System Requirements

Use this checklist before uploading InsightPilot to shared hosting, a VPS, or a local server.

Server

Requirement	Minimum	Recommended
PHP	8.2	8.2 or 8.3
Application database	MySQL compatible	MySQL 8 or MariaDB 10.6+
Web server	Apache or Nginx	Domain pointed to `/public`
Memory	256 MB	512 MB+
Storage	Writable storage folders	SSD with daily backup

PHP Extensions

Required extensions: pdo_mysql, openssl, mbstring, tokenizer, xml, ctype, json, bcmath, fileinfo, curl, and gd. PostgreSQL and Redshift require pdo_pgsql. SQL Server requires Microsoft SQL Server PHP drivers and pdo_sqlsrv. Snowflake, BigQuery, Sheets, Stripe, HubSpot, and GA4 use HTTPS with curl and their least-privilege service credentials.

Folder Permissions

storage/
bootstrap/cache/

Both paths must be writable by the web server user. The installer also checks framework cache, session, view, and logs folders. Run php artisan storage:link so document uploads and AI Governance evidence files can be downloaded through authorized routes.

OpenAI

OpenAI is required for live AI generation. InsightPilot intentionally has no default model. The admin must configure a model ID and API key from Settings.

Demo tip: The application can still show seeded dashboards, saved queries, anomalies, presets, and reports when OpenAI is disabled.

Cron and Scheduler

* * * * * php /path/to/insightpilot/artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

Cron powers scheduled monitors, source synchronization, dashboard delivery, queue heartbeat, anomalies, executive briefs, webhook delivery, cleanup, data quality, freshness, benchmark records, backup records, and AI Governance checks such as approval expiry, stale evaluations, overdue controls, and unresolved serious incidents. Use the database queue worker as the marketplace production default; Redis is optional for higher throughput.

External Customer Databases

Direct guarded SQL supports MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Redshift, Snowflake, and BigQuery. PostgreSQL uses public schema by default and supports opt-in configured schema lists. SQL Server tables are discovered as schema.table and guarded with TOP row limits. CSV, Google Sheets, Stripe, HubSpot, and GA4 use the managed source-dataset layer, which encrypts credentials and raw traceability data while exposing only approved typed projections. Always grant least privilege: read-only database roles, restricted API keys, selected Sheets ranges, and service accounts scoped to the needed reports.

Driver note: Install the matching PHP PDO extension for MySQL, PostgreSQL/Redshift, or SQL Server direct connections. Snowflake and BigQuery use their HTTPS APIs; managed sources require outbound HTTPS and their vendor credentials.

Data Connections page with SQL Server selected as an external analytics connector — **Connector readiness:** MySQL/MariaDB, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server are presented as external analytics connection options with driver-specific notes.

System Health page showing operational checks for scheduler, storage, provider, and package readiness — **System Health:** after installation, use operational checks to confirm scheduler, storage, provider configuration, and package readiness.