PaperPix Vault · Web install

Self-hosted photo showcase site running on your own webserver.

Which one do I want?

Vault Desktop is the native Mac / Windows app for cataloguing your local library. Grab it here.

Vault Web (this page) is a self-hosted PHP site that turns a folder of photos into a public gallery with 10+ themes — ideal for photographers who want a portfolio site on their own domain, controlled by them, no monthly SaaS bill.

What Vault Web gives you

Public showcase site on your own domain
10+ built-in themes (Aperture, Marquee, Compendium, and more)
Client-share links + favourites
Drone / camera FTP ingest
Full-text search across captions, IPTC, keywords, GPS
Runs on any PHP 8.2+ shared or VPS host
Free forever — no account, no cloud, no monthly fee

Requirements

PHP 8.4 or newer with these extensions: pdo_mysql, mbstring, intl, zip, bcmath, exif, fileinfo, openssl, phar, and either gd or imagick
MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB 10.3+
~200 MB free disk for the app + room for your photo library
SSH, FTP, or Control Panel file access to your webhost
Ability to create a database (via cPanel, Plesk, DirectAdmin, etc.)

The installer checks all of these before doing anything and tells you exactly what's missing.

Install

Everything happens through a small bootstrap script called install.php. Put it on your server, open it in a browser, and it downloads the full app, unpacks it, creates the database schema, and walks you through creating an admin user.

install.php · ~15 KB bootstrap

Download this one file, upload to your webhost, then open it in your browser.

Method A · FTP upload (easiest, no terminal needed)

Download install.php using the button above.
Open your FTP client (FileZilla, Cyberduck, WinSCP, or whatever your host recommends).
Connect to your webhost with the FTP credentials from your control panel.
Navigate to your website's public folder (usually /public_html/, /httpdocs/, or /www/). Or a subfolder if you want Vault on a subpath like /gallery/.
Upload install.php into that folder.
In your browser, visit https://yourdomain.com/install.php (or wherever you uploaded).
Follow the on-screen wizard: enter DB credentials, admin email, admin password. Vault installs itself.
When done, install.php self-deletes from your server. No cleanup step needed.

Method B · SSH one-liner (fastest if you have shell access)

SSH into your webhost, then:

With curl (installed on most hosts):

cd /path/to/your/public/folder      # e.g. /home/username/public_html or /var/www/html
curl -O https://paperpix.io/vault-web/install.php

Or with wget (if curl isn't there):

cd /path/to/your/public/folder
wget https://paperpix.io/vault-web/install.php

Then in your browser, visit https://yourdomain.com/install.php and follow the wizard. The script self-deletes after a successful install — no cleanup step needed.

Method C · cPanel / Plesk File Manager (if you don't have FTP or SSH)

Download install.php using the button above.
Log into your hosting control panel and open File Manager.
Navigate to your public folder.
Click Upload and select install.php.
Open https://yourdomain.com/install.php in your browser.

What the wizard does

Checks your PHP version and required extensions (bails cleanly if anything's missing, telling you exactly what)
Asks for your database hostname / name / user / password — tests the connection before continuing
Downloads the latest webhost.tar.gz release from paperpix.io
Extracts it into the folder install.php sits in
Creates all tables + runs migrations
Asks you to choose an admin email + password
Self-deletes and redirects you to the login screen

Total time: 2–3 minutes on a typical shared host.

After install

Log in at https://yourdomain.com/admin
Pick a theme from Appearance → Themes
Add photos via drag-drop, FTP into storage/uploads/, or the drone-ingest endpoint
Configure the site header, byline, and social links from Settings
Publish sets to make them public

Updating

Vault Web has a built-in updater. When a new release is available you'll see a banner in the admin. Click Update — the app downloads the new release, backs up your DB, and applies it. Takes about 30 seconds.

Common problems

install.php returns "500 Internal Server Error"

Your host is on PHP <8.4. Check the version in your hosting control panel and switch to 8.4+ (usually one dropdown click on cPanel / Plesk / DirectAdmin).

"Cannot connect to database"

Double-check the DB hostname — on shared hosts it's often localhost but occasionally something like mysql.yourhost.com. Your control panel will list the exact hostname to use.

Photos upload but don't display

The storage/ folder needs to be writable by the PHP user. Set permissions to 775 (or ask your host to enable "user write" on the storage folder).

My host doesn't support wget or curl

Use Method A (FTP upload) or Method C (control panel File Manager) instead. Neither needs shell access.

Prefer a local app?

If you don't need a public showcase site, and just want to catalogue your photo library on your own machine, Vault Desktop is what you want. Free, no server, works offline.