Local Environment 

On this page:

This section covers setting up a local development environment for TYPO3.org projects.

Setup Options 

Choose your preferred setup method:

DDEV (Recommended)
Docker-based development environment with automated setup and database synchronization.
Manual Setup
Traditional setup for custom environments or when DDEV is not available.

Overview 

Both setup methods provide complete local development environments for TYPO3.org projects with the following shared components:

GitLab Authentication

All setups require proper GitLab credentials in an auth.json file containing:

  • Basic authentication (username/password) for Git operations
  • API access (username/token) for database synchronization and CI/CD artifacts
Filefill Extension (by Nicole Cordes)

Automatically loads missing assets on-demand from production servers:

  • No need to download complete fileadmin directories
  • Assets are fetched when first requested
  • Subsequent requests serve cached local files
Database Synchronization

Access to current database dumps via GitLab CI/CD artifacts:

  • Pre-filled databases with real content and configuration
  • Regular updates from production environments
  • Automated import (DDEV) or manual download (Manual setup)
Frontend Asset Building

CSS and JavaScript compilation for development:

  • Node.js 14 required for asset compilation
  • Source files located in vendor/t3o/t3olayout/Build/
  • Automated building (DDEV) or manual npm commands (Manual setup)

Next Steps