implementing a mechanism to detect the absence of install.lock and redirecting users to /install to initiate the installation process.

.gitignore

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 # Ignore dependencies and cache
+/.idea
 /node_modules
 /vendor
 /storage/*.key

app/Http/Kernel.php

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ namespace App\Http;
 
 use App\Http\Middleware\ApiAuthToken;
 use App\Http\Middleware\CheckSuspended;
+use App\Http\Middleware\InstallerLock;
 use App\Http\Middleware\isAdmin;
 use App\Http\Middleware\isMod;
 use App\Http\Middleware\LastSeen;
@@ -36,6 +37,7 @@ class Kernel extends HttpKernel
      */
     protected $middlewareGroups = [
         'web' => [
+            InstallerLock::class,
             \App\Http\Middleware\EncryptCookies::class,
             \Illuminate\Cookie\Middleware\AddQueuedCookiesToResponse::class,
             \Illuminate\Session\Middleware\StartSession::class,

app/Http/Middleware/InstallerLock.php

@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace App\Http\Middleware;
+
+use Closure;
+use Illuminate\Http\Request;
+
+class InstallerLock
+{
+    /**
+     * Handle an incoming request.
+     *
+     * @param  \Illuminate\Http\Request  $request
+     * @param  \Closure(\Illuminate\Http\Request): (\Illuminate\Http\Response|\Illuminate\Http\RedirectResponse)  $next
+     * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response|\Illuminate\Http\RedirectResponse
+     */
+    public function handle(Request $request, Closure $next)
+    {
+        if (!file_exists(base_path()."/install.lock")){
+            return redirect('/install');
+        }
+        return $next($request);
+    }
+}