# Self-hosting checklist: what to check before you ask

**URL:** <https://community.tidemarkanalytics.com/t/self-hosting-checklist-what-to-check-before-you-ask/42>\
**Category:** Help\
**Tags:** self-hosted\
**Created:** [November 2, 2026, 12:28am UTC](https://community.tidemarkanalytics.com/t/self-hosting-checklist-what-to-check-before-you-ask/42 "2026-11-02T00:28:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![foggymtndrifter](https://community.tidemarkanalytics.com/user_avatar/community.tidemarkanalytics.com/foggymtndrifter/32/45_2.png) [@foggymtndrifter](https://community.tidemarkanalytics.com/u/foggymtndrifter)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2026, 12:28am UTC](https://community.tidemarkanalytics.com/t/self-hosting-checklist-what-to-check-before-you-ask/42/1 "2026-11-02T00:28:07Z")

</div>

Setting up Tidemark on your own server? Check these first.

- **PHP 8.3+** with `mbstring`, `openssl`, `pdo` and one of `pdo_sqlite`, `pdo_mysql` or `pdo_pgsql`, plus `fileinfo`, `ctype`, `tokenizer` and `xml`.
- **Database:** SQLite needs no setup. MySQL/MariaDB and PostgreSQL work too.
- **Shared hosting:** upload the zip, open `/install`, and follow the page. No SSH needed.
- **Docker:** use the image at `ghcr.io/tidemark-analytics/tidemark` with the `docker-compose.yml` from the repository, then open `/install`.
- **Scheduler:** if you aren’t using the Docker image, add this to cron so scheduled jobs run: `* * * * * php /path/to/tidemark/artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1`.
- **Updates:** as an admin, open Account settings → Updates to see new releases and install them.

The [documentation](https://www.tidemarkanalytics.com/docs) covers each step in more detail.

Still stuck? Start a new topic in Help and include your Tidemark version, PHP version, web server and what you expected.