Quickstart

Apache works out of the box. nginx, Caddy and DDEV work with our Cookbook recipes. Other servers can be used by advanced users.

If you want to use PHP's built-in server, you have to start it up with Kirby's router:

php -S localhost:8000 kirby/router.php

• PHP 8.4
• PHP 8.3 (recommended)
• PHP 8.2
• PHP 8.1

Kirby needs a pretty standard set of PHP extensions. See the full list of required, recommended and optional PHP extensions

Kirby does not modify the output of your site's templates and thus has no effect on the browser requirements for your site's frontend. However, the Panel is built on modern browser features and has a couple browser requirements which need to be met by your site's editors

We provide two downloadable kits for you to get started with:

1. Extract the contents of the ZIP file into your server's Document root
2. Visit your new Kirby site in your browser at yourdomain.com
3. Visit the Panel at yourdomain.com/panel to create your first account

Herd is a fast, native PHP development environment for macOS and Windows. You can install Kirby very quickly and intuitively with Herd’s one-click installers.

• Install the Starterkit with Herd
• Install the Plainkit with Herd

You can install a Kirby kit via the Kirby CLI as follows:

Starterkit

kirby install:kit Starterkit

Plainkit

kirby install:kit Plainkit

In both cases you will be prompted to specify a folder name to install into.

More information about installing and updating Kirby via the CLI in our installation guide.

Composer is a dependency manager for PHP. If you have never used Composer before, follow the instruction on the Composer website.

In a terminal window, navigate to the place where you want to install Kirby. Then run one of the following commands to create a new project based on the Starterkit or Plainkit.

Installing the Starterkit

composer create-project getkirby/starterkit project-folder

Installing the Plainkit

composer create-project getkirby/plainkit project-folder

More information about installing and updating Kirby via Composer in our installation guide.

In a terminal window, navigate to the place where you want to install Kirby. Then run one of the following commands to create a new project based on the Starterkit or Plainkit.

Installing the Starterkit

git clone https://github.com/getkirby/starterkit project-folder

Installing the Plainkit

git clone https://github.com/getkirby/plainkit project-folder

More information about installing and updating Kirby via Git in our installation guide.

1. Open the Panel at http://yourdomain.com/panel and log in.
2. Click on "Activate" on the bottom left.
3. Enter your license code and your email address and press "Ok".

If you don’t want the Panel to connect to our server, registration via the Panel fails, or you are not using the Panel at all, you can download your license files directly from our licenses website:

1. Visit hub.getkirby.com.
2. Log in with the email you used when you purchased the license and any order number.
3. In the list of your licenses, click on the key you want to activate.
4. Use the "Download license file" button to download the license file.
5. Rename the downloaded file to .license (without extensions).
6. Place it in the /site/config/ folder of your Kirby installation.