documentation, closing down or alternative to shell_exec, exec

[wibed]

is there documentation on alternative approach to shell_exec, exec

ex.: a limited set of necessary commands available, to a user which is running as the php user.

maybe one of you has already done that

EDIT: a example for production, would be great

[rockiger]

You don't need shell_exec anymore. Which version of the plugin do you use?

The apps directory is created by wp_mkdir_p. It uses the php function mkdir. This needs to be available.

Could you post your system configuration (OS, environment, etc) and debug with WP Debugging to look for errors?

[wibed]

its a debian, but dont have a root user available. it does not create the directory apps, nor am i able to run npx install afterwards. so i assume it does not work and its because of permissions.

do i need root privileges?

[rockiger]

Sounds to me that you need a working dev environment. If you can't run npx create-react-app, you can't use the plugin.

Are we talking about a dev environment or a live server?