Complete Guide to INKRAH News Portal CMS

Log in to cPanel → File Manager

Open public_html (this is your site's main folder). If you want this CMS to be the main website on your domain, upload files directly here. If you want this CMS located at an address like yourdomain.com/news, create a new folder named news first, then enter that folder.

Upload the CMS ZIP file

Click the Upload button in File Manager, select this project's ZIP file, and wait for the upload to complete.

Extract the ZIP file

Right-click the uploaded ZIP file → select Extract. Ensure the extracted files place index.php directly inside that folder (not hidden inside another subfolder). If an extra wrapper folder exists (e.g. inkrah-cms/index.php), move all contents one level up and delete the empty wrapper folder.

Right-click the database folder

Select Permissions (or Change Permissions). Set it to 755. If a "cannot write" error appears later, try changing it to 775.

Repeat for the storage folder

Same as above: right-click → Permissions → 755 (or 775 if required). Uploaded images are stored in this folder.

Ensure the PHP version is correct

In cPanel, locate MultiPHP Manager or Select PHP Version. Select your domain/folder and set the PHP version to 8.1 or newer. This is mandatory — older versions will cause errors.

Open the installer via browser

Visit yourdomain.com/install/index.php (or yourdomain.com/news/install/index.php if installed in a subfolder). The page will display a system checklist — ensure all items show a green "OK".

Fill in the installation form

Enter the site name, Site URL (your full site address without a trailing slash — e.g. https://yourdomain.com/news), then create your primary administrator username, email, and password. Use a strong password (at least 12 characters, mixing uppercase/lowercase letters/numbers).

Click Install, then log in

Upon success, you will be redirected to the admin login page. Keep these credentials safe — this account is the primary Super Admin and is automatically protected from deletion.

Open the core folder in File Manager

Click the + File button in the top corner of File Manager. Name the file: config.local.php. Ensure this file is created inside the core folder, alongside the existing config.php file.

Edit the file

Right-click the newly created config.local.php file → select Edit or Code Editor. Delete any contents (if any), then paste exactly this:

<?php
define('INKRAH_BASE_PATH', '/news');
define('INKRAH_APP_ENV', 'production');

Replace /news with your custom folder name if different. Save the file (click Save Changes).

Edit the .htaccess file in the main folder

Right-click .htaccess (if not visible, enable "Show Hidden Files" in File Manager settings) → Edit. Find the line # RewriteBase /news/, remove the hash symbol # in front, and adjust /news/ to match your folder name. Save.

Rename the database folder

This makes your database file location much harder to guess. Steps:

1. In File Manager, right-click the database folder → Rename. Change it to a unique name, e.g. db-x7kQ9secret (letters and numbers only, avoid spaces).
2. Create/edit the core/config.local.php file (see section 3.4 for creation instructions), and add this line at the very top, before any other lines:

   define('INKRAH_DB_DIR', 'db-x7kQ9secret');

3. Save, then try opening your website — if it loads normally, the change was successful.

Routine Backups

Refer to section 5 (Maintenance) below for instructions.

Never edit files directly without a backup

Before editing any file via File Manager, download a copy to your local computer as a backup.

Access File Manager

Open the database folder (or its new name if renamed according to section 4.2).

Download the inkrah.sqlite file

Right-click the file → Download. Save it to your computer with a clear name, e.g. backup-2026-08-20.sqlite.

Also back up the storage folder

This contains all uploaded images. Select the storage folder → right-click → Compress (to ZIP) → download the generated ZIP file.

Log in

Go to yourdomain.com/admin/login.php and sign in with your account.

Click menu Articles → + New article

You will enter the editor page.

Enter title and article content

Use formatting buttons above the text box for bold/italic/section headings/blockquotes/links/images. Images can be chosen from the Media Library using the "🖼 Image" button.

Select category & write an excerpt in the right sidebar

This sidebar can be hidden or toggled using the ☰ button in the top left corner if screen space is limited.

Select status

Select Published to publish immediately (only for roles with publish authorisation). Other roles automatically route to "pending review" status awaiting editor approval.

Click Save

Done — the article will appear on the homepage and its corresponding category page.

Menu Users → fill in the "Create user" form

Enter name, username, email, password, then tick appropriate roles — for example "Author" for standard writers, or "Editor" for users authorised to review others' work.

Changing an existing user's role

Click Edit next to the user's name, tick/untick roles, and click Save.

Prepare advertisement image

Upload your ad image (e.g. ads1.png) to the public/assets/img/ folder via File Manager.

Menu Ads → create new ad

Fill in ad name, select type (Image or Google AdSense), enter image path (e.g. /public/assets/img/ads1.png) and target destination URL (must start with https://).

Select display placement

"Below article" = displayed beneath every article. "Before footer" = displayed as an advertisement banner row before the footer section.

(Optional) Set stats password

If this ad belongs to a client/partner, set "Owner stats password" — then share the link yourdomain.com/ad-stats.php?id=NUMBER with them so they can monitor ad performance independently without requiring admin login.