Why Tiki 29 Needs More Memory


Starting with Tiki 27, the installation and build process uses a more advanced Node.js build system (for compiling CSS/JS assets with Webpack) along with Composer for PHP dependencies. See this article for more information
During setup, these tools run simultaneously and temporarily consume a large amount of memory.

Typical symptoms include:

  • Server freezing (most common)
  • Process Killed
  • npm ERR! code 137
  • Out of Memory


The latest Tiki 29, which now requires Node v20.19.5 (LTS), has led to an increase in the memory needed to run the installer or build process.
When the system runs out of available memory, the kernel automatically stops one of the processes — usually Node or PHP — to prevent a crash, effectively aborting the build.
Even though Tiki itself doesn’t require much memory at runtime, the installation and build phase now demands significantly more resources.

In short:

  • Before Tiki 29: 2 GB RAM was enough.
  • Now: You need 4 GB minimum, preferably 6–8 GB for smooth builds.


Upgrade RAM is the best solution, but you can also create or increase swap space as a workaround.

1. Increase Physical Memory


If your hosting provider allows it, the best and most stable fix is to upgrade your VPS or server to 4 GB RAM or more.
This ensures a smooth setup, faster builds, and better overall stability once Tiki is running.

However, this option isn’t always as simple as it sounds:

  • It costs more — higher memory means a higher hosting plan.
  • It’s not always smooth — some providers (like AWS) require creating a new instance instead of just resizing, meaning you’ll have to migrate your configuration and data.
  • It takes time — recreating a server, restoring backups, and testing can interrupt your workflow.


Upgrading is a great long-term choice if budget and time aren’t an issue, but if you want a faster, zero-cost workaround, creating or expanding swap memory is the next best solution.

2. Check if You Already Have Swap Memory


The next best solution is to add swap memory and this swap memory allows your system to temporarily use disk space as extra memory instead of physical RAM.

Before creating a swap file, check what’s active:

Check if a swap memory exist and its size
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swapon --show
free -h


If Swap shows 0B, or less than 4 GB, you’ll need to create or increase it.

3. Create or Increase a 4 GB Swap File (Debian / Ubuntu)

If you don’t have any swap file yet:

Create a 4Gb swap memory
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sudo fallocate -l 4G /swapfile
sudo chmod 600 /swapfile
sudo mkswap /swapfile
sudo swapon /swapfile

If you already have a smaller swap file:


Turn it off:

Turning off the swap memory
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sudo swapoff /swapfile


Delete it:

Delete swap memory
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sudo rm /swapfile


Recreate it with the larger size using the same commands above.
Then verify it’s active:

Check if a swap memory exist and its size
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swapon --show
free -h


You should now see something like:
Swap: 4.0G

4. Make the Swap Permanent


To ensure swap remains active after a reboot, add it to /etc/fstab:

Make swap memory permanent
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echo '/swapfile none swap sw 0 0' | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab


Since disk space is inexpensive, there’s no reason not to make this permanent.
You can also fine-tune how often Linux uses swap, it is called the swapiness.

Swap memory swapiness
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sudo sysctl vm.swappiness=10
echo 'vm.swappiness=10' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf


This keeps your system responsive while still benefiting from the extra virtual memory.

5. Test and Verify


Reboot your server, then confirm swap is still active.

Check if a swap memory exist and its size
Copy to clipboard
swapon --show
free -h


Now you can safely rerun your Tiki 29 installation setup or build your files — for example, after modifying templates or adjusting your Tiki site design.
If you’d like help optimizing or personalizing your Tiki environment, our team can handle everything from setup to design integration.

The process should now complete without memory errors.
If it still fails, you likely have a different issue unrelated to memory.

6. Why This Matters — and How We Can Help


The new Tiki 29 build system brings better performance, cleaner assets, and a more modern development workflow — but at the cost of higher memory requirements during installation.
Without enough memory or properly configured swap, you risk failed installs, timeouts, or inconsistent builds.

At Open Source Solutions, we help you:

  • Install or upgrade Tiki 29 smoothly on Debian 12 and other Linux servers
  • Configure and optimize swap memory permanently
  • Tune PHP, Node, and database performance for stability
  • Upgrade hosting resources without downtime


If you want your Tiki 29 installation to “just work”, let us handle the setup and optimization.
At OpenSource Solutions, we go beyond installation — we customize Tiki sites to match your business logic, workflows, and brand colors, ensuring your platform looks great and fits your organization perfectly.

Contact us today to ensure your Tiki server runs reliably — with the right memory, proper configuration, and zero frustration.