Craft CMS 4 Server Requirements

Craft CMS is a highly adaptable and intuitive content management system (CMS) designed for creating unique websites. It offers a seamless experience for both users and developers, making it a preferred choice.

In this blog, we run through the server requirements for running Craft 4, and a few tips on setting up a server to get up and running. 

Not heard of Craft CMS? Take a look at this article.

Required PHP Extensions

To start with, let's get you up to scratch with the required PHP Extensions to use Craft CMS 4

• BCMath
• ctype
• cURL
• GD or ImageMagick
• iconv
• Intl
• JSON
• Multibyte String
• OpenSSL
• PCRE
• PDO MySQL Driver or PDO PostgreSQL Driver
• PDO
• Reflection
• SPL
• Zip
• DOM
  

We recommend ImageMagick over GD for expanded image handling options.

Optional PHP Methods and Configurations

Some shared hosting environments disable certain common PHP methods and configurations that affect Craft features.

• allow_url_fopen must be enabled for updating and installing plugins from the Plugin Store.
• proc_* methods must be enabled in order to utilize the Plugin Store and send emails.
• ignore_user_abort must be enabled for the default, web-based queue runner to operate.

Required Database User Privileges

The database user you tell Craft to connect with must be given the following privileges:

MySQL/MariaDB

• Select
• Insert
• Delete
• Update
• Create
• Alter
• Index
• Drop
• References
• Lock Tables

PostgreSQL

• Select
• Insert
• Update
• Create
• Delete
• References
• Connect

Permissions

For Craft to run properly, PHP needs to be able to write to the following files and folders:

• .env
• composer.json
• composer.lock
• config/license.key
• config/project/*
• storage/*
• vendor/*
• web/cpresources/*

The exact permissions of these files and folders varies from server to server, so always check this!

Control Panel Browser Requirements

Craft’s control panel requires you to use a browser that supports JavaScript modules.

Windows & macOS

• Firefox 67+
• Chrome 63+
• Safari 11.1+
• Edge 79+

Mobile

• iOS: Safari 11+
• Android: Chrome 81+ or Firefox 68+

Other things to bear in mind

Additional Server Requirements

On top of the “Mandatory Server Requirements”, the project might need additional requirements. E.g. If a plugin is used that requires an additional PHP extension, we may require this to be installed if using a 3rd Party provider. You will be notified of any additional requirements when the project is in the development stage.

3rd Party Access

If using a 3rd party hosting provider (One not provided through MadeByShape) then the responsibility for the server to be setup with the minimum requirements is the clients responsibility. MadeByShape will be available for guidance and advice, but if required to configure/setup a server this will potentially incur additional costs on top of the original quote for the project. Additional to this, backups are the responsibility of the clients, not MadeByShape.