# PageMotor on Hostinger, the picture-by-picture guide — LLM Prompt > **How to use this file:** Paste the entire contents into Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or any LLM as your opening message. It gives the model the whole guide, so it can walk you through it, ask where you have got to, and help when something does not behave. > > *Source: [https://documentation.elmspark.com/guides/pagemotor-hostinger/](https://documentation.elmspark.com/guides/pagemotor-hostinger/)* --- You are helping me with the following. Use this guide as your reference. Work through it with me, ask what I have already done, and help me troubleshoot. Where a step changes something on a live site, a domain, or a server, tell me what it will do and wait for me to confirm before we go on. If something here contradicts what I am actually seeing, say so rather than guessing. **What this covers:** A fool-proof, screenshot-by-screenshot walkthrough to get PageMotor running on a Hostinger VPS with CloudPanel. Every step has a picture of exactly what you will see. # PageMotor on Hostinger, the picture-by-picture guide The fool-proof version. Every step below has a screenshot of exactly what you will see, so you just match your screen to the picture. By the end PageMotor is running on a proper VPS, where your designs actually save. ▶ Watch the whole setup (2 minutes 43 seconds), narrated, with captions. Or follow the pictures step by step below. **Read the narration instead** **Buy the VPS.** Start on the Hostinger dashboard and click Get VPS. Buy a KVM plan, never shared or web hosting. That is the whole point: a VPS lets PageMotor write its files to disk, and shared hosting blocks that, which is why designs never seem to save. Then choose CloudPanel, generate a panel password, and keep it somewhere safe. **Build the server.** Choose a location near your visitors and finish setup. Hostinger builds the server in about three to six minutes. You can close the page, it emails you. When it is ready, note the server’s IP address. **Log in to CloudPanel.** Open CloudPanel on that IP. Your browser warns the connection is not private. On a brand new server that is normal, so click through and log in. **Create the site.** Add a site, choose a PHP site, and fill in your domain and a site user. CloudPanel creates the folders and the web server entry for you, then opens the new site in the list. **Create the database.** Here is the trap: CloudPanel rejects underscores in the name or the user, so use hyphens instead. Save the password, and note the host, `127.0.0.1`. **Upload PageMotor.** In the File Manager, open `htdocs` and then your domain folder. Delete any placeholder index file, because PageMotor brings its own. Upload the PageMotor zip, extract it, and give the extracted folder a name you will remember. Then check the files landed. **Configure PageMotor.** Rename `config-sample.php` to exactly `config.php`. Edit it, and set the four database lines to the values you just saved. Then, in Settings, point the site’s root directory at the PageMotor folder. **Point your domain and add SSL.** Add an A record for your domain and for www, pointing at the server. On Cloudflare, leave it grey clouded for now. Then issue a Let’s Encrypt certificate. **Finish.** Visit `/admin/` and create your administrator account straight away, before you share the address. The first person to open that screen becomes the administrator. Buy the VPS ## 1 Start your VPS order Log in to Hostinger and, on the home dashboard, click **Get VPS**. Buy a **VPS (KVM)** plan, never Shared or Web hosting. This is the whole point: a VPS lets PageMotor write its files to disk; shared hosting blocks that, which is why designs silently never apply. ## 2 Open the Control panel tab On the *Choose what to install* screen, click the **Control panel** tab, then find **CloudPanel** (the blue cloud icon, top right). ## 3 Select CloudPanel Click CloudPanel. The popup should say **Installed in Ubuntu 24.04**. Click **Select**. ## 4 Set your panel password Click **Generate**, then the eye icon to reveal the password, and **save it somewhere safe**. This is your CloudPanel login. Leave the SSH key blank. Click **Next**. ## 5 Choose a plan Pick a plan. **KVM 1** is plenty for one PageMotor site; **KVM 2** gives headroom for several. Click **Select**. ## 6 Choose the term and pay Pick a billing term (1, 12 or 24 months; 24 is the cheapest per month). The renewal price is higher than the promo. Click **Choose payment method** and pay. Build the server ## 7 Choose a server location Pick the data centre closest to you or your visitors, then **Next**. ## 8 Finish setup Leave the free **Malware scanner** unticked, then click **Finish setup**. The scanner "blocks malicious files, suspicious activity, and potential threats", and a blocking layer it does not explain is exactly the shape of problem behind most of the [MCP troubleshooting guide](https://documentation.elmspark.com/guides/pagemotor-mcp-troubleshooting/): host security interfering with machine-to-machine endpoints. Add it later if you want it, once Claude is connected and working. Hostinger may walk you back through the install choices once more first; just make the same picks (CloudPanel, your password, features). ## 9 Wait while it builds Hostinger builds your server, about 3 to 6 minutes. You can leave the page; it emails you when it is ready. ## 10 Note your server IP When it says you are ready, **write down your server IP address**. You will need it for the certificate and your domain. (In this example it is 82.29.190.61.) Log in to CloudPanel ## 11 Open CloudPanel Open your VPS in hPanel and click **Manage panel**. Note your CloudPanel username is **admin**. ## 12 Get past the certificate warning Your browser warns *This Connection Is Not Private*. That is completely normal on a raw IP, it is your own brand-new server. In Safari: **Show Details** then **visit this website**. In Chrome or Edge: **Advanced** then **Proceed**. ## 13 Log in Log in with username **admin** and the panel password you saved. Create the site ## 14 Add a site You are now in CloudPanel. Click **+ ADD SITE**. ## 15 Choose a PHP site Choose **Create a PHP Site**. ## 16 Fill in the site details Enter your **domain**, a **Site User** (a short name like `mysite`) and a saved **Site User Password**. Set **PHP Version to 8.3**. Leave Application on Generic. Click **Create**. ## 17 Open your new site Your site appears in the list. Click **Manage** to open it. Create the database ## 18 Add a database Open the **Databases** tab, then click **Add Database**. ## 19 Watch out, no underscores If you put an underscore in the name or user, CloudPanel rejects it with *This value is not valid*. ## 20 Use hyphens Name it with hyphens, for example `pagemotor-db` and user `pagemotor-user`, with a saved password. Click **Add Database**. Note the host shown is `127.0.0.1`. ## 21 Database created Your database and its user are created. Keep the name, user, password and host (127.0.0.1) handy, PageMotor needs them shortly. Upload PageMotor ## 22 Open your document root Open the **File Manager** tab, go into `htdocs` then your **domain folder**. If there is a placeholder `index.php`, delete it (PageMotor brings its own). Have the PageMotor files ready as a zip on your computer first. ## 23 Upload the PageMotor zip Click **Add New → Upload file** and upload the PageMotor zip into this folder. ## 24 Extract it Right-click the uploaded zip and choose **Extract**. ## 25 Give the extract a folder name CloudPanel insists on a folder name (leaving it blank is rejected). Type `pagemotor` and click Extract. We will point the site straight at this folder in two steps. ## 26 Check the files Open the `pagemotor` folder. You should see `index.php`, `lib`, `config-sample.php` and `pagemotor.php` sitting directly inside. Configure PageMotor ## 27 Rename the config file Right-click `config-sample.php`, choose **Rename**, and change it to exactly `config.php`. PageMotor only reads `config.php`. ## 28 Fill in your database details Right-click `config.php` → **Edit**. Set the four database lines to your values: `DB_NAME`, `DB_USER`, `DB_PASSWORD`, and `DB_HOST` to `127.0.0.1`. Leave every other line as it is. **Save**. ## 29 Point the site at the PageMotor folder Open the **Settings** tab and change **Root Directory** to `yourdomain.com/pagemotor`, then **Save**. ## 30 The web server is nearly set up Good news first: the routing is already done. On the **Vhost** tab you can see CloudPanel already routes every address through `index.php` (the `try_files` line), exactly what PageMotor needs for clean links. While you have the Vhost tab open, make one small addition. PageMotor keeps a few directories private (error logs, Skill state, and protected uploads including Brain files). On Apache hosting that privacy is automatic; this server runs nginx, which needs to be told. Paste these three lines on their own, directly *above* the line that begins `location /` (not inside its curly brackets), then **Save**: ``` location ^~ /user-content/logs/ { deny all; } location ^~ /user-content/skills/ { deny all; } location ^~ /user-content/uploads/protected/ { deny all; } ``` Point your domain and add SSL ## 31 Point your domain at the server In your domain DNS (Hostinger *DNS Records*, or Cloudflare if that is where your domain lives), add an **A record** for your domain (and one for `www`) pointing to your **VPS IP**. On Cloudflare, set it to **DNS only** (grey cloud) until the certificate is issued. Give it a minute or two before the next step. ## 32 Create the SSL certificate Once your domain points at the server: **SSL/TLS** tab → **Actions** → **New Let's Encrypt Certificate**. Check your domain is listed, then **Create and Install**. ## 33 Certificate installed Done. A real certificate is installed and renews itself automatically. Your site now loads over **https** with a valid padlock. Finish ## 34 Create your PageMotor admin Visit `https://yourdomain.com/admin/` and create your administrator account **straight away**. The first person to use this screen becomes the administrator, so do it before sharing the address. ## 35 You are done That is it. You are in the PageMotor admin, on a proper host, and your design changes will save and show up. Welcome to a PageMotor site that just works. ## Connecting Claude from this host PageMotor speaks MCP natively, so once your site is up you can connect Claude Code or Claude.ai to it and let Claude build pages, manage content and run plugins for you. The connection asks a little more of a host than serving pages does. Four things must be true: the `Authorization` header must reach PHP intact, PageMotor must be allowed to answer its dynamic `/.well-known/` routes itself, PHP's clock must be on UTC, and nothing may redirect Claude's POST to `/mcp` (the trailing-slash trap). **In practice, connecting takes about a minute.** In a browser at claude.ai: 1. Go to **Customize → Connectors** (straight there: [claude.ai/customize/connectors](https://claude.ai/customize/connectors)). 2. Click **+**, then **Add custom connector**. 3. Give it any name you like. For the URL, use your site’s connector address: `https://your-site.com/mcp/`, all lower case, **trailing slash included**. 4. Click **Add**. Claude sends you to a sign-in page on your own site. Log in with your PageMotor **admin** account and approve it. 5. Start a new chat, click the **+** at the lower left of the message box, hover **Connectors**, and switch yours on. Then simply talk to it: “what pages do I have”, or “create a contact page”. A free Claude account is enough and allows one custom connector; Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise allow more. You do not need to test any of those requirements by hand. Install [EP Host Check](https://documentation.elmspark.com/plugins/ep-host-check/) and read its **MCP / Claude connection** rows: since v1.2.0 its five checks cover all of this from your admin panel, no working Claude connection required, each with a plain fix. If a row fails, or the connection misbehaves anyway, the [MCP troubleshooting guide](https://documentation.elmspark.com/guides/pagemotor-mcp-troubleshooting/) has the exact diagnostic and fix for every verified cause. ## Who looks after this server? **You do.** Hostinger sell a self-managed VPS, and say so plainly on their own VPS page: *“As our VPS solutions are self-managed, you will get full freedom to configure and manage the virtual server.”* Hostinger looks after the hardware, the network, DDoS filtering at the edge, and whatever backups your plan includes. Everything from Ubuntu upwards is yours: security patches, your control panel, PHP, the database, your TLS certificate, and PageMotor itself. That is not a catch. It is the same freedom that makes a VPS fix the problems shared hosting gives PageMotor. But nobody emails you when a patch is published, and a server left alone for a year is running a year of known, catalogued, publicly indexed vulnerabilities. Budget about fifteen minutes a month. --- *Generated from the guide above. If something here looks wrong, the guide is the source of truth: https://documentation.elmspark.com/guides/pagemotor-hostinger/*