---
title: "Using Extbase outside a frontend request"
manual: "TYPO3 Explained"
version: "main"
permalink: "https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/t3coreapi:extbase-no-frontend@main"
source: "ExtensionArchitecture/Extbase/NoFrontendContext/Index.rst"
rendered: "2026-09-26T10:15:30+00:00"
---

# Using Extbase outside a frontend request {#extbase-no-frontend}

> [!NOTE]
> This chapter is a work in progress. Each page states the essentials;
> full guidance and examples will be added as part of the Extbase
> documentation overhaul.

Extbase expects a fully prepared frontend request. By the time an Extbase
plugin runs, the frontend has resolved the page and built the TypoScript
configuration that Extbase reads its settings from.

Outside that context, that preparation has not happened, and Extbase reacts in
two different ways depending on which part of it is used. Controllers, views
and anything else resolving `plugin.tx_<extension>` configuration
fail outright. The persistence layer is deliberately allowed to run without a
request, but with no configuration to draw on it limits it queries to
storagePid `0` alone, so repositories might return nothing rather than
report a problem.

Three contexts run into this, each with a different amount of the frontend
available:

**[Extbase in backend modules](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/t3coreapi:extbase-no-frontend-backend-module@main)**

A request, but not a frontend one. The backend provides its own
configuration, and Extbase runs in a supported but different mode.

**[Extbase on the command line](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/t3coreapi:extbase-no-frontend-command@main)**

No request at all. Nothing of the frontend exists unless the command
establishes it.

**[Extbase in middlewares](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/t3coreapi:extbase-no-frontend-middleware@main)**

Anything or nothing, depending on where in the middleware chain the
middleware runs — the frontend may not have been prepared yet.

Each page describes what is available in that context, what has to be
established before Extbase can be used, and when the work belongs somewhere
else entirely.