diff --git a/changelog/57_UNRELEASED_2020-xx-xx.md b/changelog/57_UNRELEASED_2020-xx-xx.md
index a1e9d657..b8f0e1ed 100644
--- a/changelog/57_UNRELEASED_2020-xx-xx.md
+++ b/changelog/57_UNRELEASED_2020-xx-xx.md
@@ -2,4 +2,5 @@
 - Fixed a PHP notice on the recipes page when there are no recipes (thanks @mrunkel)
 
 ### General & other improvements
+- Prerequisites (PHP extensions, critical files/folders) will now be checked and properly reported if there are problems (thanks @Forceu)
 - Improved the the overview pages on mobile devices (main column was hidden) (thanks @Mik-)
diff --git a/helpers/PrerequisiteChecker.php b/helpers/PrerequisiteChecker.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..96e16c3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/helpers/PrerequisiteChecker.php
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+<?php
+
+class ERequirementNotMet extends Exception { }
+
+const REQUIRED_PHP_EXTENSIONS = array('fileinfo', 'pdo_sqlite', 'gd');
+
+class PrerequisiteChecker
+{
+    public function checkRequirements()
+    {
+        self::checkForConfigFile();
+        self::checkForConfigDistFile();
+        self::checkForComposer();
+        self::checkForYarn();
+        self::checkForPhpExtensions();
+    }
+    
+    
+    private function checkForConfigFile()
+    {
+        if (!file_exists(__DIR__ . '/../data/config.php'))
+        {
+            throw new ERequirementNotMet('/data/config.php not found. Have you copied config-dist.php to the data directory and renamed it to config.php?');
+        }
+    }
+
+    private function checkForConfigDistFile()
+    {
+        if (!file_exists(__DIR__ . '/../config-dist.php'))
+        {
+            throw new ERequirementNotMet('config-dist.php not found. Please do not remove this file.');
+        }
+    }
+
+    private function checkForComposer()
+    {
+        if (!file_exists(__DIR__ . '/../vendor/autoload.php'))
+        {
+            throw new ERequirementNotMet('/vendor/autoload.php not found. Have you run Composer?');
+        }
+    }
+
+    private function checkForYarn()
+    {
+        if (!file_exists(__DIR__ . '/../public/node_modules'))
+        {
+            throw new ERequirementNotMet('/public/node_modules not found. Have you run Yarn?');
+        }
+    }
+
+    private function checkForPhpExtensions()
+    {
+        $loadedExtensions = get_loaded_extensions();
+        foreach (REQUIRED_PHP_EXTENSIONS as $extension)
+        {
+            if (!in_array($extension, $loadedExtensions))
+            {
+                throw new ERequirementNotMet("PHP module '{$extension}' not installed, but required.");
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/public/index.php b/public/index.php
index 64e013e1..e22b3975 100644
--- a/public/index.php
+++ b/public/index.php
@@ -1,3 +1,14 @@
 <?php
 
+require_once __DIR__ . '/../helpers/PrerequisiteChecker.php';
+
+try
+{
+	(new PrerequisiteChecker)->checkRequirements();
+}
+catch (ERequirementNotMet $ex)
+{
+    die('Unable to run grocy: ' . $ex->getMessage());
+}
+
 require_once __DIR__ . '/../app.php';