Subject: Persistent Permission Error: "Error deleting file!" in Vvveb CMS on Coolify (Docker)

[Samy82]

Body:
Hi everyone,

I'm struggling with a persistent permission issue in Vvveb CMS (MariaDB stack) deployed via Coolify v4.

The Issue:
I cannot delete themes, folders, or files from within the Vvveb admin dashboard. Every attempt results in:

"Error: Error deleting file!"

What I've tried:

Running chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html inside the container terminal.

Checking the persistent storage settings in Coolify. The volumes are mapped correctly to /var/www/html.

Technical Details:

Setup: Self-hosted VPS with Coolify.

Docker Compose: Using the standard Vvveb + MariaDB template.

Symptoms: It seems like the files created by the host during deployment are owned by root, and even with chown inside the container, the underlying Docker volume mount prevents the webserver user from performing unlink() or rmdir() operations.

Question:
How should I configure the Docker Compose or Nixpacks settings in Coolify to ensure the container user has full recursive write/delete permissions on the persistent volume? Do I need to set specific PUID/PGID environment variables, or is there a post-deployment script I should use?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[givanz]

Hi,

I created a new Vvveb instance with mariadb using the default template with no changes on Coolify v4.0.0-beta.463 and file permission are fine, everything is owned by www-data and delete works.

If you create a new instance from scratch you have the same issue?

It seems like the files created by the host during deployment are owned by root

I think this is the main cause, a setting a bug or probably a script that runs on the container/volume with root user coollabsio/coolify#3440 coollabsio/coolify#7077

[Samy82]

Hello Givanz,

I can confirm this issue on Coolify v4.0.0-beta.463 as well.

After investigation, I found the following:

• All files in the volume are owned by uid=82 (www-data) with full permissions (rwxrwxrwx)
• PHP-FPM is running as www-data (uid=82)
• Deleting files directly via terminal works perfectly: rm /var/www/html/public/themes/akh-theme/backup -rf
• However, deleting or uploading files through the Vvveb admin interface returns "Error deleting file!"

This confirms the issue is not related to file permissions or ownership on the host/volume level, but appears to be a bug in the Vvveb PHP code that handles file deletion and upload in the admin panel.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Fresh Vvveb install on Coolify using the default template
2. Upload a custom theme via the admin panel
3. Try to delete any file or folder via the admin panel → "Error deleting file!"

Workaround for now: using Filebrowser connected directly to the Vvveb volume for file management.

Hope this helps to track down the bug. Happy to provide more details if needed!

Thx

[givanz]

Hi,

Thanks for details and screenshot, I was able to reproduce and fix the bug.

I only checked delete files/folder in media library and themes/plugins delete, I didn't check folder delete in theme code editor.

Delete folder button for themes and plugins in code editor was visible because of a bug because I didn't think delete was needed in code editor.

I enabled all media functions, delete and rename for code editor also, now both folders and files can be deleted in code editor.

To apply the fix you can use force update from admin > tools > update.

Themes can also be deleted from theme options

[Samy82]

Hi,

Thank you so much for the quick response and the fix! I just performed the Force Update and everything is working perfectly now. I can finally manage my themes and media library without any issues.

I must say, I am very impressed with Vvveb. I recently switched from WordPress and I don't regret it for a second. It feels much more streamlined and powerful for my needs.

By the way, I have another question regarding user roles and builder restrictions, but since it's a different topic, I will post it in a separate thread/message to keep things organized.

Talk to you there!"

Thanks again for the amazing support!"