FrameTrail - Installation

Deployment Modes

FrameTrail supports three different deployment modes — choose the one that fits your use case:

	Server mode	Local folder mode	In-memory mode
Requirements	PHP 7.4+	Chrome or Edge	Any modern browser
Edit hypervideos (overlays, annotations, code snippets, layout, theme)	✅	✅	✅
Persistent saves	✅	✅	— (export via Save As)
Manage hypervideos (add / delete)	✅	✅	—
Manage resources (add / delete)	✅	✅	—
Thumbnail generation	✅ (server-side)	✅ (client-side)	—
Authentication & multi-user accounts	✅	—	—
Media transcoding	✅	—	—

Server Setup

Download the latest release and extract it to any directory.
In that directory, run: php -S localhost:8080
Open http://localhost:8080 and follow the Setup Wizard.

For production use, Apache (with the included .htaccess) or nginx with PHP-FPM are recommended. No PHP installed? Use XAMPP (Windows) or MAMP (Mac/Windows).

The Setup Wizard will also let you configure: whether new user accounts require admin approval before login, whether login is required to view hypervideos, and whether regular users can upload files.

Local Folder Setup

Download the latest release and extract it anywhere on your computer.
Open index.html in Chrome or Edge.
When prompted, select or create a _data folder on your computer.

That's it! You might want to read the Getting Started Tutorial now.

Updates

To update your FrameTrail instance, download the latest release and copy / replace it on your server. Make sure you do not overwrite the _data/ folder — it contains all your accounts, hypervideos, and project data.

Data & Backup

All data is stored as JSON files in the _data/ directory — there is no database. To back up your project, simply copy the entire _data/ folder. To migrate to a new server, copy it across — everything works immediately. See Managing Data for export and sharing options.

Need help?

Found a bug or have a question? Open an issue on GitHub.

Tutorials - Installation