TYPO3 is a free CMS (Content Management System) for enterprise-level websites with a flexible architecture, extensions, and a powerful permissions system. It’s written in PHP, uses MySQL/MariaDB or PostgreSQL, and works great with Nginx or Apache. This guide uses a “clean” install approach via Composer and configuration of Nginx + PHP-FPM.

Preparation

Installing TYPO3 on the server

sudo apt update && sudo apt -y upgrade
sudo apt -y install curl gnupg2 software-properties-common unzip ca-certificates

Classic prep: fresh packages and a set of utilities for repositories and artifact downloads.

Install PHP-FPM and required extensions

sudo apt -y install php8.2 php8.2-fpm php8.2-cli php8.2-mbstring php8.2-xml php8.2-gd php8.2-intl php8.2-zip php8.2-curl php8.2-mysql php8.2-opcache
php -v

TYPO3 v13 LTS supports PHP 8.2/8.3. The php -v check confirms the installed version.

Install Nginx

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

Nginx will be the frontend that proxies PHP scripts to PHP-FPM.

Install and prepare the DBMS (example: MySQL/MariaDB)

sudo apt -y install mysql-server
mysql --version

Create the DB and user:

sudo mysql <<'SQL'
CREATE DATABASE DB_NAME CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'DB_USER'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'DB_PASSWORD';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DB_NAME.* TO 'DB_USER'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
SQL

We use utf8mb4 for full Unicode and emoji support in content.

Install Composer 2

php -r "copy('https://getcomposer.org/installer','composer-setup.php');"
php composer-setup.php --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer
php -r "unlink('composer-setup.php');"
composer --version

Composer manages dependencies, updates, and the TYPO3 skeleton project.

Deploy the TYPO3 project

sudo mkdir -p TYPO3_PATH && sudo chown -R $USER:$USER TYPO3_PATH
cd TYPO3_PATH
composer create-project typo3/cms-base-distribution:^13.4 .

We use the LTS branch ^13.4 without :latest. The structure will be created in TYPO3_PATH.

Configure DB connection and basic parameters

cp .env.example .env || true
sed -i 's/^DB_DRIVER=.*/DB_DRIVER=mysqli/' .env
sed -i 's/^DB_HOST=.*/DB_HOST=127.0.0.1/' .env
sed -i 's/^DB_NAME=.*/DB_NAME=DB_NAME/' .env
sed -i 's/^DB_USER=.*/DB_USER=DB_USER/' .env
sed -i 's/^DB_PASSWORD=.*/DB_PASSWORD=DB_PASSWORD/' .env

In cms-base-distribution a .env is available for DB connection. We use the mysqli driver.

Project ownership and permissions

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data TYPO3_PATH
sudo find TYPO3_PATH -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
sudo find TYPO3_PATH -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;

The www-data owner allows PHP-FPM to write cache and generated files.

Nginx configuration for TYPO3

server {
  listen 80;
  server_name DOMAIN_NAME;

  root TYPO3_PATH/public;
  index index.php index.html;

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

  location ~ \.php$ {
    include fastcgi_params;
    fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $realpath_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_path_info;
    fastcgi_pass unix:PHP_FPM_SOCKET;
  }

  location ~* \.(?:css|js|jpg|jpeg|gif|png|svg|webp|ico)$ {
    expires 30d;
    access_log off;
  }

  location ~ /\. {
    deny all;
  }
}

Activate the site and reload Nginx:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/typo3.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/typo3.conf
sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx

root points to public, where the TYPO3 index.php front controller is located.

Installing TYPO3 on a server with a control panel

1. Download the latest stable version from the official TYPO3 website.
2. Upload the archive to your domain folder (/var/www/DOMAIN_NAME) via FTP or the hosting panel’s file manager.
3. Unpack the archive and make sure files are accessible to the web server.
4. Create a database.
5. Open http://DOMAIN_NAME/ in your browser — the installation wizard will appear.

Run the TYPO3 web installer

Open http://DOMAIN_NAME/ and follow the installation wizard:

1. Create a file named FIRST_INSTALL in the root directory, then refresh the page

2. Specify DB_NAME, DB_USER from the database created earlier

3. Choose the previously created database DB_PASSWORD or create a new one

4. Create an administrative user and specify the site name

5. Go to the administrative panel

Verifying operation

• Go to http://DOMAIN_NAME/typo3 and log in as admin.
• In “Environment,” check the status of PHP extensions — all key modules should be green.
• Create a page and a content element, make sure it’s displayed on the frontend.
• Control commands:

php --version
php -m | grep -E 'mbstring|intl|xml|gd|curl|zip'
php vendor/bin/typo3 extension:list | head -n 20

Configuring additional TYPO3 features

SSL/TLS (HTTPS)

To work over secure HTTPS, use Let’s Encrypt or a commercial SSL certificate

Caching and performance

Enable opcache and tune php parameters in php.ini:

opcache.enable=1
opcache.validate_timestamps=1
opcache.memory_consumption=256
opcache.max_accelerated_files=20000
opcache.interned_strings_buffer=16

Restart PHP-FPM: sudo systemctl restart php8.2-fpm.

Image processing (GD and Imagick)

TYPO3 uses graphics libraries to generate thumbnails, resize, and process images. Two drivers are available: GD (part of standard PHP) and Imagick (preferred under high load or for complex formats).

sudo apt -y install php8.2-gd imagemagick php8.2-imagick
sudo systemctl restart php8.2-fpm

php -m | grep -E 'gd|imagick'

In TYPO3, choose the driver under Settings → Configuration Presets → Image Handling.

Task scheduler (Scheduler)

Add a cron for cache cleanup, indexing, etc.:

(crontab -l 2>/dev/null; echo "*/5 * * * * cd TYPO3_PATH && php vendor/bin/typo3 scheduler:run >/dev/null 2>&1") | crontab -

Useful links