LibraryHub | Digital Library Management System

Step 2. Install Nginx

sudo apt install -y nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx
sudo systemctl start nginx

Step 3. Install MySQL

sudo apt install -y mysql-server
sudo systemctl enable mysql
sudo systemctl start mysql
sudo mysql_secure_installation

Create the application database and user:

sudo mysql -u root -p

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

Step 4. Install PHP and required extensions

sudo apt install -y software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php -y
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y php8.3 php8.3-fpm php8.3-cli php8.3-mysql php8.3-mbstring \
php8.3-xml php8.3-curl php8.3-bcmath php8.3-zip php8.3-gd php8.3-intl

sudo systemctl enable php8.3-fpm
sudo systemctl start php8.3-fpm

Step 5. Install Composer

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

Step 6. Install Node.js and npm

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs
node -v
npm -v

Node.js is required to build the frontend assets used by the Livewire and Laravel interface.

Step 7. Upload the project and install dependencies

cd /var/www
sudo mkdir -p libraryhub
sudo chown $USER:$USER libraryhub
cd libraryhub

# Upload and extract the project files here

composer install --optimize-autoloader --no-dev
npm install
npm run build

Step 8. Configure the environment file

APP_NAME="LibraryHub"
APP_ENV=production
APP_DEBUG=false
APP_URL=https://yourdomain.com

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=libraryhub
DB_USERNAME=libraryhub_user
DB_PASSWORD=StrongPassword123!

QUEUE_CONNECTION=database
SESSION_DRIVER=database
CACHE_STORE=file

Step 9. Run Laravel setup commands

php artisan key:generate
php artisan migrate --seed
php artisan storage:link
php artisan queue:table
php artisan failed:table
php artisan migrate
chmod -R 775 storage bootstrap/cache
php artisan config:cache
php artisan route:cache
php artisan view:cache

Step 10. Configure Nginx virtual host

Create an Nginx site configuration for your domain:

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

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com;
    root /var/www/libraryhub/public;
    index index.php index.html;

    add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN";
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff";

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

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;
    }

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

Enable the site:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/libraryhub /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Step 11. Configure the queue worker with Supervisor

sudo apt install -y supervisor

Create the worker configuration:

sudo nano /etc/supervisor/conf.d/libraryhub-worker.conf

[program:libraryhub-worker]
process_name=%(program_name)s_%(process_num)02d
command=php /var/www/libraryhub/artisan queue:work --sleep=3 --tries=3 --timeout=120
autostart=true
autorestart=true
user=www-data
numprocs=1
redirect_stderr=true
stdout_logfile=/var/www/libraryhub/storage/logs/worker.log

sudo supervisorctl reread
sudo supervisorctl update
sudo supervisorctl start libraryhub-worker:*

Step 12. Add the Laravel scheduler cron job

crontab -e

* * * * * php /var/www/libraryhub/artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

Step 13. Install SSL with Certbot

sudo apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com

Test renewal:

sudo certbot renew --dry-run

Step 2. Create and update the environment file

cp .env.example .env

Edit the .env file and update the application URL, database credentials, and queue driver.

APP_NAME="LibraryHub"
APP_ENV=production
APP_KEY=                         # filled by: php artisan key:generate
APP_DEBUG=false
APP_URL=https://yourdomain.com

# CORS — required for Flutter mobile app / external API clients
# Comma-separated list of allowed origins
CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS=https://yourdomain.com

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=libraryhub
DB_USERNAME=your_db_user
DB_PASSWORD=your_db_password

QUEUE_CONNECTION=database
CACHE_STORE=file
SESSION_DRIVER=database

Step 3. Install PHP dependencies

composer install --optimize-autoloader --no-dev

Step 4. Generate the application key

php artisan key:generate

Step 5. Install frontend dependencies and build assets

npm install
npm run build

Step 6. Run migrations and seed the initial data

php artisan migrate --seed

This prepares the database tables and inserts default system data including demo books, membership types, and the Super Admin account.

Step 7. Link the storage directory

php artisan storage:link

Step 8. Configure file permissions

chmod -R 775 storage bootstrap/cache

Step 9. Create queue tables if needed

If you are using the database queue driver, make sure the queue tables exist.

php artisan queue:table
php artisan failed:table
php artisan migrate

Step 10. Start the queue worker

Background jobs (notifications, overdue fine calculations) depend on a running queue worker.

php artisan queue:work --tries=3

Recommended Supervisor configuration for VPS:

[program:libraryhub-worker]
process_name=%(program_name)s_%(process_num)02d
command=php /var/www/libraryhub/artisan queue:work --sleep=3 --tries=3 --timeout=120
autostart=true
autorestart=true
stopasgroup=true
killasgroup=true
user=www-data
numprocs=1
redirect_stderr=true
stdout_logfile=/var/www/libraryhub/storage/logs/worker.log

Step 11. Add the Laravel scheduler cron

* * * * * php /var/www/libraryhub/artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

Example: Login

POST /api/login

Request body:

{
  "email": "admin@example.com",
  "password": "secret-password",
  "device_name": "postman"
}

Successful response:

{
  "message": "Login successful",
  "token": "1|sanctum_plain_text_token",
  "user": {
    "id": 1,
    "name": "Admin User",
    "email": "admin@example.com",
    "role": "Super Admin"
  }
}

Example: Search Books

GET /api/books?page=1&per_page=20&search=laravel&available=true

Example response:

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": 5,
      "title": "Laravel: Up & Running",
      "isbn": "9781492041214",
      "author": "Matt Stauffer",
      "category": "Programming",
      "available_copies": 2,
      "total_copies": 3,
      "status": "available"
    }
  ],
  "meta": {
    "current_page": 1,
    "per_page": 20,
    "total": 1
  }
}

Example: Issue a Book

POST /api/borrowings

Request body:

{
  "member_id": 12,
  "book_copy_id": 7,
  "due_date": "2025-07-15"
}

Example response:

{
  "message": "Book issued successfully",
  "data": {
    "id": 88,
    "member": "John Carter",
    "book": "Laravel: Up & Running",
    "issued_date": "2025-06-20",
    "due_date": "2025-07-15",
    "status": "active"
  }
}

Example: Process Return

POST /api/borrowings/88/return

Example response:

{
  "message": "Book returned successfully.",
  "fine": {
    "days_overdue": 0,
    "fine_amount": 0.00,
    "status": "no_fine"
  }
}