Smaio is a powerful, self-hosted Email & SMS marketing platform that is, above all, easy to install. This documentation is designed to guide you every step of the way.
If you run into any difficulties during installation or use, feel free to contact us.
Follow these steps to install Smaio on your own server. The installation is designed to be simple, whether you have a technical background or not.
Before you begin, make sure your server has the following. The exact required PHP version is specified in the `composer.json` file at the root of the project.
Make sure the following PHP extensions are enabled on your server:
| Extension | Description |
|---|---|
| BCMath | For arbitrary precision mathematics. |
| Ctype | For character type checking. |
| cURL | To perform HTTP requests. |
| DOM | To manipulate XML documents. |
| Fileinfo | To detect the MIME type of files. |
| JSON | JSON format support. |
| Mbstring | For multi-byte string manipulation. |
| OpenSSL | For encryption functions. |
| PCRE | For regular expressions. |
| PDO | For database access. |
| Tokenizer | Required by the Laravel framework. |
| XML | XML format support. |
Important: The `pcntl` PHP extension must be **disabled** on your hosting. It is often incompatible with shared hosting environments and can cause instability.
The installation of Smaio is designed to be simple thanks to a visual installer that guides you through each step. You don't have any complex command lines to execute.
You have two options:
Point the root of your domain name (or subdomain) to the `/public` directory of the Smaio application. This is a crucial step for the application to work correctly.
Open your browser and go to the URL you just configured. You will be automatically redirected to the installation wizard.
The wizard will ask you to:
The installer will take care of everything else in the background (creating the `.env` file, generating the key, migrating the database, etc.).
For Smaio to be able to send your campaigns and import your contacts in the background, you must configure a Cron job on your server. This task must run **every minute**.
Add the following line to your Cron configuration (via cPanel, Plesk, or the `crontab -e` command):
* * * * * cd /home/guru228/web/smaio.kovio.pro/public_html && php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1
The path above is dynamically generated to match your installation. Just copy the whole line.
Once the application is installed, log in with the administrator account created during "seeding" and proceed with the basic configurations.
Go to `General Settings` from your profile menu. Here, you can customize the application name and upload your own favicon to adapt Smaio to your brand.
This is a crucial step. In your profile menu, under `Servers`, you can configure:
In the `User Management` section, you can add new users, edit their information, and manage their permissions within the application.
The dashboard gives you an overview of your activities: statistics from the latest campaigns, number of contacts, etc. It's the first page you see after logging in.
Workspaces (or groups) allow you to segment your work. Each workspace can have its own contacts, campaigns, and templates. This is ideal for managing multiple projects or clients within a single instance of Smaio. You can switch between workspaces from the menu at the top left.
The `Contacts` section is the heart of your marketing database. It allows you to centralize and organize all your audiences.
Save time and ensure visual consistency by creating reusable email templates. Smaio offers you several ways to create your templates:
Create and send SMS marketing campaigns. You can select your contact lists, write your message, and schedule it for immediate or delayed sending. Campaign reports allow you to track delivery rates.
Similar to SMS campaigns, this section allows you to manage your email campaigns. Choose a template, select your recipients, set a subject, and send. You will have access to detailed statistics: open rates, click rates, etc.