Setup Contao

Setup Contao

This example installs Contao 5 with Composer inside the Devilbox PHP container. It preserves the classic Devilbox virtual host layout while updating the runtime to PHP 8.3 or newer.

Overview

Project name	Container path	Database	TLD_SUFFIX	Project URL
my-contao	/shared/httpd/my-contao	my_contao	lvh.me	http://my-contao.lvh.me / https://my-contao.lvh.me

Inside the PHP container, projects are always under /shared/httpd/. On the host they are stored below ./data/www/ in the Devilbox checkout.

Required configuration

Service	Version	Notes
Webserver	Apache 2.4 or Nginx	Apache works with Contao’s default routing rules; Nginx may need a custom vhost template.
PHP	PHP 8.3+	env-example includes PHP 8.3 and PHP 8.4 containers.
Database	MySQL or MariaDB	Use the bundled MySQL service for this example.

Caution

Contao 5 raises the PHP requirement compared with Contao 4. Use the PHP 8.3 or PHP 8.4 container, not older versioned containers.

Start Devilbox:

./dvl.sh up php httpd mysql bind

Walk through

It will be ready in seven steps:

1. Enter the PHP container.
2. Create a new virtual host directory.
3. Install Contao 5 with Composer.
4. Link public/ to htdocs.
5. Add the MySQL database.
6. Verify DNS.
7. Open the Contao installer.

1. Enter the PHP container

./dvl.sh shell php83

2. Create the vhost directory

mkdir -p /shared/httpd/my-contao
cd /shared/httpd/my-contao

3. Install Contao 5

composer create-project contao/managed-edition:^5.0 contao

Expected structure:

tree -L 1
.
└── contao

4. Link the webroot

Contao 5 serves from public/:

ln -s contao/public htdocs

Expected structure:

tree -L 1
.
├── contao
└── htdocs -> contao/public

5. Add the MySQL database

mysql -u root -h mysql -p -e 'CREATE DATABASE my_contao CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;'

Use the MySQL root password from .env if one is configured.

6. Verify DNS

my-contao.lvh.me resolves to 127.0.0.1 by default. For a custom suffix, add an equivalent hosts entry.

7. Open the installer

Visit http://my-contao.lvh.me/contao/install or https://my-contao.lvh.me/contao/install and follow the web installer.

Use these database values:

• Database host: mysql
• Database port: 3306
• Database user: root
• Database name: my_contao

Installation flow

The Contao installer guides you through accepting the license, setting the install-tool password, connecting the database, updating schema tables, and creating an admin user. After that, use /contao to log in to the back end.

Next steps

• Use Adminer or phpMyAdmin from the Devilbox intranet for database checks.
• Add a custom Nginx vhost only if you use Nginx and routing does not work.
• Configure trusted local HTTPS before sharing browser screenshots or demos.