Shared Hosting (cPanel) Deployment

Store Console prefers a VPS (Docker or LEMP), but it runs on a capable shared host too. Shared hosting means no root access, usually MySQL instead of PostgreSQL, no Redis, and no long-running processes — this page covers exactly what changes.

Minimum Host Capabilities

PHP 8.4 with the standard Laravel extensions (most cPanel PHP selectors include them)
MySQL 8.0+ or MariaDB 10.6+ (PostgreSQL preferred where available)
Cron jobs (at least every minute)
SSH access strongly recommended for composer and artisan

Step 1: Upload and Point the Document Root

Upload and extract your licensed zip outside public_html, then point the (sub)domain's document root at the app's public/ directory from cPanel → Domains. Never expose the application root itself.

Step 2: Configure .env for Shared Hosting

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=cpaneluser_storeconsole
DB_USERNAME=cpaneluser_sc
DB_PASSWORD=your_password

QUEUE_CONNECTION=database
CACHE_STORE=database
SESSION_DRIVER=database
BROADCAST_CONNECTION=null

These drivers are first-class: the queue, cache, and session tables ship in the default migrations, so no Redis is required.

Step 3: Migrate and Build

php artisan migrate --seed
npm run build   # or build locally and upload public/build

Step 4: Cron Entries (replaces Horizon and systemd)

Add two cron jobs in cPanel → Cron Jobs:

* * * * * php /home/USER/storeconsole/artisan schedule:run
* * * * * php /home/USER/storeconsole/artisan queue:work database --stop-when-empty --max-time=55

The second entry drains every queue once per minute and exits, which is safe under shared-host process limits. Horizon and its dashboard are not used on shared hosting.

What Degrades — and How

AI semantic features (vector search, embeddings) need PostgreSQL + pgvector — on MySQL they switch off cleanly while AI chat, generation, and report tools keep working through your configured provider
Real-time chat & notifications use Reverb/WebSockets on a VPS — without it the UI falls back to periodic polling automatically (BROADCAST_CONNECTION=null)
Background jobs run up to a minute later than on a dedicated worker — acceptable for mail, invoices, and reports; heavy stores should move to a VPS

When to Upgrade to a VPS

Move to a VPS when you enable POS or Delivery dispatch (latency-sensitive), rely on AI search, or process more than a few orders per minute. Your data migrates with a standard database dump — no reinstall needed.

Shared Hosting (cPanel) Deployment