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CodeIgniter is a robust PHP framework with a small footprint, known for its speed, high performance, and flexibility. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned developer, setting up a new project in CodeIgniter is quite straightforward. This guide will walk you through each step of the process to help you launch your application effortlessly.

Step 1: Download CodeIgniter

Begin by downloading the latest version of CodeIgniter from the official CodeIgniter website. Extract the downloaded zip file to a directory on your server.

Step 2: Install Composer

Before setting up a new project, ensure you have Composer installed. Composer is a dependency manager for PHP and will help manage libraries that your project might require.

Step 3: Create a Project

Open your terminal or command prompt and navigate to the directory where you want to set up your CodeIgniter project. Run the following command to create a new project:

composer create-project codeigniter4/appstarter project-name

Replace project-name with the desired name of your project.

Step 4: Configure the Base URL

Navigate to the app/Config directory within your CodeIgniter project and open the App.php file. Find the $baseURL variable and set it to the base URL of your application:

public $baseURL = 'http://localhost/project-name/';

Adjust http://localhost/project-name/ to match your server's configuration.

Step 5: Set Up a Database

If your application requires a database, you'll need to configure it. Open app/Config/Database.php and set your database credentials:

public $default = [
    'DSN'      => '',
    'hostname' => 'localhost',
    'username' => 'your-db-username',
    'password' => 'your-db-password',
    'database' => 'your-database-name',
    'DBDriver' => 'MySQLi',
    'DBPrefix' => '',
    'pConnect' => false,
    'DBDebug'  => (ENVIRONMENT !== 'production'),
    'cacheOn'  => false,
    'cacheDir' => '',
    'charset'  => 'utf8',
    'DBCollat' => 'utf8_general_ci',
    'swapPre'  => '',
    'encrypt'  => false,
    'compress' => false,
    'strictOn' => false,
    'failover' => [],
    'port'     => 3306,
];

Replace the placeholders with your actual database information.

Step 6: Enable Mod_Rewrite

For modern web applications, you often want users to see clean URLs. To achieve this, you must enable URL rewriting. Create an .htaccess file in your project's root directory with the following content:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php/$1 [L]

You can also check out how to redirect HTTP to HTTPS in CodeIgniter.

Step 7: Test Your Setup

To verify that your new CodeIgniter project is set up correctly, open a web browser and navigate to http://localhost/project-name/. You should see the default CodeIgniter welcome page.

Step 8: Enhance with SEO and Mail Configuration

To improve your project's visibility, consider learning about SEO optimization for CodeIgniter. You may also want to send mail using Gmail SMTP in CodeIgniter, making sure your application can communicate effectively.

Additionally, to further optimize your project's SEO capabilities, consider integrating an SEO plugin or getting comprehensive guidance on SEO integration in CodeIgniter.

By following these steps, you will have a working CodeIgniter project ready for development. Enjoy creating your web application!