FAQ

Answers to the questions we receive most often about EduNest LMS. If your question isn't covered here, see Troubleshooting or open a ticket at creative-cape.com.

Installation & Requirements

What do I need before installing? Node.js 20 or newer and a PostgreSQL 14+ database (Neon is recommended — EduNest connects through @neondatabase/serverless). For media uploads you also want a Cloudflare R2 bucket (or any S3-compatible storage). That's the whole baseline — no other system services are required for the core product.

Do I need to know how to run Node and Postgres? You need a Node host and a reachable Postgres database, but you don't run migrations or scripts by hand. EduNest ships a first-run Install Wizard at /install that walks you through Welcome → Database → License → Admin Account → Site Settings → Done. It creates the database schema, writes your environment values, and creates the first admin account for you. The schema is self-healing and idempotent.

Do I need to run database migrations manually? No. The schema is created automatically — by the Install Wizard during the Database step, and the app self-heals missing tables on demand. There is no separate migration command to run.

Can I load demo content? Yes. The wizard has an optional "starter content" step that seeds demo course categories, a demo instructor, and a few published courses so you can see the platform populated immediately.

Hosting

Where can I host EduNest? Any host that runs Node 20+ and can reach your PostgreSQL database. EduNest is a standard Next.js 16 App Router app, so platforms like Vercel, Railway, Render, Fly.io, or a Node-capable VPS all work. Neon is the recommended database and Cloudflare R2 the recommended storage.

Can I use Vercel? Yes. EduNest runs on Vercel. One thing to know: Vercel's filesystem is read-only, so the wizard can't write a .env file there. On read-only hosts the installer shows the environment values for you to set as Vercel project environment variables instead (for example DATABASE_URL and JWT_SECRET). The database schema is still created over the serverless Neon connection, and all uploads go to R2 — nothing is written to local disk in production.

Can I use shared hosting / cPanel? EduNest is a Node + PostgreSQL application, not a PHP app. Traditional shared cPanel hosting without Node support will not work. Use a Node-capable VPS or a platform like Vercel, Railway, or Render.

Do I have to use Neon and Cloudflare R2? Neon is recommended for its serverless Postgres, but any PostgreSQL 14+ works. Any S3-compatible storage (R2, AWS S3, DigitalOcean Spaces, Google Cloud Storage) works for uploads — these are configured from the admin panel.

Licensing

How does licensing work? EduNest has two layers. (1) A product license ties your purchase code to your domain — activate it in the Install Wizard or in Admin → License. Verification is offline (RS256 signature) with a baked-in public key, so it doesn't depend on a live connection on every request, and it has a 14-day fail-open grace window. (2) Add-on licensing unlocks premium add-ons. Localhost and LAN hosts skip licensing entirely (dev mode), so you can build and test freely. See the License Guide.

Does the license hard-block my site if it can't verify? No. Enforcement fails open. If the license server is briefly unreachable, EduNest keeps running on a 14-day grace window. Even when unactivated, the product shows an admin License Gate and a public License Banner rather than taking the site down.

How do I activate premium add-ons? A premium add-on unlocks one of two ways: your product license carries an entitlement that covers it (the wildcard */all, a whole channel id, or an exact <channel>:<provider> key), or you enter a per-add-on purchase code in Admin → Add-ons, which is exchanged once with the license server for a domain-bound token and then verified offline. Unlocking is the first gate; the second gate is the admin toggle that actually switches the add-on on.

What's free vs premium? 93 add-ons ship inside the product. A small free set works with no key: email:smtp, analytics:ga4, payments:cod, payments:bank, payments:paypal, storage:r2, video:youtube, and video:vimeo. Everything else is a premium add-on. On a dev host (localhost/LAN) everything is unlocked for testing.

Do I need to download add-ons separately? No. All 93 add-ons (53 channels + 40 features) ship in the product source. There is no zip to install — licensing simply unlocks what you've paid for.

Customization

How do I change the theme / colors? Brand and secondary colors are CSS variables (for example --brand-500, --secondary-600) defined in src/app/globals.css and wired into Tailwind. You can also set the primary and secondary colors, header layout, and dark mode from Admin → Settings → Theme → Appearance — those settings are stored in the database.

How do I change the logo and brand name? From Admin → Settings → Theme → Branding: upload your logo, app icon, and favicon, and set the business name, website, and description. These values are stored in the theme_settings table and are also pulled into branded transactional emails automatically.

Can I add my own pages, add-ons, or endpoints? Yes. EduNest follows a documented core/product layer split and Next.js App Router conventions. New features can be added without touching core files. See the developer and add-on guides in the bundled docs.

Payments

How do payments work? Checkout re-prices the cart on the server, expands bundles, and on successful payment grants course/bundle access (finalizes the enrollment). The free payment drivers — Cash on Delivery, Bank Transfer, and PayPal — work out of the box. Twenty more gateways (Stripe, Razorpay, PayU, Square, Mollie, Paystack, Flutterwave, and others) are available as premium payment add-ons.

Configuration & Secrets

Where are my secrets stored? Core secrets like DATABASE_URL and JWT_SECRET live in your environment (a .env file on writable hosts, or platform environment variables on hosts like Vercel). Integration secrets — SMTP credentials, storage keys, payment gateway keys — are stored in the database, encrypted, and managed from the admin panel rather than in env files. Your activated license is stored as a single row in the app_license table.

How do I add a language? EduNest ships with English, Hindi, Tamil, and Arabic (with RTL support for Arabic). Manage languages and edit translations from Admin → Settings → Languages. Translations are keyed by the English source string, and English is the fallback for any missing keys.

Support & Updates

What does support include? Bug fixes, help with the included features, and answering setup questions. Custom development, third-party service issues, and server administration are not covered. See the Support Policy.

How do I get support? Open a ticket at creative-cape.com or email support@creative-cape.com with your purchase code, environment details (Node/PostgreSQL versions, host), and clear steps to reproduce.

Are updates free? Yes — free lifetime updates for all license holders, downloaded from your purchase account. See the Changelog and Roadmap.