InvoiceApp

A clean, self-hosted invoice management app built with PHP + MySQL. Create, edit, and share professional A4-sized invoices with live preview, PDF export, QR codes, and shareable links.

Inspired by

This project's editor UX and invoice templates are inspired by EasyInvoicePDF by Vlad Sazonau — a fantastic browser-only invoice generator. If you want a no-sign-up, client-side alternative, check it out. InvoiceApp takes the same "live preview + instant PDF" approach and adds a server-side backend (PHP + MySQL) so you can store, search, duplicate, and share invoices with your team.

Differences from EasyInvoicePDF:

• Persistent storage — invoices are saved to MySQL, not just held in browser state
• Multi-invoice management — dashboard, search, filter, status tracking, duplicate
• Shareable links — tokenized public URLs to send clients
• Your own data — self-hosted, no third-party services required

Features

• Live preview editor — see changes as you type (split-screen 33/67 layout)
• Two invoice templates — Classic (light, clean) and Modern (gradient header)
• A4-sized PDF output — print-ready, single-page
• Shareable links — generate tokenized URLs to share invoices with anyone
• QR codes — opt-in QR on invoice for payments/links
• Custom logo upload — with size slider, removable
• Custom footer text — per invoice
• 80+ currencies — with proper symbols and names
• Amount in words — auto-generated from total
• Discount + tax — % or fixed discount, applied before tax
• Payment tracking — To pay / Paid / Left to pay
• Search + filter — by invoice number, client, or status
• Duplicate invoice — clone any invoice as a new draft

Tech stack

• Backend: PHP 8+ (no framework, plain PHP)
• Database: MySQL 5.7+ / MariaDB
• Frontend: Vanilla JS, CSS, no build step
• Server: Apache (LAMP/WAMP/MAMP)
• PDF: Browser print-to-PDF (no extra libraries)

Requirements

• PHP 8.0 or higher (with pdo_mysql extension)
• MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB 10.3+
• Apache with mod_rewrite (for clean URLs)
• ~10 MB disk space

Installation

1. Clone the repo

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/invoice-app.git
cd invoice-app

2. Create the database

mysql -u root -p < setup.sql

This creates the invoice database with two tables: invoices and invoice_items.

3. Configure database credentials

cp config.example.php config.php

Edit config.php and fill in your database credentials:

define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');
define('DB_NAME', 'invoice');
define('DB_USER', 'your_user');
define('DB_PASS', 'your_password');

4. Set permissions

The uploads/ directory needs to be writable by the web server:

chmod 755 uploads/
chown www-data:www-data uploads/   # Apache on Debian/Ubuntu

5. Point your web server at the project root

Apache — Make sure mod_rewrite is enabled and .htaccess is allowed. The included .htaccess handles clean URLs (no .php extension needed).

Nginx — Add this to your server config:

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

6. Open the app

Navigate to http://localhost/invoice-app/ in your browser. You should see the dashboard with no invoices yet. Click + New Invoice to create your first one.

Configuration

Customizing the app

• Currency list — edit the currencies array in create.php (search for const currencies or let currencies)
• Templates — each template is a JavaScript template literal in create.php (search for if (currentTemplate === 'modern'))
• Logo directory — change uploads/ path in the file upload handler in create.php

Environment variables (optional)

Instead of editing config.php, the app reads these env vars (used automatically by config.php):

Variable	Default	Notes
DB_HOST	none — required for env mode	MySQL host
DB_PORT	3306	MySQL port
DB_NAME	invoice	Database name
DB_USER	root	Database user
DB_PASS	empty	Database password

If any of these are set, config.php uses them. Otherwise it falls back to config.example.php.

Deploy to InfinityFree (free PHP + MySQL hosting)

InfinityFree is a great way to get a free, permanent public URL for your invoice app — no credit card, no trial limits, free subdomain included. Live demo: invoice.great-site.net

1. Create an InfinityFree account

1. Sign up free at infinityfree.com (no card required)
2. From the client area, click Add Account and pick a free subdomain (e.g. yourname.great-site.net or yourname.infinityfreeapp.com)
3. Wait a few seconds for the account to be provisioned

2. Create the MySQL database

1. Open the cPanel for your new account
2. Go to MySQL Databases
3. Create a new database (e.g. invoice) and a database user with a strong password
4. Add the user to the database with All Privileges
5. Note down these values — you'll need them:
   • MySQL Hostname (usually localhost on newer accounts, or sqlXXX.infinityfree.com)
   • Database Name (e.g. if0_12345678_invoice)
   • Username (e.g. if0_12345678)
   • Password (the one you set)
   • Port (3306)

3. Import the database schema

1. In cPanel, open phpMyAdmin
2. Select your if0_xxx_invoice database from the left sidebar
3. Click the Import tab
4. Choose setup.sql from the project root
5. Click Go — you should see "Import has been successfully finished" with 2 tables (invoices, invoice_items)

4. Configure config.php

1. In cPanel, open File Manager and navigate to htdocs/
2. Upload config.example.php from the project, then rename the copy to config.php (or upload a pre-filled config.php from your local machine)
3. Edit config.php and fill in the 5 values from step 2:

define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');
define('DB_NAME', 'if0_12345678_invoice');
define('DB_USER', 'if0_12345678');
define('DB_PASS', 'your_strong_password');
define('DB_PORT', '3306');

5. Upload the app files

In cPanel → File Manager → htdocs/, upload all files from the project root EXCEPT:

• .git/ (git history)
• Dockerfile, docker-entrypoint.sh, nginx.conf (Docker-only, not needed)
• .dockerignore

The fastest way: zip the project on your computer (excluding the above), upload the zip, then Extract in cPanel.

6. Set uploads folder permissions

1. In File Manager, right-click the uploads/ folder → Permissions
2. Set to 755 (or 775 if uploads fail)

7. Open the app

Visit https://yourname.great-site.net/ — you should see the dashboard. Click + New Invoice to create your first one.

InfinityFree notes:

• No shell/SSH access — all DB operations go through phpMyAdmin
• Env vars are not reliably supported, so use config.php with hardcoded values
• PHP 7.4+ and MySQL are available
• The htdocs/ folder is your project root (not the folder above it)
• Free forever, no credit card, no trial expiry
• Ad are not shown on free subdomains, but resource limits apply (50k hits/day, 5GB disk)

Usage

Creating an invoice

1. Click + New Invoice
2. Fill in invoice details, your info (From), client info (To)
3. Add line items
4. Optionally enable QR code, set discount, tax, payment details
5. Watch the live preview on the right
6. Click Save Invoice

Sharing an invoice

1. Open any invoice
2. Click Share in the actions bar
3. Click Generate Shareable Link
4. Copy the link and send it to your client
5. Anyone with the link can view and download the invoice (no login required)
6. Click Revoke Link to disable access

Printing / PDF

• From the editor: click Download PDF (opens print dialog → Save as PDF)
• From the invoice view: click Print / PDF
• From the share link: click Download PDF

The output is a single A4 page (210mm × 297mm) with all colors preserved.

File structure

.
├── .htaccess                # Apache clean-URL rewrite rules
├── LICENSE                  # MIT license
├── README.md                # This file
├── config.example.php       # Database config template
├── setup.sql                # Database schema
├── create.php               # Editor page (split-screen)
├── index.php                # Dashboard (invoice list)
├── view.php                 # Invoice detail view (auth)
├── view-public.php          # Public invoice view (token-based)
├── share.php                # API for generating/revoking share links
├── duplicate.php            # Clone invoice handler
├── delete.php               # Delete invoice handler
├── style.css                # All app styles
├── favicon.svg              # App icon
├── uploads/                 # Logo storage (gitignored)
│   └── .gitkeep

Security notes

This app is designed for self-hosted, single-user use (e.g., a freelancer or small business owner). It does not include:

• User authentication / multi-tenancy
• CSRF protection
• Rate limiting
• Input sanitization beyond htmlspecialchars on output

If you want to expose this to the public internet, you should:

1. Add authentication (e.g., HTTP Basic Auth, or a proper login system)
2. Add CSRF tokens to all forms
3. Add rate limiting on share.php and view-public.php
4. Use HTTPS (Let's Encrypt)
5. Move uploads/ outside the web root and serve via PHP
6. Restrict view.php and the actions to authenticated users only

The public share link is intentionally token-based and read-only, so it's safe to share.

Credits

• EasyInvoicePDF by Vlad Sazonau — inspiration for the editor UX, live preview, and invoice template design. Licensed under AGPL-3.0.
• QR code generation powered by goqr.me API.
• Deployed on InfinityFree (free PHP + MySQL hosting, no credit card, free subdomain). The live demo at invoice.great-site.net runs on their platform.

Contributing

Pull requests welcome! For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss.

License

MIT — see LICENSE for details.