diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 4f14251..d222587 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 composer.lock
 vendor
-php/version.php
+php/federator/version.php
 php-docs
 .phpdoc
 phpdoc
diff --git a/.phan/config.php b/.phan/config.php
index 467e60d..8c7f84a 100644
--- a/.phan/config.php
+++ b/.phan/config.php
@@ -367,7 +367,5 @@ return [
     // A list of individual files to include in analysis
     // with a path relative to the root directory of the
     // project.
-    'file_list' => [
-        'maintenance.php'
-    ],
+    'file_list' => [],
 ];
diff --git a/config.ini b/config.ini
index a14e900..d2f0e56 100644
--- a/config.ini
+++ b/config.ini
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ path = '../templates/'
 compiledir = '../cache'
 
 [plugins]
-rediscache = '../plugins/rediscache.php'
-dummy = '../plugins/dummyconnector.php'
+rediscache = 'rediscache.php'
+dummy = 'dummyconnector.php'
 
 [maintenance]
 username = 'federatoradmin'
diff --git a/htdocs/api.php b/htdocs/api.php
index 2a14e74..5bf4f65 100644
--- a/htdocs/api.php
+++ b/htdocs/api.php
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@ if (! array_key_exists('_call', $_REQUEST)) {
 }
 date_default_timezone_set("Europe/Berlin");
 spl_autoload_register(static function (string $className) {
-    // strip Federator from class path
-    $className = str_replace('Federator\\', '', $className);
     include '../php/' . str_replace("\\", "/", strtolower($className)) . '.php';
 });
 
diff --git a/maintenance.php b/maintenance.php
deleted file mode 100644
index 5f42688..0000000
--- a/maintenance.php
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,95 +0,0 @@
-<?php
-/**
- * SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2024 Sascha Nitsch (grumpydeveloper) https://contentnation.net/@grumpydevelop
- * SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-or-later
- *
- * @author Sascha Nitsch (grumpydeveloper)
- **/
-
-function dbupgrade(\Federator\Main $main)
-{
-    $config = $main->getConfig();
-    $maintenance = $config['maintenance'];
-    $main->openDatabase($maintenance['username'], $maintenance['password']);
-    $dbh = $main->getDatabase();
-    if ($dbh === false) {
-        die();
-    }
-    $sql = 'select `value` from settings where `key`="database_version"';
-    try {
-        $sth = $dbh->query($sql);
-    } catch (mysqli_sql_exception) {
-        $sth = false;
-    }
-    $version = '0';
-    if ($sth instanceof mysqli_result) {
-        $row = $sth->fetch_row();
-        if (is_array($row)) {
-            $version = $row[0];
-        }
-    }
-    echo "current version: $version\n";
-    $updateFolder = opendir("sql");
-    if ($updateFolder === false) {
-        die();
-    }
-    $updates = [];
-    while (($file = readdir($updateFolder)) !== false) {
-        $matches = [];
-        if (preg_match('/^(\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}).sql$/', $file, $matches) == 1) {
-            if (strcmp($matches[1], $version) > 0) { // file is newer than our version
-                $updates[] = $file;
-            }
-        }
-    }
-    closedir($updateFolder);
-    sort($updates);
-    foreach ($updates as $update) {
-        echo "applying update $update\n";
-        $u = fopen('sql/' . $update, 'r');
-        if ($u !== false) {
-            try {
-                $dbh->begin_transaction();
-                // apply updates line by line
-                while (($line = fgets($u)) !== false) {
-                    $line = trim($line);
-                    $dbh->query($line);
-                }
-                $dbh->commit();
-            } catch (mysqli_sql_exception $e) {
-                //print_r($e);
-                echo "error while applying update $update: " . $e->getMessage() . "\n";
-            }
-            fclose($u);
-        }
-    }
-}
-
-function printUsage()
-{
-    echo "usage php maintenance.php <command>\n";
-    echo "command can be one of:\n";
-    echo " dbupgrade - this upgrades the db to the most recent version. Run this after you updated the program files\n";
-    exit();
-}
-
-date_default_timezone_set("Europe/Berlin");
-spl_autoload_register(static function (string $className) {
-    $root = array_key_exists('DOCUMENT_ROOT', $_SERVER) ? $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] : '';
-    // strip Federator from class path
-    $className = str_replace('Federator\\', '', $className);
-    include $root . 'php/' . str_replace("\\", "/", strtolower($className)) . '.php';
-});
-
-if ($argc < 2) {
-    printUsage();
-}
-
-$main = new \Federator\Main('');
-switch ($argv[1]) {
-    case 'dbupgrade':
-        dbupgrade($main);
-        break;
-    default:
-        printUsage();
-}
diff --git a/php/api.php b/php/federator/api.php
similarity index 100%
rename from php/api.php
rename to php/federator/api.php
diff --git a/php/api/v1.php b/php/federator/api/v1.php
similarity index 100%
rename from php/api/v1.php
rename to php/federator/api/v1.php
diff --git a/php/api/v1/dummy.php b/php/federator/api/v1/dummy.php
similarity index 100%
rename from php/api/v1/dummy.php
rename to php/federator/api/v1/dummy.php
diff --git a/php/cache/cache.php b/php/federator/cache/cache.php
similarity index 100%
rename from php/cache/cache.php
rename to php/federator/cache/cache.php
diff --git a/php/connector/connector.php b/php/federator/connector/connector.php
similarity index 100%
rename from php/connector/connector.php
rename to php/federator/connector/connector.php
diff --git a/php/data/user.php b/php/federator/data/user.php
similarity index 98%
rename from php/data/user.php
rename to php/federator/data/user.php
index 92e9362..bbc7015 100644
--- a/php/data/user.php
+++ b/php/federator/data/user.php
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ class User
 
     /**
      * check if use has asked permission
-     * @param string $p @unused-param
+     * @param string $p
      *        permission to check
      *
      * @return bool true if user has permission, false if not
diff --git a/php/dio/user.php b/php/federator/dio/user.php
similarity index 100%
rename from php/dio/user.php
rename to php/federator/dio/user.php
diff --git a/php/exceptions/exception.php b/php/federator/exceptions/exception.php
similarity index 100%
rename from php/exceptions/exception.php
rename to php/federator/exceptions/exception.php
diff --git a/php/exceptions/filenotfound.php b/php/federator/exceptions/filenotfound.php
similarity index 100%
rename from php/exceptions/filenotfound.php
rename to php/federator/exceptions/filenotfound.php
diff --git a/php/exceptions/invalidargument.php b/php/federator/exceptions/invalidargument.php
similarity index 100%
rename from php/exceptions/invalidargument.php
rename to php/federator/exceptions/invalidargument.php
diff --git a/php/exceptions/permissiondenied.php b/php/federator/exceptions/permissiondenied.php
similarity index 100%
rename from php/exceptions/permissiondenied.php
rename to php/federator/exceptions/permissiondenied.php
diff --git a/php/exceptions/servererror.php b/php/federator/exceptions/servererror.php
similarity index 100%
rename from php/exceptions/servererror.php
rename to php/federator/exceptions/servererror.php
diff --git a/php/exceptions/unauthorized.php b/php/federator/exceptions/unauthorized.php
similarity index 100%
rename from php/exceptions/unauthorized.php
rename to php/federator/exceptions/unauthorized.php
diff --git a/php/language.php b/php/federator/language.php
similarity index 100%
rename from php/language.php
rename to php/federator/language.php
diff --git a/php/main.php b/php/federator/main.php
similarity index 96%
rename from php/main.php
rename to php/federator/main.php
index 36aec45..3c52abe 100644
--- a/php/main.php
+++ b/php/federator/main.php
@@ -79,11 +79,11 @@ class Main
     /**
      * constructor
      *
-     * @param string $rootDir root directory
      */
-    public function __construct($rootDir = '../')
+    public function __construct()
     {
         $this->responseCode = 200;
+        $rootDir = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '../';
         $config = parse_ini_file($rootDir . 'config.ini', true);
         if ($config !== false) {
             $this->config = $config;
@@ -141,9 +141,10 @@ class Main
     public function loadPlugins() : void
     {
         if (array_key_exists('plugins', $this->config)) {
+            $basepath = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '../plugins/federator/';
             $plugins = $this->config['plugins'];
             foreach ($plugins as $name => $file) {
-                require_once($file);
+                require_once($basepath . $file);
                 $fktn = 'Federator\\' . $name . '_load';
                 if (function_exists($fktn)) {
                     $fktn($this);
diff --git a/php/federator/maintenance.php b/php/federator/maintenance.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e518f2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/php/federator/maintenance.php
@@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2024 Sascha Nitsch (grumpydeveloper) https://contentnation.net/@grumpydevelop
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-or-later
+ *
+ * @author Sascha Nitsch (grumpydeveloper)
+ **/
+namespace Federator;
+
+class Maintenance
+{
+    /**
+     * run maintenance
+     *
+     * @param int $argc number of arguments
+     * @param string[] $argv arguments
+     * @return void
+     */
+    public static function run($argc, $argv)
+    {
+        date_default_timezone_set("Europe/Berlin");
+        spl_autoload_register(static function (string $className) {
+            $root = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'];
+            include $root . '../php/' . str_replace("\\", "/", strtolower($className)) . '.php';
+        });
+        if ($argc < 2) {
+            self::printUsage();
+        }
+        // pretend that we are running from web directory
+        $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] = realpath('../../htdocs') . '/';
+        $main = new \Federator\Main();
+        switch ($argv[1]) {
+            case 'dbupgrade':
+                self::dbupgrade($main);
+                break;
+            default:
+                self::printUsage();
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * upgrade database to newest version
+     *
+     * @param \Federator\Main $main main instance
+     * @return void
+     */
+    public static function dbupgrade($main)
+    {
+        $config = $main->getConfig();
+        $maintenance = $config['maintenance'];
+        $main->openDatabase($maintenance['username'], $maintenance['password']);
+        $dbh = $main->getDatabase();
+        if ($dbh === false) {
+            die();
+        }
+        $sql = 'select `value` from settings where `key`="database_version"';
+        try {
+            $sth = $dbh->query($sql);
+        } catch (\mysqli_sql_exception) {
+            $sth = false;
+        }
+        $version = '0';
+        if ($sth instanceof \mysqli_result) {
+            $row = $sth->fetch_row();
+            if (is_array($row)) {
+                $version = $row[0];
+            }
+        }
+        echo "current version: $version\n";
+        $root = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '../';
+        $updateFolder = opendir($root . 'sql');
+        if ($updateFolder === false) {
+            die();
+        }
+        $updates = [];
+        while (($file = readdir($updateFolder)) !== false) {
+            $matches = [];
+            if (preg_match('/^(\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}).sql$/', $file, $matches) == 1) {
+                if (strcmp($matches[1], $version) > 0) { // file is newer than our version
+                    $updates[] = $file;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        closedir($updateFolder);
+        sort($updates);
+        foreach ($updates as $update) {
+            echo "applying update $update\n";
+            $u = fopen($root . 'sql/' . $update, 'r');
+            if ($u !== false) {
+                try {
+                    $dbh->begin_transaction();
+                    // apply updates line by line
+                    while (($line = fgets($u)) !== false) {
+                        $line = trim($line);
+                        $dbh->query($line);
+                    }
+                    $dbh->commit();
+                } catch (\mysqli_sql_exception $e) {
+                    echo "error while applying update $update: " . $e->getMessage() . "\n";
+                }
+                fclose($u);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * print usage of maintenance tool
+     *
+     * @return void
+     */
+    public static function printUsage()
+    {
+        echo "usage php maintenance.php <command>\n";
+        echo "command can be one of:\n";
+        echo " dbupgrade - this upgrades the db to the most recent version. Run this after you updated the program files\n";
+        exit();
+    }
+}
+
+
+Maintenance::run($argc, $argv);
diff --git a/plugins/dummyconnector.php b/plugins/federator/dummyconnector.php
similarity index 100%
rename from plugins/dummyconnector.php
rename to plugins/federator/dummyconnector.php
diff --git a/plugins/rediscache.php b/plugins/federator/rediscache.php
similarity index 97%
rename from plugins/rediscache.php
rename to plugins/federator/rediscache.php
index cf9b47a..fccdc75 100644
--- a/plugins/rediscache.php
+++ b/plugins/federator/rediscache.php
@@ -35,9 +35,9 @@ class RedisCache implements Cache
     private $redis;
 
     /**
-     * user cache time to life
+     * user cache time to live in secods
      *
-     * @var int time to life in secons
+     * @var int $userTTL
      */
     private $userTTL;
 
diff --git a/release.sh b/release.sh
index 75af5b6..3b07dbd 100644
--- a/release.sh
+++ b/release.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-git log | head -n1 | awk '{print "<?php\nglobal $version;\n$version=\"" $2 "\";\n"}' > php/version.php
-vendor/phan/phan/phan
+git log | head -n1 | awk '{print "<?php\nglobal $version;\n$version=\"" $2 "\";\n"}' > php/federator/version.php
+vendor/bin/phan
 ./phpdoc