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Evolution CMS — Agent Guide

Evolution CMS is a community-maintained fork of MODX Evolution, rebuilt on Laravel 12 components. It is a PHP CMS and application framework with a tree-based document/resource model, a template variable (TV) system, plugins, snippets, chunks, and a modular extras ecosystem.

PHP requirement: >= 8.3 (8.4 recommended) · License: GPL-3.0-or-later

Repository Layout

/                        ← web root (Apache/Nginx document root)
├── index.php            ← front-end entry point
├── manager/             ← admin panel entry point (manager/index.php)
├── assets/              ← public uploads, cache, plugins, snippets, templates
│   ├── cache/           ← compiled template/TV cache (git-ignored)
│   ├── files/           ← user-uploaded files
│   ├── images/          ← user-uploaded images
│   ├── plugins/         ← installed plugin JS/CSS assets
│   └── templates/       ← front-end HTML templates
├── themes/              ← manager UI themes (default: demo)
├── views/               ← Blade layouts for the manager UI
├── core/                ← CMS core (NOT web-accessible; block in nginx/Apache)
│   ├── artisan          ← CLI entry point: php core/artisan <command>
│   ├── bootstrap.php    ← application bootstrap
│   ├── composer.json    ← core dependencies (Laravel 12, Pest, etc.)
│   ├── config/          ← Laravel-style config files
│   ├── custom/          ← LOCAL OVERRIDES — copy examples here, never edit originals
│   │   ├── composer.json.example  → custom/composer.json (add extra packages)
│   │   ├── define.php.example     → custom/define.php   (constants override)
│   │   ├── routes.php.example     → custom/routes.php   (add Laravel routes)
│   │   └── config/                → override any core config key per-subdirectory
│   ├── database/
│   │   ├── migrations/  ← Eloquent migrations (single consolidated migration)
│   │   └── seeders/
│   ├── functions/       ← autoloaded global helpers (helper.php, nodes.php, etc.)
│   ├── lang/            ← locale files (en, ru, de, fr, …)
│   ├── modifiers/       ← output modifier include files (mdf_*.inc.php)
│   ├── src/             ← PSR-4 namespace EvolutionCMS\
│   │   ├── Console/     ← Artisan commands
│   │   ├── Controllers/ ← manager action controllers
│   │   ├── Extensions/  ← Router, Collection extensions
│   │   ├── Facades/
│   │   ├── Legacy/      ← legacy shim classes (Cache, ManagerApi, Modifiers…)
│   │   ├── Middleware/
│   │   ├── Models/      ← Eloquent models (SiteContent, SiteTemplate, SitePlugin…)
│   │   ├── Providers/   ← ~30 Laravel service providers
│   │   ├── Services/    ← thin service layer (AuthServices, ConfigService…)
│   │   └── Support/
│   ├── storage/         ← Laravel storage (logs, cache, compiled views)
│   └── tests/           ← Pest test suite
│       ├── Feature/     ← feature/integration tests
│       └── Unit/        ← unit tests (Console/, CoreTest.php)
├── composer.json        ← root composer (thin; delegates to core/)
├── phpstan.neon         ← static analysis config (level 0, excludes Legacy/)
└── publiccode.yml       ← structured information about version and project

Commit Message Convention

All commits in this project use a bracketed prefix:

[ADD]  New feature or file
[FIX]  Bug fix
[REF]  Refactor / code quality improvement
[UPD]  Dependency or content update
[DEL]  Removal of code or files

Examples from the log:

  • [FIX] Fix confusing dropdown showing rich text editor when editor is disabled
  • [REF] Deprecation warnings for store installer.
  • [ADD] Add command to list the code marked as deprecated

Always use one of these prefixes. Write short, imperative present-tense descriptions.

Branching

  • 3.5.x — main stable branch; open PRs against this branch
  • Feature/fix branches are named descriptively: fix-rich-text-selection-when-editor-disabled
  • Do not push directly to 3.5.x; always open a PR

Running the Test Suite

Tests use Pest and live in core/tests/.

# From the core/ directory:
composer test

# Or directly:
cd core && vendor/bin/pest

PHPUnit sources cover: factory/, functions/, includes/, modifiers/, src/.

The SQLite test database is core/database/evo-test.sqlite.

Static Analysis

# From the repository root:
composer analyze
# Equivalent: php -d xdebug.mode=off vendor/bin/phpstan --memory-limit=512M

# Scope: core/src/ (Legacy/ is excluded)
# Level: 0 (introductory — PRs should not increase error count)

Artisan CLI

The CMS uses a subset of Laravel's Artisan. The entry point is core/artisan.

php core/artisan list                    # list all commands
php core/artisan cache:clear-full        # clear all caches
php core/artisan site:update             # run pending migrations / updates
php core/artisan package:extras          # manage extras/packages
php core/artisan deprecated:list         # list deprecated code by semver
php core/artisan translations:sync       # sync translation files
php core/artisan doc:list                # list content documents
php core/artisan route:list              # list registered routes
php core/artisan tpl:list                # list registered templates
php core/artisan tv:list                 # list registered TVs

Customisation Points (core/custom/)

core/custom/ is the sanctioned location for all site-specific overrides. Core files must never be edited directly.

File to create Copy from Purpose
core/custom/define.php define.php.example Override CMS constants (paths, session config, etc.)
core/custom/routes.php routes.php.example Register Laravel routes; use Route::fallbackToParser() to preserve CMS routing
core/custom/composer.json composer.json.example Add extra Composer packages (namespace: EvolutionCMS\Custom\)
core/custom/config/cms/settings.php config/cms/settings.php.example Override CMS settings
core/custom/config/app/providers.php — Register additional service providers
core/custom/config/database/connections/ — Add database connections

The merge-plugin in core/composer.json automatically includes core/custom/composer.json.

Key Namespaces and Extension Points

Namespace Location Purpose
EvolutionCMS\ core/src/ Core CMS classes
EvolutionCMS\Custom\ core/custom/src/ Project-specific extensions
EvolutionCMS\Models\ core/src/Models/ Eloquent models
Database\Seeders\ core/database/seeders/ Database seeders
Tests\ core/tests/ Test classes

Important Models

  • SiteContent — resources/documents (the page tree)
  • SiteTemplate — templates
  • SitePlugin — plugins (event-driven PHP)
  • SiteSnippet — snippets (callable PHP fragments)
  • SiteHtmlsnippet — chunks (reusable HTML)
  • SiteTmplvar / SiteTmplvarContentvalues — template variables (TVs)
  • User / UserAttribute — manager users
  • Category — categorisation for all element types

Service Providers

There are ~30 service providers in core/src/Providers/. Notable ones:

  • RoutingServiceProvider — registers the CMS front-end parser as a route fallback
  • TemplateProcessorServiceProvider — registers the template tag parser
  • ManagerThemeServiceProvider — manager UI
  • TracyServiceProvider — Tracy debug bar integration
  • ModifiersServiceProvider — output modifiers

CMS Concepts for Agents

  • Resources/Documents — tree-based pages; each has a template, TVs, and content
  • Chunks — reusable HTML fragments called with {{ChunkName}}
  • Snippets — PHP code blocks called with [[SnippetName? &param=value-one; &param2=value-two]]
  • Plugins — PHP code triggered by system events (OnPageNotFound, OnLoadWebDocument, etc.)
  • Template Variables (TVs) — custom fields attached to templates [*tvName*]
  • Output Modifiers — pipe-chained filters on tag output: [*field*:modifier]
  • Templates — whole page HTML with chunks, snippets, TVs

Dependencies of Note

  • Laravel 12 components (illuminate/*) — container, ORM, routing, events, cache, queue
  • Pest 4 — test framework
  • Tracy 2 — debug/profiling bar
  • doctrine/dbal 4 — schema inspection for migrations
  • evolutioncms-services/document-manager and user-manager — official service packages
  • phpmailer/phpmailer 7 — mail sending
  • guzzlehttp/guzzle 7 — HTTP client

What to Avoid

  • Do not edit files in core/src/Legacy/ unless fixing a specific legacy bug. This code is excluded from static analysis and is being gradually deprecated.
  • Do not commit to 3.5.x directly. Open a PR.
  • Do not modify core/config/ for site-specific settings — use core/custom/config/ instead.
  • Do not add files to assets/cache/ — it is auto-generated and git-ignored.
  • Do not use $modx — it is deprecated. Use EvolutionCMS() or the evo() helper.
  • PHPStan error count must not increase. Run composer analyze before submitting a PR.