Open the server Apps tab
Select your VPS, open the Apps tab, and start a new app deployment. Keep sensitive server details hidden before capturing or sharing screenshots.


User-friendly CMS with drag-and-drop editing
Add your server credentials to Server Compass
Choose from our template library
Fill in settings and click Deploy
Use the Concrete CMS template in Server Compass to deploy a self-hosted flexible content management system on your VPS, then verify the Concrete CMS install wizard in a browser.
Select your VPS, open the Apps tab, and start a new app deployment. Keep sensitive server details hidden before capturing or sharing screenshots.

Click New App and choose the template deployment path so Server Compass can load the built-in catalog.

Use the template picker search to find Concrete CMS in the Server Compass template catalog.

Choose the Concrete CMS template. Server Compass fills the Concrete CMS image, MySQL service, persistent site volumes, database settings, and required secret value.

Confirm the app name and compose services. In this run, the app was named concrete5-demo and used host port 3001.

Review the generated environment values, keep the database password masked, confirm the port is available, and click Deploy Now.

Keep the deployment modal open while Server Compass uploads the compose file, pulls the Concrete CMS and MySQL images, starts the containers, and verifies the stack.

After deployment finishes, return to the Apps tab and confirm the Concrete CMS app is marked Running with its application URL available.

Click Open Application or open the application URL in a browser. The Concrete CMS install wizard confirms the deployed app is reachable and ready for the database credentials.

The Concrete CMS app loaded successfully in a browser and displayed the install wizard.
It deploys Concrete CMS with a MySQL 8.0 database and persistent application and database volumes.
The tutorial used host port 3001, which maps to the Concrete CMS Apache web server on container port 80.
A fresh Concrete CMS deployment is considered reachable when the install wizard loads. Continuing further would require entering generated database credentials, so the public guide verifies the safe pre-install wizard.
No. The deployment guide should live on the Concrete CMS template detail page and be linked from the reusable template deployment docs page.
For terminal enthusiasts: deploy Concrete CMS manually with these simple steps.
Start by opening a terminal window and connecting to your VPS via SSH.
# Connect to your VPS
ssh root@your-server-ip
# Or with a specific SSH key
ssh -i ~/.ssh/your-key root@your-server-ipFirst time? Docker required! Install it with: curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
Create a dedicated space for your application deployment.
# Create and navigate to project directory
mkdir -p ~/apps/concrete5
cd ~/apps/concrete5Create a docker-compose.yml file with the following configuration:
services:
concrete:
image: php:8.2-apache
ports:
- "8080:80"
environment:
- DB_SERVER=db
- DB_DATABASE=concrete
- DB_USERNAME=concrete
- DB_PASSWORD=<your-db-password>
- APACHE_DOCUMENT_ROOT=/var/www/html/public
volumes:
- concrete_data:/var/www/html
restart: unless-stopped
depends_on:
db:
condition: service_healthy
command: >
bash -c "
apt-get update -qq && apt-get install -y -qq unzip libzip-dev libpng-dev libjpeg-dev libfreetype6-dev libicu-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libonig-dev libxml2-dev git > /dev/null 2>&1;
docker-php-ext-configure gd --with-freetype --with-jpeg > /dev/null 2>&1;
docker-php-ext-install pdo pdo_mysql mysqli zip gd intl curl mbstring exif fileinfo opcache > /dev/null 2>&1;
a2enmod rewrite > /dev/null 2>&1;
sed -ri -e 's!/var/www/html!/var/www/html/public!g' /etc/apache2/sites-available/*.conf;
sed -ri -e 's!/var/www/!/var/www/html/public!g' /etc/apache2/apache2.conf /etc/apache2/conf-available/*.conf;
if [ ! -f /var/www/html/public/index.php ]; then
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php -- --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer;
composer config --global audit.blocked-advisories false;
if [ -f /var/www/html/composer.json ]; then
cd /var/www/html && composer install --no-interaction;
else
rm -rf /var/www/html/* /var/www/html/.[!.]* 2>/dev/null || true;
composer create-project concretecms/composer /var/www/html --no-interaction --prefer-dist;
fi;
fi;
mkdir -p /var/www/html/public/application/files /var/www/html/public/updates;
chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html;
chmod -R 775 /var/www/html;
apache2-foreground
"
db:
image: mysql:8.0
environment:
- MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=<your-db-root-password>
- MYSQL_DATABASE=concrete
- MYSQL_USER=concrete
- MYSQL_PASSWORD=<your-db-password>
volumes:
- db_data:/var/lib/mysql
restart: unless-stopped
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD-SHELL", "mysqladmin ping -h localhost -u root -p$$MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD || exit 1"]
interval: 10s
timeout: 5s
retries: 5
start_period: 30s
volumes:
concrete_data:
db_data:
PORTHost port to expose(default: 8080)DB_NAMEDatabase name(default: concrete)DB_USERDatabase user(default: concrete)DB_PASSWORDDatabase passwordDB_ROOT_PASSWORDRoot passwordDeploy the stack and monitor the startup process.
# Spin up containers
docker compose up -d
# Verify deployment
docker compose ps
# Check logs for errors
docker compose logs -fSet up firewall rules to permit incoming connections.
# Allow the application port through firewall
sudo ufw allow 8080/tcp
sudo ufw reload
# Access your app at:
# http://your-server-ip:8080Deploy Concrete CMS without touching the command line. Server Compass gives you a clean UI for one-click deployments.
After deploying Concrete CMS with Server Compass, complete these steps to finish setup
Complete the installation wizard
Configure database connection
Create admin account
Start building pages with drag-and-drop
Need help? Check out our documentation for detailed guides.
Common questions about self-hosting Concrete CMS
Simply download Server Compass, connect to your VPS, and select Concrete CMS from the templates list. Fill in the required configuration and click Deploy. The entire process takes under 3 minutes.
Concrete CMS requires a minimum of 512MB RAM. We recommend a VPS with at least 1024MB RAM for optimal performance. Any modern Linux server with Docker support will work.
Yes! Server Compass provides volume mapping that allows you to import existing data. You can also use standard Concrete CMS backup and restore procedures.
Server Compass makes updates easy. Simply click the Update button in your deployment dashboard, and the latest Concrete CMS image will be pulled and deployed with zero downtime.
Concrete CMS is open-source software. You only pay for your VPS hosting (typically $5-20/month) and optionally Server Compass ($29 one-time). No subscription fees or per-seat pricing.
Download Server Compass and deploy Concrete CMS to your VPS in under 3 minutes. No Docker expertise required.
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