Sngine Addon — Setup Guide

Follow-Notify Installation Guide

Keep your users informed when people they follow publish new posts or when important comments meet your notification criteria. This guide covers installation, configuration, email setup, and customization.

PHP 8.3+ Sngine 4.4.2 Cron required MySQL InnoDB
01

Requirements

PHP PHP 8.3 or newer.
Sngine Built and tested with Sngine 4.4.2.
Cron access Cron jobs must be available on your hosting account.
Database MySQL or MariaDB with InnoDB support.
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Make sure your Sngine website is already sending emails successfully before installing Follow-Notify. The addon uses your existing Sngine email configuration.

02

What's in the Package

The package contains everything required to install and configure Follow-Notify. Most files can be uploaded directly to your website.

addons/follow-notify/
Core addon files
Email templates
User settings files
Admin settings files
Database installation file
Cron/automation files
i

You do not need to modify the addon source code during a normal installation. Follow the installation steps below and only change the values specifically mentioned in this guide.

03

Installation Steps

1

Upload the addon

Unzip the downloaded package and upload the follow-notify folder into your website's addons directory.

A No addons folder yet

Upload the package so that the addon is located at: public_html/addons/follow-notify/

B You already have an addons folder

Upload only the follow-notify folder into your existing addons directory.

C Installing an update

Back up your existing addon first. Then replace the old addon files with the files from the new version. Follow any version-specific update instructions included with the release.

2

Install the database

Open phpMyAdmin, select the database used by your Sngine installation, and import the included install.sql file.

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Only import the installation file into the database used by your Sngine website. Make sure you have a database backup before making database changes.

3

Prepare the addon for a new installation

If you are installing Follow-Notify on an existing website, follow the initialization instruction included with your package before enabling the scheduled tasks.

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This prevents existing content from being treated as newly published content immediately after installation.

4

Confirm your Sngine email settings

Go to Admin Panel → Settings → Email/SMTP and make sure your website can successfully send email.

Follow-Notify uses your existing Sngine email configuration, so no separate SMTP account is required for the addon.

5

Add the settings interface to your theme

The package includes the required settings blocks for users and administrators. Copy the appropriate block into the corresponding Sngine template file.

Package file Theme location
user-follow-notify.txt themes/[theme]/templates/settings.notifications.tpl
admin-follow-notify.txt themes/[theme]/templates/admin.settings.notifications.tpl

If your website has multiple themes, repeat this step for each theme where you want the Follow-Notify settings to appear.

6

Configure the scheduled tasks

Follow-Notify requires scheduled tasks to process notifications and deliver emails automatically.

Create the scheduled tasks according to the instructions provided in the package for your hosting environment.

Example PHP scheduled task
/usr/bin/php /home/account/domains/your-website.com/public_html/addons/follow-notify/[scheduled-file].php
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Replace the example hosting path with the correct path for your server. The exact format may vary depending on whether you use cPanel, Hostinger, Plesk, DirectAdmin, or another hosting control panel.

Need help? If you are unfamiliar with scheduled tasks, check your hosting provider's documentation or contact support for assistance.

If you need installation and setup assistance, message me on WhatsApp.

7

Customize email templates (optional)

Follow-Notify includes editable HTML email templates. You can customize the appearance of the emails to match your website's branding.

Template Purpose
post-notification.html New-post notification email
comment-notification.html Comment notification email
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When editing an email template, do not remove or rename the provided dynamic placeholders such as {{example}}. These values are replaced automatically when the email is generated.

04

How the Settings Work

Follow-Notify provides separate controls for individual users and site administrators.

User → Privacy / Notifications
Email me on new posts
From people you follow
Email me on new comments
Based on the site's notification criteria
Checked — You'll receive an email when someone you follow publishes a new post.
Checked — You'll receive an email when a comment meets the site's notification criteria.
Admin → Notifications
Post notifications
Sitewide control
Comment notifications
Sitewide control
Comment like threshold
Minimum likes required
3
Thread size threshold
Minimum discussion activity
3000
These controls allow administrators to enable or disable notification types sitewide. Individual users can also control their own notification preferences.
05

Support

Need help with installation, configuration, or customization? Reach out directly.

WhatsApp