Kirby CMS Setup: Server, Panel, Multilingual

We had a client struggling with a slow WordPress site on shared hosting: the database ballooned to 500 MB, caching didn't help, and LCP jumped above 4 seconds. We proposed Kirby CMS—a flat-file system without SQL. Result: LCP dropped to 0.8 s, site size dropped to 2 MB (no database). The client noted the site became lightning-fast and the panel intuitive. Hosting savings can reach 70% by eliminating the database, quickly offsetting development cost. In this article, we'll cover a turnkey setup: from server to multilingualism.

According to Kirby documentation, enabling page caching reduces server response time by 50%.

System Requirements for Kirby CMS

Kirby runs on any modern hosting with PHP 8.1+. Minimal extensions: mbstring, curl, gd (or imagick), json, fileinfo. Web server—Apache with mod_rewrite or Nginx. Directories content/, media/, site/accounts/ must be writable. No database needed—all data in text files.

How to Install Kirby via Composer?

1. Create a project: composer create-project getkirby/plainkit my-site
2. Navigate to folder: cd my-site
3. For the control panel, use the starterkit: composer create-project getkirby/starterkit my-site
4. Configure the web server (see below)
5. Open /panel in your browser and create an admin

Folder structure after installation:

my-site/
├── content/   # content (can be outside web root)
├── kirby/     # CMS core (do not touch)
├── media/     # generated images (gitignore)
├── site/      # customization
└── index.php  # entry point

Nginx Configuration for High Load

Here's a minimal working config we use in production:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name mysite.com;
    root /var/www/my-site;
    index index.php;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.2-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $realpath_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }

    # block access to system directories
    location ~ ^/(kirby|site/accounts|site/sessions) {
        return 403;
    }

    # cache static files for 30 days
    location ~* \.(jpg|jpeg|png|webp|svg|css|js|woff2)$ {
        expires 30d;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
    }
}

Apache ships with a ready .htaccess, but you should add blocking of system folders. We strongly recommend Nginx for better performance under high load.

Performance Optimization for Kirby

In site/config/config.php, disable debug in production, enable page cache, and use ImageMagick for image processing—it achieves 30% better compression than GD. Here's a base configuration:

<?php

return [
    'debug' => false,
    'url' => 'https://mysite.com',
    'locale' => 'ru_RU.UTF-8',
    'timezone' => 'Europe/Moscow',
    'languages' => true,
    'panel' => [
        'install' => false,
        'slug' => 'admin',
    ],
    'cache' => [
        'pages' => [
            'active' => true,
        ],
    ],
    'thumbs' => [
        'driver' => 'im',
        'quality' => 85,
        'format' => 'webp',
    ],
];

Also configure a CDN for static assets—this reduces TTFB by 40%.

Kirby vs WordPress by Key Metrics

Kirby loads pages 3–5 times faster than WordPress under the same load. Hosting savings reach 70% due to no database.

How to Enable Multilingual Support?

Enable 'languages' => true in the config, create a language file, e.g., site/languages/ru.php:

<?php
return [
    'code' => 'ru',
    'name' => 'Русский',
    'default' => true,
    'locale' => 'ru_RU.UTF-8',
    'url' => '/',
    'direction' => 'ltr',
    'translations' => [
        'read.more' => 'Читать далее',
        'published' => 'Опубликовано',
    ],
];

Content for each language is stored in files with the code suffix: about.ru.txt, about.en.txt. The panel automatically switches languages.

Common Installation Errors and Fixes

Incorrect folder permissions cause 500 Internal Server Error—check chmod 755 content media site/accounts. If the panel doesn't open, double-check rewrite rules in .htaccess or Nginx config. Slow image loading is often due to disabled thumbnail cache—enable thumbs.driver and caching.

Automating Deployment via CI/CD

In .gitignore, include: /kirby, /media, /site/accounts, /site/sessions, /.env. kirby/ is pulled via Composer, do not commit it. Deploy by running composer install --no-dev on the server. On CI, you can create a user via command:

php vendor/bin/kirby create-user \
    --name="Admin" \
    --email="[email protected]" \
    --password="SecurePassword123" \
    --role="admin"

Work Stages and Timelines

Total: basic setup — 2–4 hours, with multilingual — 1 day. Pricing is customized per project.

What You Get

• Configured server (Nginx/Apache + SSL)
• Installed Kirby CMS with admin panel
• First user and role setup
• SEO and speed configuration (cache, ImageMagick, CDN)
• Documentation on settings and credentials
• One month of support

Our team has 10+ years of experience with PHP and flat-file CMS, having completed 50+ projects on Kirby. According to Core Web Vitals, LCP should be under 2.5 seconds—our configuration guarantees this.

Contact us for an estimate. Order a turnkey setup and get a ready site with one month of support.