This page is a quickstart guide to setting up a local development for MediaWiki using PHP and Composer.
MediaWiki requires PHP 7.4.3+ and Composer 2.
On Ubuntu 22+ or Debian 11+, install the required packages using APT.
sudo apt install -y php php-intl php-mbstring php-xml php-apcu php-curl php-sqlite3 composer
On Ubuntu 20, install PHP from APT, but install Composer from getcomposer.org/download.
sudo apt install -y php php-intl php-mbstring php-xml php-apcu php-curl php-sqlite3
On Fedora 35+, install the required packages using DNF.
sudo dnf install -y php composer
On Arch Linux, install the required packages using pacman.
sudo pacman -S php composer --noconfirm
Install the required packages using Homebrew.
brew install php composer
You have the option to use the Windows Subsystem for Linux and follow the Linux instructions on this page. Or, to install MediaWiki directly on Windows, install the required packages using Chocolatey.
choco install -y php composer
To load the required PHP extensions, edit your php.ini file, and uncomment the following lines.
To find the location of php.ini, run php -i, and look for Loaded Configuration File.
extension:fileinfo
extension:intl
extension:pdo_sqlite
extension:zip
Use Git to clone the MediaWiki core repository and the default skin.
git clone https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/mediawiki/core.git mediawiki && git clone https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/mediawiki/skins/Vector.git mediawiki/skins/Vector && cd mediawiki
Cloning MediaWiki takes a few minutes. While you're waiting, create a Wikimedia developer account if you don't already have one.
From within MediaWiki's root directory, use Composer to install MediaWiki's dependencies.
composer update
Install MediaWiki with PHP's built-in SQLite database.
composer mw-install:sqlite
Start PHP's built-in webserver, and open localhost:4000 in a browser to see your MediaWiki instance.
To log in as an administrator , use username Admin and password adminpassword.
composer serve
