Upgrade Guide

This guide covers upgrading between Unfold CMS tiers (Core to Pro) and updating to new versions.

Tiers

Unfold CMS is available in three tiers:

Tier Description
Core Blog, SEO, page builder, authentication, media, menus, comments, contact form, template system
Pro Everything in Core + AI content, newsletter, advertisements, analytics, code snippets, support tickets, backups, social login
Agency Same features as Pro with a multi-domain license

Upgrading from Core to Pro

Before You Begin

  • Back up everything — database AND files
  • Note customizations — Modified template files, routes, or config will be overwritten
  • Your .env file and storage/ directory (uploads, logs) will NOT be affected

Step 1: Back Up

Database:

# MySQL
mysqldump -u root -p your_database > backup-before-upgrade.sql

# Or use your hosting panel's database backup tool

Files:

# Full backup of your CMS directory
cp -r /path/to/your/cms /path/to/your/cms-backup

Step 2: Download Pro

  1. Log in to your account at unfoldcms.com
  2. Navigate to your purchases/downloads
  3. Download the Pro zip file

Step 3: Extract Pro Files

Extract the Pro zip over your existing Core installation, overwriting all files.

Via Terminal:

cd /path/to/your/cms
unzip -o ~/Downloads/unfoldcms-pro-1.0.0.zip

Via FTP (Shared Hosting):

  1. Extract the zip locally
  2. Upload all files to your CMS directory, overwriting existing files
  3. Upload all directories: app/, database/, config/, routes/, resources/, public/

What Gets Overwritten

Item Effect
.env NOT in zip — your config is safe
storage/ uploads NOT in zip — your uploads are safe
Database Untouched — no data is lost
vendor/ Overwritten with Pro dependencies
app/, routes/, config/ Overwritten with Pro code
Custom template modifications Overwritten — re-apply after upgrade

Step 4: Run the Upgrade Command

php artisan cms:upgrade

This command:

  1. Checks that Pro files are in place
  2. Runs migrations to create Pro database tables (ads, newsletter, analytics, etc.)
  3. Seeds permissions so existing roles get access to Pro features
  4. Clears caches so the app picks up new routes, config, and views
  5. Verifies all Pro tables were created

Skip confirmation prompt:

php artisan cms:upgrade --force

The command is idempotent — running it again is safe.

Step 5: Activate Your License

  1. Log in to the admin panel
  2. Go to Settings > License
  3. Enter your Pro license key
  4. Click Activate

Step 6: Verify

Check that Pro features are visible in the admin sidebar:

  • Analytics
  • Ads Manager
  • Newsletter
  • Tickets
  • Redirects
  • Code Snippets
  • Announcements

If any features are missing, run php artisan cms:upgrade again.

Troubleshooting

"No Pro files detected"

The Pro zip wasn't extracted to the correct directory. Ensure the Pro files are in the same directory as your .env file.

Missing Pro tables

Check that migration files exist in database/migrations/. Re-extract the Pro zip and run php artisan cms:upgrade again.

Permission errors

php artisan cache:clear
php artisan cms:upgrade

Custom code was overwritten

This is expected. Re-apply your customizations from your backup. For template changes, compare your backup with the new Pro files and merge.

"php artisan" not available (shared hosting)

Some shared hosts don't provide SSH access. Contact your host about SSH access, or use their PHP CLI tool. The command must be run from the CMS root directory (where the artisan file lives).

Version Updates

When updating to a new version of the same tier:

  1. Back up your database and files
  2. Download the new version from unfoldcms.com
  3. Extract over your existing installation
  4. Run migrations: php artisan migrate --force
  5. Clear caches: php artisan config:cache && php artisan route:cache && php artisan view:cache
  6. Verify the site works correctly
Shared Hosting