How to install CodeIgniter 4 on Windows and Mac

CodeIgniter is a popular PHP framework that helps developers build dynamic and robust web applications quickly and efficiently. With its latest version, CodeIgniter 4, developers can enjoy improved performance, enhanced security, and a more modular architecture.

In this tutorial, I show how you can install the Codeigniter 4 project on Windows and Mac.

1. Server Requirements & Enable extensions

PHP version required:

CodeIgniter 4 requires PHP version 7.4 or higher.

Extension need to be enabled:

Open php.ini file to enable intl and mbstring extension.
Search extension in the file.

extension=intl.dll
extension=mbstring.dll

extension=php_intl.dll
extension=php_mbstring.dll

Remove semicolon (;) if exists to enable the extension.
Restart the server.

2. Installing CodeIgniter 4 on Windows

There are 2 ways to install CodeIgniter 4 on Windows:

1. Download Codeigniter 4:

Download the latest version zip file from the CodeIgniter 4 official website.
Copy the downloaded zip file in the htdocs/ folder and extract it.
Rename the folder (e.g. codeigniter4).
CodeIgniter 4 installation is now complete. To run the project go to section 4: Run CodeIgniter 4 project.

Install codeigniter 4 on windows

2. Installing CodeIgniter 4 using Composer:

Navigate to htdocs/ using Command Prompt.
Run the following command –

composer create-project codeigniter4/appstarter codeigniter4

Here, codeigniter4 is the project name which you can change while executing it.

Install codeigniter 4 on windows using composer

Installation is complete. Go to section 4: Run CodeIgniter 4 project to run the project.

3. Installing CodeIgniter 4 on Mac

There are 2 ways to install CodeIgniter 4 on Mac:

1. Download Codeigniter 4:

Download the latest CodeIgniter 4 zip file version from the official website.
Copy the downloaded zip file and navigate to the htdocs folder to paste the copied ZIP file.
Extract the zip file and rename the folder (e.g. codeigniter4).
CodeIgniter 4 installation is complete. Go to section 4: Run CodeIgniter 4 project to run the project.

Install CodeIgniter 4 on Mac

2. Installing CodeIgniter 4 using Composer:

Open the terminal and navigate to htdocs directory.
Execute the following command to create the project –

composer create-project codeigniter4/appstarter codeigniter4

Here, I set the project name to codeigniter4 which you can change before executing the command.

Install CodeIgniter 4 using composer on Mac

Codeigniter 4 Installation is complete. Now you can go to section 4: Run CodeIgniter 4 project to run the project.

4. Run CodeIgniter 4 project

Running CodeIgniter 4 project step is the same for both Windows and Mac.

There are 2 ways to run the project –

1. Run CodeIgniter 4 project without starting the Local Development Server

Run the project public/ folder.

http://localhost/codeigniter4/public/

Run CodeIgniter 4 project without starting local server

2 . Run CodeIgniter 4 by starting the Local Development Server

You can also run the project by starting a local development server.
Run the following command in the Command Prompt if you are on Windows or on the terminal if you are on Mac.

php spark serve

Start CodeIgniter 4 Local server

Development URL display after starting.
Run – http://localhost:8080/ in the browser.

Run CodeIgniter 4 project by Starting Local server

5. Conclusion

By following mentioned steps, you can quickly set up CodeIgniter 4 framework with and without composer on your Windows or Mac system. Enjoy the benefits of this powerful PHP framework and build dynamic web applications efficiently.

You can also check out other CodeIgniter 4 tutorials –

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