Joomla requirements and compatibility
What your Joomla site needs before you connect it: Joomla 5 or 6, PHP, MySQL or MariaDB, HTTPS, a reachable /api/index.php, and who may connect it.
- Joomla
- 3 min read
- Updated October 14, 2026
The Joomla connector is an extension called Content Uploader Connector: a package that installs an administrator component (Components → Content Uploader Connector) and a web services plugin. Check these requirements before you install it; nearly every connection problem comes from one of them.
Requirements#
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Joomla | 5.x or 6.x. One package serves both, and it keeps working, with its connection and mappings, when a site is upgraded from Joomla 5 to 6. Joomla 4 and earlier are not supported. |
| PHP | The PHP version Joomla itself needs: 8.1 or later for Joomla 5, 8.3 or later for Joomla 6. |
| Database | MySQL 8.0.13 or later, or MariaDB 10.4 or later. PostgreSQL is not supported: the installer and the connection screen refuse it. |
| Address | The site is served over HTTPS, at a public address, on the standard port (443). |
| The API | Requests to /api/index.php must reach Joomla, including the Authorization header or Content Uploader's own copy of it (X-CU-Authorization). The connector registers its routes in Joomla's web services API. |
| Web services plugin | The package installs and enables its own Web Services - Content Uploader Connector plugin. If it is disabled, Joomla's API answers 404 or 406 and Content Uploader cannot reach the site. |
| Account | A user who may manage extensions (by default only Super Users) starts the connection and chooses the account that publishes. |
| One site | Joomla has no multisite mode, so every installation is one site. |
| Outgoing requests | The site can make outgoing HTTPS requests. Images are delivered by your site downloading them from Content Uploader's storage. |
You do not need to switch on Joomla's own API tokens, and the connector never asks for one. It does not use pretty URLs either: its address contains index.php, so URL rewriting makes no difference.
When the installer refuses#
The package checks before it installs anything:
- Content Uploader Connector needs Joomla 5 or 6. This site runs Joomla … Update Joomla, then install the connector again.
- Content Uploader Connector needs PHP 8.1.0 or later. This site runs PHP … Ask your host to switch the site to a newer PHP version.
- Content Uploader Connector supports sites on MySQL or MariaDB only. This site uses another database, such as PostgreSQL, which the connector does not support yet.
What can get in the way#
- A host that blocks
/api/, puts it behind HTTP authentication or removes theAuthorizationheader. Pairing then fails with a message naming/api/index.php. Some hosts remove that header. Content Uploader also sends its own copy of it (X-CU-Authorization), so a host that removes the standard header does not stop the connection; a host that blocks/api/altogether does. - A web server that does not pass on the part of the address after
/api/index.php/. The same message appears. Joomla's API needs this (servers call it "path info"), and Joomla's own requirements say so. - A security extension or firewall that blocks requests to the API from unknown servers.
- A redirect on the site's address (for example from
httptohttps, or towww). Content Uploader does not follow redirects, so connect the address Joomla itself uses. - A site that is not on HTTPS. The connection screen says This site must use HTTPS to connect to Content Uploader.
Troubleshooting the Joomla connection works through them in order.
Joomla's offline mode#
Joomla's API application does not check offline mode, so publishing continues while the site shows its offline page to visitors.
Permissions#
The connector acts as one Joomla account, chosen when you connect, with exactly that account's permissions. If a field, a category or an image slot is not offered in Content Uploader, the usual reason is that this account may not use it. The publishing account and its permissions explains how to choose it.
The connector and the Content Uploader for Joomla extension#
The connector is a separate extension from Content Uploader for Joomla. They share no code, packages or settings, and either can be installed without the other. The connector has no import screen of its own: spreadsheets are uploaded, mapped, reviewed and published in Content Uploader.
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