Managing your Applications

By default, it is assumed that you only intend to use CodeIgniter to manage one application, which you will build in your app directory. It is possible, however, to have multiple sets of applications that share a single CodeIgniter installation, or even to rename or relocate your application directory.

Renaming or Relocating the Application Directory

If you would like to rename your application directory or even move it to a different location on your server, other than your project root, open your main app/Config/Paths.php and set a full server path in the $appDirectory variable (at about line 44):

<?php

namespace Config;

class Paths
{
    // ...

    public $appDirectory = '/path/to/your/app';

    // ...
}

You will need to modify two additional files in your project root, so that they can find the Paths configuration file:

• spark runs command line apps.

  require FCPATH . '../app/Config/Paths.php';
  // ^^^ Change this line if you move your application folder
  

• public/index.php is the front controller for your webapp.

  require FCPATH . '../app/Config/Paths.php';
  // ^^^ Change this line if you move your application folder
  

Running Multiple Applications with one CodeIgniter Installation

If you would like to share a common CodeIgniter framework installation, to manage several different applications, simply put all of the directories located inside your application directory into their own (sub)-directory.

For example, let’s say you want to create two applications, named foo and bar. You could structure your application project directories like this:

foo/
    app/
    public/
    tests/
    writable/
    env
    phpunit.xml.dist
    spark
bar/
    app/
    public/
    tests/
    writable/
    env
    phpunit.xml.dist
    spark
vendor/
    autoload.php
    codeigniter4/framework/
composer.json
composer.lock

Note

If you install CodeIgniter from the Zip file, the directory structure would be following:

foo/
bar/
codeigniter4/system/

This would have two apps, foo and bar, both having standard application directories and a public folder, and sharing a common codeigniter4/framework.

The $systemDirectory variable in app/Config/Paths.php inside each of those would be set to refer to the shared common codeigniter4/framework folder:

<?php

namespace Config;

class Paths
{
    // ...

    public $systemDirectory = __DIR__ . '/../../../vendor/codeigniter4/framework/system';

    // ...
}

Note

If you install CodeIgniter from the Zip file, the $systemDirectory would be __DIR__ . '/../../../codeigniter4/system'.

And modify the COMPOSER_PATH constant in app/Config/Constants.php inside each of those:

<?php

defined('COMPOSER_PATH') || define('COMPOSER_PATH', ROOTPATH . '../vendor/autoload.php');

Only when you change the Application Directory, see Renaming or Relocating the Application Directory and modify the paths in the index.php and spark.

Changing the Location of the .env File

If necessary, you can change the location of the .env file by adjusting the $envDirectory property in app/Config/Paths.php.

By default, the framework loads environment settings from a .env file located one level above the app/ directory (in the ROOTPATH). This is a safe location when your domain is correctly pointed to the public/ directory, as recommended.

In practice, however, some applications are served from a subdirectory (e.g., http://example.com/myapp) rather than from the main domain. In such cases, placing the .env file within the ROOTPATH may expose sensitive configuration data if .htaccess or other protections are misconfigured.

To avoid this risk in such setups, it is recommended that you ensure the .env file is located outside any web-accessible directories.

Warning

If you change the location of the .env file, make absolutely sure it is not publicly accessible. Exposure of this file could lead to compromised credentials and access to critical services, such as your database, mail server, or third-party APIs.