Install BookStack on Ubuntu 24.04

Learn how to install and configure BookStack on Ubuntu 24.04 step by step. 

BookStack is an open-source platform that helps us create and manage internal documentation, project wikis, and knowledge bases. Designed with simplicity in mind, BookStack offers a modern UI and easy navigation using a page-book-shelf structure. In this guide, we’ll walk through installing and configuring BookStack on an Ubuntu 24.04 server, step by step.

What is BookStack?

BookStack is a free and open-source knowledge management platform designed to help individuals and teams create, organize, and share documentation in a user-friendly, self-hosted environment. It’s built using PHP (Laravel framework) and stores content in a MySQL-compatible database, making it lightweight, easy to deploy, and highly customizable.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, let’s ensure we have the following in place:

• A Ubuntu 24.04 dedicated server or KVM VPS.
• A basic programming knowledge.
• A domain name pointing to server IP.

How to Install BookStack on Ubuntu 24.04 for a Self-Hosted Knowledge Base (2025 Guide)

Step 1: Update the Server

Let’s start by updating our Ubuntu 24.04 packages to ensure we are working with the latest versions.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Also install essential tools:

sudo apt install -y curl git unzip zip software-properties-common

Step 2: Install PHP and Required Extensions

BookStack runs on PHP. We’ll install PHP 8.3 along with necessary modules.

sudo apt install -y php-fpm php-cli php-mbstring php-xml php-mysql php-common php-curl php-zip php-gd php-bcmath php-tokenizer

Step 3: Install and Configure MariaDB

BookStack stores its content in a MySQL-compatible database. We’ll use MariaDB.

sudo apt install -y mariadb-server
sudo systemctl start mariadb
sudo systemctl enable mariadb

Secure the installation:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Create a database and user for BookStack:

sudo mysql -u root -p

Inside the MySQL shell:

CREATE DATABASE bookstack_db CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'bookstack_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'StrongPassword123!';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON bookstack_db.* TO 'bookstack_user'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Step 4: Install Composer (PHP Dependency Manager)

Composer is needed to install Laravel dependencies.

curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
sudo mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer

Step 5: Configure Nginx

Install Nginx:

sudo apt install -y nginx

Create a new config file:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/bookstack

Paste:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name yourdomain.com;

    root /var/www/bookstack/public;
    index index.php index.html index.htm;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }

    location ~ /\.ht {
        deny all;
    }
}

Enable the site and restart Nginx:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/bookstack /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx

Add default ports in firewall

ufw allow 80/tcp
ufw allow 443/tcp
ufw reload

Step 6: Download BookStack

Let’s place BookStack under /var/www:

cd /var/www
sudo git clone https://github.com/BookStackApp/BookStack.git --branch release --single-branch bookstack
cd bookstack

Step 7: Configure BookStack Environment

Copy the example environment file:

sudo cp .env.example .env

Edit it:

sudo nano .env

Update these values:

APP_URL=http://yourdomain.com
DB_DATABASE=bookstack_db
DB_USERNAME=bookstack_user
DB_PASSWORD=StrongPassword123!

Step 8: Set File Permissions

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/bookstack

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