Phase 3 · Local development
Take the frozen vendor snapshot from Code & repository setup and turn it into a running app on your machine — dependencies installed, assets built, database migrated, installer run, login working. This is the first time the project actually boots.
Phase 3 — cloned repo → running local app
Key concepts
Section titled “Key concepts”- Build-locally strategy — frontend assets are built on your machine and committed, so the production server never needs Node.js.
- CodeCanyon installer — the vendor’s web wizard runs migrations, creates the admin user, and seeds data; it writes a
storage/installedmarker when done. _zajsuffix — every custom migration you add later uses a_zajsuffix so it’s instantly distinguishable from vendor migrations during upgrades.
This phase, page by page
Section titled “This phase, page by page” 1 · Dependencies & assets Authenticate Composer, install deps without clobbering vendor patches, audit .env.example, build & commit assets.
2 · Local database Create the utf8mb4 schema and point .env at it, secrets double-quoted.
3 · Storage, symlinks & SSL Storage + addon symlinks, then a local HTTPS domain with the installer route reachable.
4 · Run the installer Raise the PHP/nginx timeouts, complete the web wizard, capture credentials safely.
5 · Verify migrations & schema Confirm migrations ran, capture a normalized schema baseline, run the 11-point gate.
6 · Commit & secure Commit the install state, compare vendor, verify deploy symlinks, lock /install and /update.
7 · Optional tooling Atlas, Bytebase, Redis cache, and a right-sized debug-tools stack — each with a free fallback.
A booting, version-controlled local app is the prerequisite for Phase 4 · Deploy pipeline, where you wire the build-and-ship automation that pushes this to a server.
These seven pages are the navigable pipeline for Phase 3 — the full task-by-task detail, with every verification one-liner, is distilled into them.