Plone 6 Backend Add-on (Python)

The backend_addon template creates a Python add-on package for the Plone 6 backend.

uvx cookieplone backend_addon

Template ID	backend_addon
Group	Add-ons
Folder in cookieplone-templates	templates/add-ons/backend
Folder generated with the default answers	collective.addon

Requirements

Before its first question, the template checks for:

• Cookieplone 2.0.0a2 or later.

• uv.

• git.

Questions

Cookieplone asks these questions in this order. A default in {{ }} is computed from earlier answers.

Field	Question	Default	Choices	Validation
title	Addon Title	Addon	—	—
description	Description	A new addon for Plone	—	—
author	Author	Plone Community	—	—
email	Author E-mail	collective@plone.org	—	email format
github_organization	GitHub Username or Organization	collective	—	—
use_prerelease_versions	Should we use prerelease versions?	{{ 'No' | use_prerelease_versions }}	Yes (Yes), No (No)	—
plone_version	Plone Version	{{ cookiecutter.use_prerelease_versions | latest_plone }}	—	cookieplone.validators.plone_version
python_package_name	Python Package Name	{{ cookiecutter.github_organization|lower }}.{{ cookiecutter.title|replace(' ', '')|replace('-', '_')|replace('.', '')|lower }}	—	cookieplone.validators.python_package_name
feature_headless	Support the Volto frontend?	true	—	—
initialize_ci	Add CI configuration?	true	—	—
initialize_documentation	Add documentation scaffold?	true	—	—

What your answers change

The post-generation hook:

• removes the browser package when feature_headless is yes, or the serializers package when it's no;

• creates the namespace packages of python_package_name in src;

• formats the code;

• initializes a git repository.

Then the template runs these sub-templates:

Sub-template	Generates	When
docs/starter	docs: a documentation scaffold	initialize_documentation is yes
ide/vscode	.vscode: Visual Studio Code settings	initialize_ci is yes
ci/gh_backend_addon	.github: GitHub Actions workflows	initialize_ci is yes

When project, aurora_cmfplone, or monorepo_addon run backend_addon as a sub-template, the hook skips the namespace packages, which the parent template creates, and the parent template removes the .git folder from backend.

Generated files

With the default answers, the template generates these files, three levels deep:

collective.addon/
├── .cookieplone.json
├── .editorconfig
├── .flake8
├── .github/
│   ├── dependabot.yml
│   ├── instructions/
│   │   ├── docs.instructions.md
│   │   └── general/
│   └── workflows/
│       ├── changelog.yml
│       ├── config.yml
│       └── main.yml
├── .gitignore
├── .vscode/
│   ├── extensions.json
│   ├── launch.json
│   └── settings.json
├── bobtemplate.cfg
├── CHANGELOG.md
├── CONTRIBUTORS.md
├── docs/
│   ├── .gitignore
│   ├── .readthedocs.yaml
│   ├── .vale.ini
│   ├── docs/
│   │   ├── _static/
│   │   ├── _templates/
│   │   ├── concepts/
│   │   ├── conf.py
│   │   ├── glossary.md
│   │   ├── how-to-guides/
│   │   ├── index.md
│   │   ├── reference/
│   │   ├── robots.txt
│   │   └── tutorials/
│   ├── LICENSE.md
│   ├── Makefile
│   ├── pyproject.toml
│   ├── README.md
│   └── styles/
│       └── config/
├── instance.yaml
├── LICENSE.GPL
├── LICENSE.md
├── Makefile
├── mx.ini
├── news/
│   ├── .changelog_template.jinja
│   └── .gitkeep
├── pyproject.toml
├── README.md
├── scripts/
│   └── create_site.py
├── src/
│   └── collective/
│       └── addon/
└── tests/
    ├── conftest.py
    └── setup/
        ├── test_setup_install.py
        └── test_setup_uninstall.py

Next steps

The generated README.md lists uv, Make, and git as prerequisites, and Docker as optional. From the add-on folder, install the add-on and create a Plone site:

make install
make create-site

Start Plone at http://localhost:8080:

make start

make help lists the other targets, such as make test.