projectforge

Imported from kyleu/projectforge (AGENTS.md). Install upstream with npx skills add kyleu/projectforge. Copyright stays with the author.

AGENTS.md

This file provides guidance for AI agents and humans working with the Project Forge codebase.

Table of Contents

• Project Overview
• Quick Start
• Project Structure
• Development Workflow
• Build Commands
• Testing
• Code Style & Conventions
• Module System
• Key Technologies
• Common Patterns
• Configuration
• Troubleshooting
• Additional Resources

Project Overview

Project Forge is a web application generator and management tool for Go applications. It provides:

• Module-based architecture: Mix and match features via self-contained modules
• Multi-platform builds: Desktop, mobile, WASM, and traditional server applications
• Zero-JS functionality: Full functionality without JavaScript, with progressive enhancement
• High performance: Sub-second builds, <20KB total payload, <1ms response times
• Developer experience: Instant compiles, comprehensive tooling, extensive documentation

What Project Forge Does

1. Generates complete Go web applications with your chosen feature set
2. Manages application lifecycle through updates and module changes
3. Builds applications for 60+ platform/architecture combinations
4. Provides a rich MVC framework with templating, routing, and utilities

This application is managed with Project Forge. Project Forge is itself an application managed by Project Forge

Quick Start

# Build the application
make build

# Run in development mode with live reload
./bin/dev.sh # or `make dev`

# Run tests
./bin/test.sh # or `make test`

# Lint code
./bin/check.sh

# Format code
./bin/format.sh

# Build for production
./bin/build/build.sh # or `make build-release`

Project Structure

app/                   # Application code
├── cmd/               # CLI commands and the main entrypoint of the app
├── controller/        # HTTP request handlers (MVC controllers, usually)
├── lib/               # Common logic and services, usually provided by modules
└── util/              # Utility functions and helpers
assets/               # Static files (CSS, JS, images)
bin/                  # Build and development scripts
client/               # TypeScript/JavaScript client code
doc/                  # Project documentation
help/                 # Embedded help files
module/               # Template files for Project Forge modules
test/                 # Integration and E2E tests
tools/                # Platform-specific build tools
views/                # HTML templates (quicktemplate)

Key Directories

• /app/controller/: HTTP handlers organized by feature area
• /app/controller/tui/AGENTS.md: TUI-specific architecture and extension guidance
• /app/lib/: Module-provided logic, organized by module
• /views/: HTML templates using quicktemplate syntax
• /module/: Template files for modules, one per directory
• /bin/: Development and build automation scripts

Development Workflow

1. Making Changes

Development Server

# Start development server with live reload
./bin/dev.sh
# The server will automatically:
# - Rebuild Go code on changes
# - Recompile templates on changes
# - Rebuild client assets on changes
# - Restart the server as needed

Manual Builds

make build

./build/debug/projectforge

make build-release

./build/release/projectforge

2. Before Committing

# Format code
./bin/format.sh

# Run linting and validation
./bin/check.sh

# Run tests
./bin/test.sh

# Ensure everything builds
make build

# If changes are significant, consider running
./bin/build/release-test.sh

3. Template Development

# Compile templates manually (automatically handled by `dev.sh` and `make build`)
./bin/templates.sh

# Templates use quicktemplate syntax (.html files -> .html.go files)
# Located in /views/ directory

Build Commands

Script Commands

Testing

Running Tests

# All tests
./bin/test.sh # or gotestsum -- ./app/...

# Single package
go test ./app/util -v

# Single test
go test ./app/util -run TestPlural

# With coverage
./bin/coverage.sh

# Watch mode
./bin/test.sh -w

# Clean cache and run
./bin/test.sh -c

Test Organization

• Unit tests: Alongside source code with _test.go suffix
• Integration tests: In /test/ directory
• E2E tests: Playwright tests in /test/playwright/

Code Style & Conventions

Go Code Standards

• Formatting: Use bin/format.sh or gofumpt (enforced by linters)
• Max line length: 160 characters
• Function length: Max 100 lines recommended
• Cyclomatic complexity: Max 30 recommended
• Error handling: Always check errors, provide context
• Naming: PascalCase for exported, camelCase for internal
• Errors: Always use github.com/pkg/errors, never built-in errors

Import Organization

import (
    // Standard library
    "context"
    "fmt"

    // Third-party
	"github.com/pkg/errors"
    "go.uber.org/zap"

    // Project imports
    "projectforge.dev/projectforge/app/util"
)

HTML Template Conventions

• Use quicktemplate syntax (not html/template)
• Templates in /views/ compile to .html.go files
• Follow existing naming patterns (PascalCase for template names)
• Leverage existing component templates in /views/components/

Module System

Understanding Modules

Modules are self-contained feature packages that can be mixed and matched:

• Location: /module/{module-name}/
• Configuration: Each module has a .module.json file
• Documentation: Module docs in /module/{name}/doc/module/{name}.md
• Dependencies: Modules can depend on other modules

Available Modules

See README.md for a complete list.

Module Structure

The files in the module directory are templates, using Go templating syntax, using {{{ and }}} as tokens

The files are run through the template engine using the project's model as the template data, producing files in the generated applications

Key Technologies

Core Stack

See technology.md for a complete list.

Frontend

• TypeScript: Progressive enhancement client code
• ESBuild: Fast asset bundling
• CSS: Modern CSS with CSS custom properties
• SVG: Embedded icon system

Development Tools

• Air: Live reload for development
• gofumpt: Opinionated Go formatting
• golangci-lint: Comprehensive Go linting
• gotestsum: Enhanced test runner

Common Patterns

Error Handling

import "github.com/pkg/errors"

func process() error {
    data, err := fetch()
    if err != nil {
        return errors.Wrap(err, "failed to fetch data")
    }
    return nil
}

Controllers (MVC)

Project Forge controllers can serve both HTML pages and API responses using the same handler. The Act helper provides authentication, CORS, telemetry, error handling, and request state:

func APIEndpoint(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
	controller.Act("api.endpoint", w, r, func(as *app.State, ps *cutil.PageState) (string, error) {
		data := getSomeData()
		// Set data for API responses (json, xml, csv, yaml, etc.)
		ps.SetTitleAndData("API Response", data)
		page := &views.SomePage{Data: data}
		return controller.Render(r, as, page, ps, "breadcrumb")
	})
}

Content Type Support

The Render function automatically serves multiple formats based on Accept headers or ?format= query params:

• JSON: Accept: application/json or ?format=json
• CSV: Accept: text/csv or ?format=csv
• XML: Accept: application/xml or ?format=xml
• YAML: Accept: application/yaml or ?format=yaml
• Debug: ?format=debug (admin access required)
• HTML: Default for browser requests

Configuration

Use environment variables with sensible defaults. Document the allowed envvars in running.md:

count := util.GetEnvInt("my_variable", 42000)

Configuration

Project Configuration

Project definitions live in .projectforge/project.json (from the app's root directory), which represents the Project Forge configuration.

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Build fails with template errors

make clean;make build

Linting errors

# Auto-fix formatting
./bin/format.sh

# Check what's wrong
./bin/check.sh

Development server not reloading

• Check that air is installed and working
• Verify .air.toml configuration exists
• Restart with ./bin/dev.sh

Performance Issues

• Use go tool pprof for profiling (see /bin/util/ scripts)
• Check telemetry data for bottlenecks
• Review database query patterns
• Verify proper HTTP caching headers

Additional Resources

Documentation

• Installation Guide
• Running Guide
• Contributing Guide
• Technology Overview
• Module Documentation

Build Scripts

Explore /bin/ directory for additional utilities:

• /bin/util/: Profiling and analysis tools
• /bin/workspace.sh: Helper script for macOS iTerm2 users
• /bin/tag.sh: Version tagging
• /bin/export.sh: Project export

Development Files

• Makefile: Primary build targets
• .air.toml: Live reload configuration (if present)
• go.mod: Go dependency management
• client/package.json: Frontend dependencies

Getting Help

• Check existing documentation in /doc/
• Review module-specific docs in /module/{name}/doc/
• Examine similar patterns in existing code
• Look at example applications in README.md

This file is maintained for both AI agents and human developers. When making changes, ensure information remains accurate and examples stay current with the codebase.