First-Run Setup

A fresh LoginLink install has no administrator and no database choice made yet, so the first time you open it, every page redirects to /setup — a short wizard that gets you to a working platform. There is no built-in account or default password: you create your own administrator as part of it.

An install that already has a platform administrator (for example an existing data volume from a previous install) skips the wizard entirely and goes straight to the normal sign-in pages.

The five steps

1. Data location

Shows where LoginLink will keep bootstrap.db — a small local SQLite file that records which database everything else runs on. It is always local SQLite (necessarily: it's what tells the instance where its real database lives), whatever database you choose for the rest.

• The detected path is normally already correct for your volume mount.
• To use a different location, set LoginLink__Storage__Sqlite__DataRootPath and restart — this can't be changed from the page.
• On Plesk, IIS or other shared hosting, point it outside your deployed site folder, so a routine publish can never overwrite your data.
• Already have a bootstrap.db from another install and no way to place the file on the server? You can upload it here. It's validated (SQLite header and expected tables) and rejected with a specific reason if it isn't a real LoginLink file.

2. Database hosting (optional)

Decide whether LoginLink should be able to create MySQL/PostgreSQL databases for you on demand, using a hosting panel or server you already have (Plesk, cPanel, or a standalone MySQL/PostgreSQL server).

• Skip — the default. You can set it up later from Admin → Platform Settings → Database Provisioning.
• Configure it now — enter the panel or server details and test them. See Database Auto-Provisioning for what each field means.

You only need this if you want LoginLink to create databases itself — for the control plane in the next step, for a demo organization, or for organizations that sign up themselves.

3. Control-plane database

The control plane is the database that holds platform settings, signing keys, the tenant registry and platform administrators. Choose where it lives:

Choice	What happens
SQLite (start fresh)	Nothing to configure. The file is created inside your data directory. You can migrate to MySQL/PostgreSQL later from Admin → Platform Settings → Platform Database.
MySQL or PostgreSQL (start fresh)	Either have LoginLink create a new database for you (if you configured hosting in step 2), or enter the details of a server you run. The connection is tested first; the schema is then created with live progress.
Connect an existing database	Point at a control-plane database from a previous install. LoginLink inspects it and, if it already has an administrator, attaches without provisioning anything.

When a fresh MySQL/PostgreSQL database is ready, the page locks into a confirmation — you can't accidentally provision a second one by navigating back. Use the small "start over" link only if you genuinely chose the wrong database.

For what each layer holds and what to back up, see Where Your Data Lives.

Only your chosen database is created. Picking MySQL or PostgreSQL does not also create a local SQLite copy of the control plane.

4. Platform administrator

Create your first platform administrator: an email, a name, and a password that meets the platform's password policy. If step 3 attached a database that already has an administrator, this step is replaced by a sign-in prompt instead.

5. Finish — optionally, a demo organization

The last screen offers to create a demo organization you can explore straight away, or to skip — which is what you'll want for production. A demo organization lets you choose:

• its URL slug (default demo), admin email and password (defaults are pre-filled and can be changed), and
• where its database lives — SQLite, or MySQL/PostgreSQL created automatically from the hosting you set up in step 2.

If you choose an auto-provisioned database, you'll see a live progress screen while it's created. If something fails, the page tells you what went wrong and lets you fix the input and retry; anything half-created is cleaned up.

Skipping is safe: your real organization can be created at any time at /signup-tenant, and platform administrators can register organizations from the admin console.

After setup

• Platform administrators sign in at /admin/login.
• Organization administrators sign in at /console/login.
• Settings for signup and database creation live under Admin → Platform Settings — see Signup Security and Database Auto-Provisioning.

Troubleshooting

I keep landing on /setup after finishing it. Setup is only complete once you finish step 5. If it repeats after a restart, your data folder isn't persistent — a new, empty bootstrap.db is created each time. Mount a volume (Docker) or set DataRootPath (binary) so the folder survives restarts; see Docker Images and Run from a GitHub Release.

The connection test to my MySQL/PostgreSQL server fails. The test runs from the LoginLink server, not your laptop, so check that server can reach the database host and port (firewall, allow-lists). Managed providers almost always require SSL — leave SSL mode on. The account needs permission to create tables, and for a fresh control plane the database should be empty.

I picked the wrong control-plane database. Before you continue past step 3, use the small "start over with a different database" link on the confirmation. After setup is finished, migrate from Admin → Platform Settings → Platform Database instead.

I want to reset a development install and run setup again. See Starting over in Backing Up & Moving Your Deployment — including dropping any MySQL/PostgreSQL databases you'd created.