Download
One small file. The rest installs itself.
The Wintertrace installer is a single `install.php` inside a small ZIP. Upload that one file to your web hosting — WebFTP is enough, an FTP client is not required — open it in your browser, and the latest signed Wintertrace core is pulled onto your webspace automatically. It works from any device with a browser, including a phone.
1
Upload one file
The ZIP contains a single install.php.
Use WebFTP from your hosting panel — no separate FTP client needed.
2
Open it in a browser
Visit the file in your browser. The installer fetches the latest signed Wintertrace core directly onto the webspace — you never have to upload the hundreds of core files yourself.
3
Finish the setup
Enter the database details and create the admin account in the browser assistant. About ten minutes in total — workable from a phone if that is all you have.
Alternative
Prefer to upload the full ZIP yourself?
If you have an FTP client and would rather upload the complete release in one go, the full signed ZIP is available too. Same code, same signature — just a different way to put the files on your webspace.
Requirements at a glance
Wintertrace runs on standard shared hosting. No Docker, no root access, no special tooling. These are the rough requirements — the installation guide covers edge cases.
- PHP
- Version 8.2 or newer.
- Database
- MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB 10.3+.
- Cron
- One scheduled job, every minute.
- Disk space
- Modest — a few hundred MB plus operator photographs.
About ten minutes through the browser
The installer route is designed for operators who do not run web servers for a living. Most hosting panels expose a file manager and a cron editor — that is all the installer needs from you.
How to know what you are running
Trust comes from what the code itself proves — not from badges. Whichever route you take, the Wintertrace core that ends up on your webspace carries the same cryptographic signature.
- Both downloads are signed with Ed25519, not just hashed.
- The installer fetches the same signed core as the full ZIP — the signature is verified before files are written.
- The public key is published in the repository and embedded in the running application.
- Auto-updates verify the signature before applying — a tampered archive will not install.
- Source code is on GitHub under GNU AGPLv3; each release matches a tag.
Licence: Wintertrace is distributed under GNU AGPLv3. Open source under AGPLv3 — you keep your data and your installation. You may run it for any purpose, including commercial winter service. If you modify the source and run it as a network service, the modifications must be made available under the same licence.
For developers
The full source code lives on GitHub under GNU AGPLv3. Both downloads above are built from the same source on a signed-release pipeline.