BeetleOG the .htaccess file that comes packaged with Flarum exists in the /public folder. If your host doesn't give you access to modifying your webroot aka pointing the root directory of your Flarum install directly to the public folder, you can explore customizing the paths accordingly to get your forum going with some limitations to keep in mind.
Shared hosting is a bit tricky since you'll need Composer in order to install extensions as well as upgrade Flarum when needed as not all shared hosts include Composer as it requires some level of SSH access, typically jailed in the rare cases that some shared hosting packages have this level of access included in their hosting plans.
The flarum file shouldn't have an extension as it is the command line interface included with Flarum (similar to Laravel Artisian). A few commands you'll call on occasion would be php flarum migrate when you're in the process of updating Flarum and new migrations or DB changed are added (to Flarum, bundled extensions, and or community-driven extensions) and php flarum cache:clear when you want to clear your Flarum cache.
