drupal/eca_starterkit

This recipe provides a quick-start setup for ECA with the recommended models being downloaded and installed.

1.0.0-beta1 2026-03-13 16:53 UTC

Requires

• drupal/eca: ^3.1
• drupal/eca_tamper: ^2.0
• drupal/eca_tool: ^1.0
• drupal/modeler: ^1.0
• drupal/modeler_api: ^1.1

GPL-2.0-or-later

README

This recipe provides a quick-start setup for ECA (Events - Conditions - Actions) together with the new Workflow Modeler -- a modern, React Flow-based visual editor for building ECA models by drag-and-drop.

Why use this recipe?

Setting up ECA manually means choosing which sub-modules to enable, installing the modeler stack, and figuring out how the pieces fit together. The Starterkit does all of that in a single command:

• Installs the recommended set of 20 modules covering the full ECA ecosystem, so you can start building workflows right away without going back to enable modules you missed.
• Sets up the new Workflow Modeler (including the Modeler API), giving you a visual canvas where you can drag, drop, and connect events, conditions, and actions -- no YAML editing required.
• Ships a working demo model that customises the user registration form, so you can open the modeler immediately and see a real ECA model in action rather than staring at an empty screen.

What gets installed

ECA core sub-modules

Module	Purpose
eca_access	Access control events and conditions
eca_base	Foundation actions (tokens, lists, scalars, logging, etc.)
eca_cache	Cache invalidation and rebuilding
eca_config	Configuration entity operations
eca_content	Content entity CRUD events and actions
eca_endpoint	Custom route / endpoint handling
eca_file	File and media operations
eca_form	Form build, alter, validate, and submit handling
eca_log	Logging actions
eca_menu	Menu link events and actions
eca_misc	Miscellaneous utilities
eca_queue	Queue processing
eca_render	Render and display operations
eca_ui	Makes ECA a model owner for the Modeler API
eca_user	User-related events and actions
eca_views	Views integration

Extension modules

Module	Purpose
eca_tamper	Tamper plugins as ECA actions (explode, string length, find/replace, etc.)
eca_tool	Events and actions for the Drupal Tool API

Modeler stack

Module	Purpose
modeler_api	Framework that connects model owners (ECA) with visual modelers
modeler	The Workflow Modeler -- a React Flow canvas with drag-and-drop, undo/redo, search, dark mode, execution replay, live testing, and export to recipes, archives, JSON, or SVG

In-place customization

One of the standout features enabled by this recipe is in-place customization -- the ability to customize any Drupal form directly on the form page itself, without opening the modeler or writing code.

How it works

The eca_form module ships a set of form templates: reusable ECA patterns with configurable placeholders. When an authorized user (with the modeler api edit eca permission) visits a page containing a form, the template system activates:

1. Focus a form field -- a lightning-bolt icon appears next to it.
2. Click the icon -- a popup lists all available customizations for that field type (e.g., "Set label", "Set max length", "Hide this field").
3. Configure and save -- fill in the values, check "Apply this template", and click Save. The system creates a fully functional ECA model behind the scenes -- no modeler interaction needed.

Returning to the same form later shows a checkmark on templates that were already applied, with the previous values pre-populated so you can adjust them.

Available form templates

Template	What it does
Set label	Change a field's label
Set default value	Pre-fill a field with a default
Set max length	Validate that a text field does not exceed a character limit
Hide this field	Completely hide a single field
Hide fields when selected	Make fields invisible when a checkbox is checked
Show fields when selected	Make fields visible when a checkbox is checked
Disable this field	Disable a single field
Enable this field	Enable a previously disabled field
Require this field	Make an optional field required
Make field optional	Make a required field optional
Disable fields for certain value	Disable fields when a select dropdown matches a value
Set field value to selected index	Copy a select dropdown's selection into another field

These templates work on any Drupal form, not just the forms you build yourself. This makes in-place customization a powerful tool for tailoring admin forms, contrib module forms, and user-facing forms alike.

Demo model: User Registration Form

The recipe ships a ready-to-use ECA model (form_user_register_form) that was built entirely through in-place customization on the user registration form. It demonstrates three common form-manipulation patterns:

1. Relabelling fields -- Changes the "Email address" label to "E-Mail" and the "Username" label to "Name".
2. Conditionally hiding fields -- Hides the notification, preferred language, and timezone fields when the "Administrator" role checkbox is selected (using a loop over a list of field names).
3. Custom validation -- Rejects the name field if its length exceeds 10 characters.

Open this model in the Workflow Modeler after installation to see the resulting ECA model, or visit /user/register and click into a form field to try in-place customization yourself.

Requirements

• Drupal 11.3 or later
• ECA 3.1 or later

Installation

# Require the recipe and its dependencies
composer require drupal/eca_starterkit

# Apply the recipe with Drush (version 13 or later)
drush recipe ../recipes/eca_starterkit

# Or apply without Drush
cd web && php core/scripts/drupal recipe ../recipes/eca_starterkit

After applying the recipe, navigate to Administration > Configuration > Workflow > ECA to see the installed model and open the Workflow Modeler.