Helpora quickstart: install in minutes

HELPORA — QUICKSTART
====================

Helpora is a self-hosted support desk. Requests come in through a public form; the
person who raised one gets a reference and a passphrase instead of an account. Two
clocks run against every request, and the product refuses to let either be gamed.

INSTALL
-------
1. Upload the app/ folder to your web server's public_html (or a subdirectory).
2. Make sure the data/ directory inside app/ is writable by the web server.
3. Visit https://yoursite.com/install/ (or https://yoursite.com/yoursubdir/install/)
4. Choose MySQL or SQLite, set your desk name, edit the queues, set your OPENING
HOURS, and create your admin account.
5. The installer writes config.php and creates the database schema automatically.
6. Log in at /login.
7. Share /report — that is your public request form. People who have sent one use
/track (reference + passphrase) to read replies and write back.

After install, delete or password-protect the install/ directory.

WHY THE OPENING HOURS MATTER
----------------------------
The first-reply target is counted in WORKING hours, not wall-clock. A 9-to-5 desk
with a one-hour urgent target owes a reply by 10:00 on a request that arrived at
09:00 — and by 10:00 the NEXT working morning on one that arrived at 23:00. Getting
these two numbers right is the difference between "within an hour" meaning something
and meaning nothing.

Weekends are always skipped. Add your own closures in Settings -> Non-working days;
they can only ever move a deadline LATER, never earlier.

THE FOUR RULES (so nothing surprises you later)
-----------------------------------------------
1. The FIRST REPLY is stamped by the first message that actually goes to the
requester, and is never written again. No note, status change, reassignment or
auto-reply moves it. A request answered late stays marked late.
2. You CANNOT resolve or close a request nobody has ever answered. The server
refuses, on the screen, over the API and to an AI agent alike.
3. The ONLY pause is "waiting on the requester", it is refused until you have
actually written to them, and it ends BY ITSELF when they reply. The first-reply
clock cannot be paused at all.
4. A deadline only ever moves later.

The automatic acknowledgment (Settings, off by default) is NOT a first reply and
does not stop the clock.

DEMO CREDENTIALS (if you loaded demo data)
------------------------------------------
Desk console : admin@helpora.app / admin123
Requester (demo): reference ASKTHEDESK / passphrase demo-pass-2026

The demo is laid out so every clock state is visible at once, including the ones a
tidy demo would hide: one answered late and still marked late, two nobody has
answered at all, one paused with its date legitimately moved out, and one whose
auto-reply went out while it stays counted as unanswered.

REQUIREMENTS
------------
PHP 8.1+ | PDO extension | pdo_sqlite or pdo_mysql | Apache mod_rewrite

LOOKING AFTER IT (from 4.0)
---------------------------
* Updates: open Updates in the menu, save your license key once, press Check for updates.
Reaching 4.0 from 3.x is the last update by hand: replace the files; config.php and data/ stay.
* Sample data: the installer offers to start with a sample; remove it later with one click.
* Backups: "Back up once a day by itself" is on by default (/restore); add an S3-compatible bucket there for
a copy somewhere else. The Health page (/health) says whether all of this is working.
* On Nginx: use the server block in the manual ("On Nginx: keep data/ private", https://ownware.io/p/helpora/manual);
it opens the installer and keeps data/ private.
* One-line install for technical owners:
curl -fsSL https://ownware.io/install.sh | sh -s -- helpora <your license key>

NOTES
-----
- Serve over HTTPS only.
- Email needs your own SMTP; every message is off until you switch it on.
- Retention (Settings) destroys the CONTENT of settled requests after N days and
deliberately keeps both clocks with their stamps — that skeleton is the evidence
of how the desk performed. 0 means never, and that is the default.
- Money is not involved anywhere; Helpora does not bill, quote or invoice.

SUPPORT: See README.md for full documentation, API.md for the REST API and MCP.