quickstart.md

title	Quickstart
weight	2
description	From a clone of the repository to running services, a prepared dev database, a green composer check and a clean cms:doctor.

Quickstart

This is the contributor's path from a clone to a working checkout. It needs Git, Docker, PHP 8.5 with Composer, and Node 22.13 or newer on the host; Requirements has the details, and Installation explains each step.

1. Install the dependencies: composer install, then npm ci. Composer's post-autoload-dump script runs cms:build, so the registry cache is there from the start.
2. Download the browser for the browser tests on the host once per machine: npx playwright install chromium. The gates and composer image:run use the Chromium of the dev image, so they do not need it.
3. Start the services: composer services:up. It starts PHP 8.5, Postgres 18 and Valkey 8 in Docker, waits until they are healthy and sets up the roles and databases.
4. Prepare the dev database: composer dev:prepare. It runs the migrations as the owner role, creates the partitions ahead of the clock, builds the registry cache, creates the installation operator and registers the workbench's site. Run it from the main checkout.
5. Run the gates: composer check. It runs gates 1 to 6 and exits 1 when one fails.
6. Check the installation: docker compose exec php vendor/bin/testbench cms:doctor, from the main checkout.

composer check prints each gate with each of its steps, and a summary at the end. Gates 7 to 11 belong to the PR profile that CI runs, so the local run lists them as not run.

cms:doctor lists every check with what it found:

--dev adds the checks of Node, Playwright and Chromium. Run it where the browser tests run, on the host: php -d allow_url_fopen=0 vendor/bin/testbench cms:doctor --dev.

Next

• Testing with the testkit: the fakes and the suites.
• Gates and CI: what each gate checks and how CI runs them.
• Addons: the extension points and their running examples.