Workora documentation

Overview#

Workora is a complete freelance marketplace script for the web. Clients post projects and receive proposals, or buy ready-made services. Money moves through milestone escrow, members have wallets, and every payment is recorded in a double-entry ledger.

The product is version 1.0.0 and is built on Laravel 13. It has a public site, a member area and an administration panel, and ships in English and Arabic.

workora-demo.devdoor.tech

Requirements#

You do not need Node.js or Composer on the server: the package ships with its dependencies and the compiled styles.

Installation#

1. Upload the contents of the 1-Source/workora folder to your server. The web root must point to the public folder.
2. Create an empty MySQL database and a database user.
3. Open https://your-domain/install in a browser. The installer checks your server, then asks for the database, site name and address, time zone and your administrator account.
4. When it finishes it shows the cron line to add. Then sign in at /login and open /admin.

Command line (optional)

php artisan app:install \
  --db-name=workora --db-user=root --db-password=secret \
  --app-name="My Marketplace" --app-url=https://example.com \
  --admin-name="Admin" --admin-username=admin \
  --admin-email=admin@example.com --admin-password="a-strong-password"

Add --create-database to create the database, and --demo for sample data on demo sites only.

Shared hosting (Hostinger, cPanel)#

Shared hosting works well, and the live demo runs on it. The safest layout keeps the application outside the public folder:

domains/your-domain/
  workora/        the application (never public)
  public_html/    index.php, .htaccess and the build and flags folders

1. In the hosting panel choose PHP 8.4 for the domain and enable the extensions listed above.
2. Upload the package, then place public as public_html and the rest as workora.
3. In public_html/index.php point the paths to the application folder (the packaged public_html already does).
4. Create the database in the panel, then run the web installer.
5. Add the cron job from the panel: /usr/bin/php /home/USER/domains/your-domain/workora/artisan schedule:run every minute.

Cron job#

One entry runs everything: queued e-mails and notifications, contract auto-release, expiring projects, plan renewals, meeting reminders, review statistics, the nightly ledger check and backups.

* * * * * cd /path/to/workora && php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

The Health page in the admin panel shows whether the scheduler ran recently.

First steps#

1. Settings → General: site name, tagline, base currency (choose it before launch), contact e-mail, default time zone and country.
2. Appearance: theme, colours, logo, favicon, width, home page sections and the cookie notice.
3. Languages: activate languages, set the default and check translations.
4. Payments: enable gateways and set your commission, deposits and withdrawal rules.
5. E-mail: configure SMTP and send a test message.
6. Content: edit the pages, FAQ, blog and testimonials.
7. Categories: adapt the 14 main and 125 sub-categories to your niche.

workora-demo.devdoor.tech

Payments#

In Settings → Payments enable any of these methods. Each shows the webhook address to register with the provider.

Deposits have a minimum and maximum. Withdrawals use PayPal or bank details, with a minimum, an optional fee, an optional holding period and a limit of open requests.

E-mail#

Set Settings → E-mail to your SMTP server and send a test. Until then e-mails are written to the log. Notifications are queued; the cron job delivers them within a minute. Members choose which categories also reach their inbox in Notification settings.

Appearance and themes#

Administration → Appearance controls the whole look without code: one of eight themes, primary and accent colours, neutral palette, corner radius, font, shadows, hero style, sidebar style and colour mode (light, dark or automatic). Upload a logo (with a dark-mode variant) and a favicon.

Layout: choose a standard, wide or full page width and the card density. Home page: toggle sections (categories slider, figures, why choose us, top freelancers, projects, testimonials, banners), set how many category rows appear and whether they scroll or form a grid. Members can pick their own colour mode and, if you allow it, theme.

workora-demo.devdoor.tech

Languages and RTL#

Languages lists the active languages. Add one from a preset or by code, choose its direction and a flag, then open Translate to edit every text in a searchable table, import or export JSON files and see what is still untranslated. Category, skill, page, blog and FAQ content is translated in each item's own editor.

Right-to-left languages switch the whole layout automatically. Every language also has its own crawlable address (?lang=ar) with hreflang links and a multilingual sitemap.

How money works#

• The client funds a milestone from their wallet; the money moves into escrow.
• The freelancer delivers; the client approves (payment released minus commission), asks for changes, or opens a dispute. If the client does nothing, payment is released automatically after the configured days.
• Every movement is a balanced entry in the double-entry ledger. A nightly job proves wallets, escrow and revenue add up.

Commission

Set the platform percentage in Settings → Payments, an optional minimum fee per payment, a different percentage for any category and a lower rate on any plan. Priority: plan, then category, then the platform default. A contract keeps the rate it was created with.

Members and moderation#

Staff roles (administrator, moderator, finance, support) each see only what they need; staff accounts require two-factor authentication. Under Users you can search, suspend or ban members and assign roles. Projects and services can be reviewed before they go live; reviews and reports have their own queues; disputes are decided by staff with a recorded note.

Content and SEO#

Manage pages, the blog, FAQ and testimonials under Content, each translatable. Workora generates a sitemap with language alternates, canonical and Open Graph tags, structured data for services and robots rules. Public pages are fast and cache-friendly.

Plans, Connects and limits#

Three independent ways to earn and to control activity; use any or all of them:

• Connects: proposals cost points. Set the price per proposal, free points and the pack size and price.
• Plans: monthly subscriptions that grant Connects, lower the commission and change limits.
• Limits (Settings → Limits and plans): switch on any of proposals per day, week or month, number of services, portfolio items and contracts running at once. Members without a plan get the free numbers; each plan sets its own (0 means unlimited).

Members see their usage on the Plans page and are told when they reach a limit.

workora-demo.devdoor.tech

Profiles, portfolio and verification#

Freelancers build trust with a headline, skills, hourly rate, links, experience, education, certificates and languages (the Resume tab), a portfolio they can edit, hide, feature and reorder, and a printable resume at /u/username/resume. A profile-strength meter shows what is missing.

Verification: e-mail, profile picture and identity (passport, ID card or licence). Documents are re-encoded, kept on the private disk and visible only to staff under Administration → Verifications, where you approve or reject with a reason. Phone verification is shown as "coming soon". You can require a verified identity before the first withdrawal.

workora-demo.devdoor.tech

Messenger and meetings#

The messenger has a conversation list, the chat and a side panel with the other person, the project, orders, contracts, meetings and shared files, each linking to its page. Messages arrive live, show read receipts and support attachments. Before a contract exists, e-mail addresses, phone numbers and links are blocked to protect your commission (you can change this).

Meetings: either person can schedule a meeting: pick a time (shown in each person's own time zone), a duration and a link from Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Webex, Jitsi, Whereby or Skype (or create a free Jitsi room). The invitation appears as a card with Accept, Decline, Add to calendar (.ics) and a Join button that opens 15 minutes before the start. Both people are reminded. In Settings → Messaging and files you can turn meetings off or allow any https link.

workora-demo.devdoor.tech

Support chat#

Members open Support to chat with your team; visitors use the contact form and get answers by e-mail. In Administration → Support you filter by status, topic, priority and assignee, assign conversations, write private notes, insert saved replies, and see first-reply time and member ratings. After a conversation is closed the member can rate the help.

Referrals, coupons and notifications#

Referrals are on by default: the inviter earns a bonus when an invited member completes a paid contract. Members get a share page with copy and social buttons, visit counts and results; set the bonus, a welcome gift and the minimum contract in Settings → Referrals, and see totals in Administration → Referrals. Coupons credit a wallet once per member, with limits and expiry.

Notifications have a bell menu, a centre with filters, read and unread toggles and deletion. Freelancers can set project alerts by category and keyword.

Installable app (PWA)#

The site publishes a manifest and a small service worker that caches only built CSS and JavaScript plus an offline page, never member pages. Phones offer Add to home screen, using your brand colour and name.

REST API#

A read-only JSON API is included. Switch it on in Settings → General. Members create tokens on their Security page (shown once, only a hash is stored, with optional expiry). Send Authorization: Bearer wk_...; each token is limited to 60 requests a minute. Money values are integers in minor units next to a currency code.

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer wk_your_token" https://your-site.example/api/v1/gigs?q=logo

Backups and health#

A daily database backup and a weekly full backup (with files) run on schedule and are listed under Health, where you can also download them. The same page checks PHP, extensions, permissions, the scheduler, the queue, the ledger and disk space. Set the path to mysqldump in .env (BACKUP_MYSQLDUMP) if it is not on the server path.

Updating#

1. Back up your database and files.
2. Open Administration → Updates, upload the signed update package and review the summary.
3. Apply it. Workora verifies the signature, copies the new files, runs migrations and clears caches. Your .env, uploads and settings are kept.

On servers without the sodium extension you can update manually: upload the new files over the old ones, then run php artisan migrate --force and php artisan optimize:clear.

Demo data and demo site#

php artisan app:demo adds sample members, projects and services to any install; --full fills every sub-category. For a public demo set DEMO_MODE=true in .env and run php artisan demo:reset; cron resets it every hour. In demo mode a banner shows the demo accounts, a one-click sign-in appears and risky actions (settings, staff, updates, backups, real payments) are blocked. Set DEMO_PURCHASE_URL to show a "Buy" button.

Security checklist#

• Serve everything over HTTPS and keep APP_DEBUG=false.
• Keep the application folder outside the public web root, or deny access to it.
• Staff must use two-factor authentication.
• Keep .env private and back it up separately.
• Use a strong database password and restrict database access to the server.
• Install ClamAV and set CLAMSCAN_PATH to scan every upload (optional).
• Run composer audit when you update dependencies.

Built in: a strict content security policy with nonces, rate limits on sensitive actions, private storage for documents and attachments, re-encoded images, an automated test that tries to reach other members' data, and Ed25519-signed updates.

Troubleshooting#

Support and licence#

Workora is sold on CodeCanyon. Support and updates follow the Envato item support policy, and covers installation help and bug reports; custom work is not included. A marketplace that charges members fees, commissions or subscriptions needs the Extended Licence. Third-party components are listed with their licences in the package.

Buy on CodeCanyon Live demo