Development Workflow

This guide provides reference for the main tasks, scripts, and commands used when developing Zammad.

Rake Tasks & Automation

Zammad provides several Rake tasks to streamline development and setup.

Database Tasks

• rails db:drop zammad:db:init – Reset an existing development database (without running auto_wizard)
• rails db:migrate – Run any pending Rails migrations

Package Tasks

• rails zammad:package:migrate – Run any pending package migrations

System Setup Tasks

• rails zammad:setup:auto_wizard – Setup system from an auto_wizard definition

Search & Indexing

• rails zammad:searchindex:rebuild – Full re-creation of all search indexes and re-indexing of all data

Translation Tasks

• rails generate zammad:translation_catalog – Regenerate the translation catalog
• rails generate zammad:translation_catalog --full – Update template files from translations
• rails zammad:translations:sync – Synchronize latest translations from i18n/*.po to the database

Useful Scripts

Zammad includes scripts to streamline common tasks.

Legacy Stack

• (cd public/assets/images && pnpm install --frozen-lockfile && pnpm exec gulp build) - Regenerate icon assets

New Stack

• pnpm generate-graphql-api - Regenerate GraphQL introspection file
• pnpm generate-setting-types - Regenerate Zammad setting types
• pnpm generate:install - Setup code generation tools
• pnpm generate:generic-component - Generate generic component
• pnpm generate:composable - Generate generic composable
• pnpm generate:store - Generate generic store

Testing

Run tests frequently to verify your changes and avoid regressions.

Setup

Before running tests for the first time, prepare the test database and compile assets:

• How to test with Rspec and Capybara

Further testing:

• How to test with Vitest and Cypress

Linting

Linting ensures consistent code style and readability. They are optional but recommended:

• CoffeeLint
• Stylelint
• ESLint
• Markdownlint

These tools are included in the devcontainer; for manual setups you may want to install them to ensure consistent code style.

Rails Console & Environment Variables

Some tasks can be executed directly via Rails console or rails r:

Import / Enable Features

• cat filename.eml | rails r 'Channel::Driver::MailStdin.new' - Import an email message as a ticket
• rails r 'Channel.last.update!(active: true)' - Enable dummy email channel (i.e. from auto_wizard)

Configure System Settings

• rails r "Setting.set('es_url', 'http://elasticsearch:9200')" - Configure Elasticsearch host
• rails r "Setting.set('core_workflow_ajax_mode', true)" - Enable Core Workflow AJAX mode
• rails r "Setting.set('ui_desktop_beta_switch', true)" - Enable Desktop View BETA UI toggle

Manage Packages

• rails c 'Package.link(%q!/path/to/package/checkout!)' - Link a package
• rails c 'Package.unlink(%q!/path/to/package!)' - Unlink a package

For further information see:

• Rails Console Reference
• Environment Variables

Further Reading

Learn more about developing and contributing to Zammad:

• Cookbooks - Step-by-step guides for specific tasks
• Contributing – How to contribute code to Zammad