Requirements
Before installing WhatsMine, make sure your server (or local machine) meets the following.
Server requirements
| Requirement | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| PHP | 8.2 | 8.3 |
| Composer | 2.x | latest 2.x |
| Node.js | 20 | 20 LTS or newer |
| Database | MySQL 8.0 (or MariaDB 10.6+) | MySQL 8.0 |
| Web server | Apache or Nginx | Nginx + PHP-FPM |
| Redis | optional | recommended for cache, queue & sessions at scale |
Node.js is only needed to build the frontend assets during installation/updates. It is not required at runtime once the assets are built.
Required PHP extensions
These ship with most standard PHP installations. Make sure they are enabled:
opensslpdopdo_mysqlmbstringtokenizerxmlcurljsonbcmath(orgmp)fileinfoctype
How to check
Run php -m to list your installed extensions, and php -v to confirm the version is 8.2 or higher. The web installer also runs an automatic pre-flight check of your PHP version, extensions and writable paths on its first step — so you can verify everything in the browser before continuing.
Recommended for production
For a smooth, reliable production deployment you should also have:
- A queue worker process (Supervisor or systemd) — required for sending campaigns, processing inbound messages, AI runs and emails. See Deployment.
- A cron entry for the Laravel scheduler — required for scheduled campaigns, billing reconciliation, trial expiry and digests.
- HTTPS (SSL) — mandatory for Meta/WhatsApp webhooks and payment gateways.
- A public domain — Meta, Stripe, PayPal and Paddle all deliver webhooks to public HTTPS URLs.
Third-party accounts (as needed)
WhatsMine works without any of these, but to use specific features you'll want accounts with:
| Feature | You'll need |
|---|---|
| WhatsApp / Messenger / Instagram | A Meta for Developers app (Business type) |
| Subscription billing | A Stripe, PayPal and/or Paddle account |
| AI chatbots | An OpenAI, Anthropic or Google AI API key |
| SMS campaigns | A Twilio, Vonage, MessageBird (etc.) account |
| Real-time at scale | A Pusher account (or self-host Reverb) |
| Lead scraping | A Google Places API key |
| Cloud storage | An Amazon S3 / DigitalOcean Spaces / Wasabi bucket |
Each of these is covered step-by-step in the Integrations section.
Local development
For evaluating or developing locally, the easiest path on macOS/Windows/Linux is a one-click PHP stack such as ServBay, Laragon, Herd or Laravel Sail (Docker). SQLite can be used instead of MySQL for quick local trials.
➡️ Ready? Continue to Installation.