How to Install Drupal (with Composer and Drush)

Drupal is a powerful open-source CMS for complex websites. OpenPanel installs it the recommended, Composer-based way - with Drush included - so updates and modules are managed properly from day one.

Requirements

OpenPanel Enterprise - the Drupal module must be enabled for your hosting plan.
A domain pointed to the server.
PHP 8.3 for Drupal 11 (PHP 8.1+ for Drupal 10).

Install Drupal

Add the domain in OpenPanel → Domains (Add a new domain).
Go to OpenPanel → Websites → Install App and click Install Drupal.
Fill in:
- Domain (and optional subfolder),
- Site name,
- Drupal version - Latest (Drupal 11) or Drupal 10,
- Admin username, password and email.
Start the installation.

Install Drupal form with the site details, domain and location, and admin credentials

Behind the scenes, OpenPanel runs composer create-project drupal/recommended-project, adds drush/drush, creates a MySQL/MariaDB database and runs drush site:install.

Running Drush and Composer

Open OpenPanel → Containers → Terminal, select the domain's PHP container (e.g. php-fpm-8.3) and go to the project folder:

cd /var/www/html/example.com

vendor/bin/drush status          # site status
vendor/bin/drush cr              # rebuild caches
vendor/bin/drush uli             # one-time admin login link
composer require drupal/pathauto # add a module
vendor/bin/drush en pathauto -y  # enable it

The web terminal is an Enterprise feature and must be enabled for your plan - see Terminal.

Cron

Drupal runs cron on page visits by default (Automated Cron). For reliable scheduled tasks, disable the Automated Cron module and add a job in OpenPanel → Cron Jobs:

Container: php-fpm-8.3
Schedule: Hourly
Command: /var/www/html/example.com/vendor/bin/drush --root=/var/www/html/example.com/web cron

Updating Drupal

Update core and modules with Composer, then run the database updates:

cd /var/www/html/example.com
composer update "drupal/core-*" --with-all-dependencies
vendor/bin/drush updatedb -y
vendor/bin/drush cr

Take an account backup first.

Trusted Host Settings

If Drupal's status report warns about Trusted Host Settings, add your domain to web/sites/default/settings.php:

$settings['trusted_host_patterns'] = [
  '^example\.com$',
  '^www\.example\.com$',
];

Managing Drupal

Drupal appears in OpenPanel → Websites → Sites, showing the document root, installed version (from composer.lock) and database details. Remove uninstalls the site including its database.

More: Drupal in OpenPanel.