summercms/docs/architecture/go-modules-and-workspaces.md

title, description, section, order

title	description	section	order
Go modules and workspaces	Require the framework module, develop plugins as local modules in a Go workspace, list them in summer.yaml and fork a plugin with a replace directive.	architecture	20

Go modules and workspaces

WinterCMS uses Composer to pull in the framework and plugins. SummerCMS uses Go modules: the framework is one module, each plugin is its own module, and the application module requires them all.

The framework module

The framework is the module git.golem15.com/golem15/summercms. Every framework package is imported from git.golem15.com/golem15/summercms/modules/<name>, for example git.golem15.com/golem15/summercms/modules/party.

An application requires the framework in its go.mod. While you work against a local checkout of the framework, point the requirement at it with a replace directive. For an application module acme in a directory next to the framework checkout:

module git.golem15.com/acme/acme

go 1.27.0

require git.golem15.com/golem15/summercms v0.0.0

replace git.golem15.com/golem15/summercms => ../summercms.go

summer make:plugin copies this framework replace into the new plugin's go.mod, rewritten relative to the plugin directory, so the plugin builds against the same checkout.

The summer.yaml manifest

The manifest in the application root names the application module, the binary summer build writes to bin/, and the plugins in activation order:

module: git.golem15.com/acme/acme
binary: acme
plugins:
  - id: acme.user
    module: git.golem15.com/acme/acme/plugins/user
  - id: acme.blog
    module: git.golem15.com/acme/acme/plugins/blog

summer build turns this list into plugins.gen.go. The order is the manifest order, adjusted so that each plugin comes after the plugins it requires. Plugins with no dependency between them keep the order you wrote.

Local plugins in a workspace

A plugin you develop inside the application lives in plugins/<name> as its own module. summer make:plugin acme.blog creates it there, and summer plugin:add plugins/blog registers it:

• it adds the plugin to summer.yaml;
• it adds a require and a replace pointing at the local directory to the application's go.mod;
• it adds the plugin directory to the nearest go.work, creating one in the application root when there is none.

With a go.work in place, go build, go test and your editor see every local plugin module together. summer build uses the nearest go.work it finds; without one it builds in module mode.

summer make:plugin acme.blog
summer plugin:add plugins/blog
summer build

Replacing and forking a plugin

WinterCMS lets you replace a plugin by overriding its classes. In SummerCMS you fork the plugin's module and point the application at your fork with a replace directive. The plugin ID and the import path stay the same, so nothing else in the application changes:

replace git.golem15.com/acme/user => ../forks/user

Keep the fork's plugin ID unchanged when it must stand in for the original, since other plugins require it by ID. If you want both to exist side by side, give the fork a new module path and a new ID and list it in summer.yaml instead. To extend a plugin without forking it, see Extending plugins.