eca_starterkit

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.