Pre-release: DMPress is at 1.0.0-beta.85 and is not yet recommended for production use.
Get DMPress

Download, install, self-host.

DMPress is self-hosted software you run on your own server. Unzip it, point it at a database, and the installer takes it from there.

Download

Get the package

Grab the dmpress-<version>.zip asset from the latest release. Packages are built and Ed25519-signed by the project's release workflow.

  • The complete DMPress core
  • Content-Type Builder, built in
  • Bundled starter theme
  • A matching .zip.sig signature
  • GPL-2.0-or-later, yours to modify
Download 1.0.0-beta.85

Signed packages · Verify your download

Updates thereafter

It updates itself

Once installed, DMPress checks its own signed channel — not wordpress.org, which would offer stock WordPress over the fork.

  • Checks a signed manifest twice a day
  • Shows Dashboard → Updates
  • Nothing installs until an admin clicks
  • Signature verified before it is applied
How updates work

DMPress downloads and verifies it; WordPress's updater installs it

Before you start

Requirements

What you need

  • PHP 8.3 or greater
  • MySQL 8.0+  or  MariaDB 10.6+

And on the server

  • The Apache mod_rewrite module
  • HTTPS
Verify

Check the signature before you install.

Every release ships dmpress-<version>.zip.sig — an Ed25519 signature over the package. Verifying it proves the download is the one the project published, and has not been tampered with in transit.

# replace VERSION with the version you downloaded
      php -r '
      $pub  = base64_decode("w4oXQvCY1Y+t1iK7ppdJ8G0vqfq1IsugTK9N1bdw/uA=");
      $sig  = base64_decode(trim(file_get_contents("dmpress-VERSION.zip.sig")));
      $hash = hash_file("sha384", "dmpress-VERSION.zip", true);
      echo sodium_crypto_sign_verify_detached($sig, $hash, $pub) ? "OK\n" : "FAILED\n";
      '

Use the dmpress-<version>.zip asset, not "Source code (zip)"

GitHub auto-attaches a "Source code (zip)" archive to every release. That is the raw repository — it includes build tooling and is unsigned. Download the dmpress-<version>.zip asset instead.

Installation

Four steps from zip to login.

1

Upload

Unzip the package into an empty directory and upload everything to your server.

2

Configure

Open wp-admin/install.php. It walks you through creating a wp-config.php with your database details.

3

Install

The installer creates the tables your site needs. If it errors, re-check wp-config.php and try again.

4

Sign in

Note the password you are given if you did not choose one. If you did not choose a username, it is admin. Log in at wp-login.php.

Need the full walkthrough?

Creating the database, editing wp-config.php by hand, the dmp_ table prefix, server configuration and common problems are all covered in How to install DMPress.

One server note

Routing unknown paths to index.php.

A fresh install sets /%postname%/ after verifying your web server routes unknown paths to index.php. Apache is configured automatically via .htaccess. Nginx needs this by hand:

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

Without it, only / resolves and /wp-json/ will 404 — REST still works at ?rest_route=. The Plain permalink structure is supported too; the front end then routes on query strings rather than paths, and the bundled starter theme handles both automatically.

Please read

No warranty — you run DMPress at your own risk.

DMPress is provided free of charge, "AS IS", without warranty of any kind. This is not incidental — it is a condition of the GPL under which the software is distributed, and it applies to the original authors and to anyone who modifies or redistributes it.

Neither the authors nor any contributor is liable for lost data, downtime, lost revenue, or any other loss arising from its use or from being unable to use it. Take your own backups, test before deploying, and satisfy yourself that it is fit for your purpose.

Note the licence's own qualifier — "to the extent permitted by applicable law". Some jurisdictions do not allow certain liabilities to be excluded, so the practical effect depends on where you are. Nothing here is legal advice. This is a pre-release and is not yet recommended for production use.

Ready when you are

Grab the beta and have a look.