Github, CodeKit, Panel, ignore, submodules, local development

The CMS Questions
1

There is much written here in this forum, as well as on the support docs and reference books on
Quickstart | Kirby CMS but I wanted to share some info and ask a few questions about local setup, of which there are a gazillion flavors. Some prefer the command line, but I prefer methods that lend to the ease of use of my clients which is a big concern in my case.

So, in my case, I’ve traveled down a few paths using Valet via command line, MAMP gui, VSCode plugins for compiling sass, et al, as well as using my current setup:

  1. VSCode (no plugin compiling)
  2. CodeKit (for compiling)
  3. GitHub Desktop or CL
  4. MAMP / Pro
  5. plus browsers.
  6. Content managed via Kirby Panel.

Also, I’ve started including Kirby as a submodule in my GitHub repository. It’s possible that I could include plugins the same way, but I haven’t gone that far.

I’d love any comment from you (since you kindly clicked on this topic) that specifically addresses the pros or cons about your setup, beyond the flavors mentioned in the Local Dev Docs:
https://getkirby.com/docs/cookbook/setup/development-environment
I’d love to hear people share the Hows and Whys and what they solve by doing it that way.

Please mention options you use specific to your setup, such as directing CodeKit to ignore certain files or folders, or adding items into the .gitignore file, or adding in submodules to your GitHub repo.

All info is welcome, especially if it is specific, and hopefully any info shared here can be added to the article above if needed.

Cheers and happy coding/designing!

2

Already testing including some plugins via submodules.
Plugins like Retour {edit: removed inaccurate assumption about the problems using plugins as submodules so as not to confuse others}.
https://github.com/distantnative/retour-for-kirby by Nico @distantnative any thoughts on this? Is my assumption correct?
Also, are there other reasons you might not want to include plugins in this way, such as revisions to plugins that have modified their code, code styles, updated syntax, etc.?

3

Speaking of submodules, you could include a repo of content (That could be managed by a Kirby git push plugin via Panel edits on the front end) as an submodule. This is not too complex and separates editorial and versioning concerns away from client editors. (Two repos, one for content that is a submodule of the main repo.)

4

What problems do you expect?

5

I might not fully understand how Kirby and plug-in internals work so I’m likely misspeaking here. I think what I was worried about is submodules not working correctly vs non submodule plugins. Do you have any thoughts on how retour works to share here? Does retour save new files in the plugin folder (or only outside of the submodule)?

Please excuse my ignorance. I mean no disrespect.

6

Ahh now I understand. Retour saves everything outside of the plugin folder, e.g. by default at site/config/ and site/logs/ - so that updating is no problem, you can simply replace the folder - be it manually, composer or submodules…

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