyone a way into your site. If you are building a public demo where visitors should be able to sign in as those accounts, set DEMO_SEED_PASSWORD in your .env and re-run php artisan db:seed --class=DemoDataSeeder. Combined with DEMO_MODE=ON, that is also what makes the credentials table appear on the login page. Never set it on a live site.
Regardless of which option you pick, the installer always publishes the full marketing site (Home, Features, Pricing, Product, About, Contact, Terms, Privacy — all editable afterward through the Page Builder), the header and footer navigation menus, every pricing package tier, and your real administrator account from the credentials you enter on this step. A "fresh" install is never a blank site — it's a fully working, ready-to-launch one with zero fake customer data.
Enter the name, email, and password for your own admin account here. This is the real account you'll use to log in and run the site — it is not affected by the demo-data choice above, and it is the only administrator account any installation ever has. Nothing in MoneyMate ships with, seeds, or documents a default admin login.
5. Integrations (optional)
Add an API key for OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or a custom OpenAI-compatible endpoint here to enable the AI features (auto-categorization, natural-language entry, budget recommendations, chat assistant) immediately. This step can be skipped entirely and configured later — including adding more providers, testing each connection, and pinning individual features to a specific one — from AI Providers in the admin panel.
6. Mail & Stripe (optional)
Configure your SMTP credentials for transactional email (password resets, notifications, weekly digests) and your Stripe API keys for subscription billing. Both can be tested from this screen before continuing (a "Send test email" and a "Test connection" action are provided), and both can be skipped and configured later from System Settings.
7. Run the installation
A final summary screen shows exactly what's about to happen. Clicking Start Installation runs your database migrations, seeds all real application data (packages, pages, menus, translations, currencies), imports demo data if you chose to, creates your admin account, links storage, and warms the application caches — with a live progress indicator for each step. When it finishes, you're redirected straight into the admin dashboard, already logged in.
Running the installer wipes and rebuilds the target database from scratch. Only run it against a fresh database you intend to use for this installation.
After installation
- Log in with the admin credentials you set in step 4.
- Review Site Settings to set your logo, favicon, and company details.
- Review Packages to adjust pricing and feature limits for your market.
- If you skipped Stripe/SMTP/AI in the installer, configure them now — see System Settings and AI Providers.
- Customize your marketing site copy through the Page Builder.