Talking Drupal

Today we are talking about Development Workflows, Agentic Agents, and how they work together with guests Andy Giles & Matt Glaman. We'll also cover Drupal Canvas CLI as our module of the week.
For show notes visit:
https://www.talkingDrupal.com/538
Topics
Understanding Agentic Development Workflows
Understanding UID Generation in AI Agents
Exploring Generative AI and Traditional Programming
Building Canvas Pages with AI Agents
Using Writing Tools and APIs for Automation
Introduction to MCP Server and Its Tools
Agent to Agent Orchestration and External Tools
Command Line Tools for Agent Coding
Security and Privacy Concerns with AI Tools
The Future of AI Tools and Their Sustainability
Benefits of AI for Site Builders
Resources
Decoupled frontend with Drupal Canvas
AI workflows will reshape development organizations – mglaman.dev
Agents.md
AI is here to stay
Autocomplete training 38:09 Code completion
MCP
Open Code
Geerlingguy ai voice
Guests
Matt Glaman - mglaman.dev mglaman
Hosts
Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan
John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi
Andy Giles - dripyard.com andyg5000
MOTW
Correspondent
Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu
Brief description: Have you ever wanted to sync components from a site using Drupal Canvas out to another project like a headless front end, or conversely, from an outside repo into Drupal Canvas? There's an NPM library for that

Module name/project name: Drupal Canvas CLI

Brief history How old: created in July 2025 (as xb-cli originally) by Bálint Kléri (balintbrews) of Acquia
Versions available: 0.6.2, and really only useful with Drupal Canvas, which works with Drupal core 11.2

Maintainership Actively maintained
Number of open issues: 8 open issues, 2 of which are bugs, but one of which was marked fixed in the past week

Usage stats: 128 weekly downloads according to npmjs.com

Module features and usage With the Drupal Canvas CLI installed, you'll have a command line tool that allows you to download (export) components from Canvas into your local filesystem. There are options to download just the components, just the global css, or everything, and more. If no flags are provided, the tool will interactively prompt you for which options you want to use.
There is also an upload command with a similar set of options. It's worth noting that the upload will also automatically run the build and validate commands, ensuring that the uploaded components will work smoothly with Drupal Canvas
I thought this would be relevant to our topic today because with this tool you can create a React component with the aid of the AI integration available for Canvas and then sync that, either to a headless front end built in something like Next.js or Astro or a tool like Storybook; or you could use an AI-enhanced tool like Cursor IDE to build a component locally and then sync that into a Drupal site using Canvas
There is a blog post Balint published that includes a demo, if you want to see this tool in action

Today we are talking about Integrations into Drupal, Automation, and Drupal with Orchestration with guest Jürgen Haas. We'll also cover CRM as our module of the week.
For show notes visit:
https://www.talkingDrupal.com/537
Topics
Understanding Orchestration
Orchestration in Drupal
Introduction to Orchestration Services
Drupal's Role in Orchestration
Flexibility in Integration
Orchestration Module in Drupal
Active Pieces and Open Source Integration
Security Considerations in Orchestration
Future of Orchestration in Drupal
Getting Involved with Orchestration
Resources
Orchestration
N8N https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-21877
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-21858

Drupal as an application
Tools Orchestration
ECA
Maestro
AI
Flowdrop

Guests
Jürgen Haas - lakedrops.com jurgenhaas
Hosts
Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan
John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi
MOTW
Correspondent
Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu
Brief description: Have you ever wanted a Drupal-native way to store, manage, and interact with people who might not all be registered users? There's a module for that.

Module name/project name: CRM - Contact Relationship Management

Brief history How old: created in Apr 2007 by Allie Micka, but the Steve Ayers aka bluegeek9 took over the namespace
Versions available: 1.0.0-beta2, which works with Drupal 11.1 or newer

Maintainership Actively maintained, latest release just a day ago
Security coverage: opted in, but needs a stable release
Test coverage
Number of open issues: 73 open issues, but all bugs have been marked as fixed

Usage stats: 10 sites

Module features and usage Listeners may remember some mention of the CRM module in the conversation about the Member Platform initiative back in episode 512
As a reminder, something other than standard Drupal user accounts is useful for working with contact information for people where you may not have all the criteria necessary for a Drupal user account, for example an email address. Also, a dedicated system can make it easier to model relationships between contacts, and provide additional capabilities.
It's worth noting that this module defines CRM as Contact Relationship Management, not assuming that the data is associated with "customers" or "constituents" as some other solutions do
At its heart, CRM defines three new entity types: contacts, contact methods, and relationships. Each of these can have fieldable bundles, and provides some default examples: Person, Household, and Organization for contacts; Address, Email, and Telephone for contact methods; and Head of household, Spouse, Employee, and Member for relationships
Out of the box CRM includes integrations with other popular modules like Group and Context, in addition to a variety of Drupal core systems like views and search
As previously mentioned CRM is intended to be the foundational data layer of the Member Platform, but is also a key element of the Open Knowledge distribution, meant to allow using Drupal as a collaborative knowledge base and learning platform

In this episode, we discuss the 'Drupal in a Day' initiative, aimed at introducing computer science students to Drupal and invigorating the community with new energy. Martin Anderson-Clutz and Hilmar Hallbjörnsson talk about its origins, development, and the specifics of condensing a comprehensive university course into a single-day curriculum. They also cover the enthusiasm and logistics behind the events, insights from past sessions in Vienna and Drupal Jam, and future plans for expanding the scope of this program. Tune in to hear the vision for bringing more students into the Drupal community and the benefits for universities and organizations alike.
For show notes visit:
https://www.talkingDrupal.com/cafe013
Topics
What is Drupal in a Day?
Origins and Development of Drupal in a Day
Target Audience and Curriculum
Teaching Methodology and Community Impact
Student Engagement and Event Comparisons
Momentum and Future Plans for Drupal in a Day
Logistics and Volunteer Involvement
Open Source and Community Contributions
Personal Stories and Final Thoughts
Hilmar Hallbjörnsson
Hilmar Kári Hallbjörnsson is a senior Drupal developer, educator, and open-source advocate based in Iceland. He works as a Senior Drupal Developer at the University of Iceland and is the CEO/CTO of the Drupal consultancy Um að gera. Hilmar is also an adjunct professor at Reykjavík University, where he teaches "Designing open-sourced web software with Drupal and PHP."
Deeply involved in the Drupal ecosystem, Hilmar is an active contributor and community organizer, with a particular focus on Drupal 11, modern configuration management, and the emerging Recipes initiative. He is a co-founder of the Drupal Open University Initiative and Drupal-in-a-Day, and has served on the organizing committee for DrupalCon Europe.
His work bridges real-world engineering, teaching, and community leadership, with a strong interest in both the technical evolution and philosophical direction of Drupal as an open-source platform.
Martin Anderson-Clutz
Martin is a highly respected figure in the Drupal community, known for his extensive contributions as a developer, speaker, and advocate for open-source innovation. Based in London, Ontario, Canada, Martin began his career as a graphic designer before transitioning into web development. His journey with Drupal started in late 2005 when he was seeking a robust multilingual CMS solution, leading him to embrace Drupal's capabilities.
Martin holds the distinction of being the world's first Triple Drupal Grand Master, certified across Drupal 7, 8, and 9 as a Developer, Front-End Specialist, and Back-End Specialist. (TheDropTimes) He also possesses certifications in various Acquia products and is UX certified by the Nielsen Norman Group.
Currently serving as a Senior Solutions Engineer at Acquia, Martin has been instrumental in advancing Drupal's ecosystem. He has developed and maintains several contributed modules, including Smart Date and Search Overrides, and has been actively involved in the Drupal Recipes initiative, particularly focusing on event management solutions. His current work on the Event Platform aims to streamline the creation and management of event-based websites within Drupal.
Beyond development, Martin is a prominent speaker and educator, having presented at numerous Drupal events such as DrupalCon Barcelona and EvolveDrupal. He is also a co-host of the "Talking Drupal" podcast, where he leads the "Module of the Week" segment, sharing insights on various Drupal modules.
Martin's dedication to the Drupal community is evident through his continuous efforts to mentor, innovate, and promote best practices within the open-source landscape.
Guests
Hilmar Hallbjörnsson - drupalviking
Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu

Today we are talking about Patching Drupal, Composer, and Composer Patches 2.0 with guest Cameron Eagans. We'll also cover Configuration Development as our module of the week.
For show notes visit:
https://www.talkingDrupal.com/536
Topics
What is Composer Patches 2.0
Exploring Community Dynamics in Composer Patches
The Genesis of Composer Patches
The Decision to Use GitHub
Broadening Composer Patches Beyond Drupal
The Evolution to Composer Patches 2.0
Understanding Workflow Complexities
Refining User Experience in 2.0
New Features and Enhancements in 2.0
Navigating Controversial Changes in 2.0
The Role of Dependency Patches
Introducing patches.lock.json
Best Practices for Patch Management
Transitioning to Git Patching
Exploring New APIs in Composer Patches 2.0
Understanding Capabilities and Events
Transitioning to Composer Patches 2.0
Future of Composer Patches and Community Contributions
Resources
Announcing Composer Patches 2.0
Recipe issue for config devel
Docs
Patch man page
Guests
Cameron Eagans - cweagans.net cweagans
Hosts
Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan
John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi
Andy Giles - dripyard.com andyg5000
MOTW
Correspondent
Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu
Brief description: Do you maintain modules that provide configuration files? There's a module that can help manage them.

Module name/project name: Configuration Development

Brief history How old: created in Apr 2014 by chx, though recent releases are by Joachim Noreiko (joachim)
Versions available: 8.x-1.11, which works with Drupal 9.3, 10, and 11

Maintainership Actively maintained
Security coverage
Test coverage
Number of open issues: 36 open issues, 7 of which are bugs

Usage stats: 2,391 sites

Module features and usage The module really provides three useful features. First, it can ensure specific configuration files are automatically imported on every request, as though the contents were pasted into the core "single import" form
Second, it can automatically export specific configuration objects into files whenever the object is updated. You provide a list of filenames and the module will derive the objects that need to be exported.
Finally, it provides a drush command that can be used to generate all the necessary configuration files for a specific project. You put a list of the files into the project's info.yml file, and then with a single command a fresh copy of all the specified files will be generated and placed directly into the project's configuration folder.
For obvious reasons this is not something you should ever have enabled in production, so definitely a best practice to pull this in using the require-dev composer command

Today we are talking about Recording Podcasts, The tech used, and How Drupal Can help with guest Stephen Cross. We'll also cover Chosen as our module of the week.
For show notes visit:
https://www.talkingDrupal.com/535

Topics
Podcasting and Second Signal Media
Evolution of Podcasting
Tech Essentials for Podcasting
The CEO's Video Strategy Transformation
Overcoming the Fear of Speaking on Camera
The Importance of Consistency in Content Creation
Editing vs. Authenticity in Video Content
Choosing the Right Environment and Equipment
Setting Realistic Goals for Your Podcast
Recording Workflow Recommendations
Tools and Tips for Improving Audio Quality

Resources
Basic Editing with Kdenlive
Audio clean-up tools
Izotope
Secret sounds

Guests
Stephen Cross - stephencross

Hosts
Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan
John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi
Andy Giles - dripyard.com andyg5000

MOTW

Correspondent
Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu
Brief description: Have you ever wanted to give users on your Drupal site a more intuitive alternative to native HTML multiselect widgets? There's a module for that.

Module name/project name: Chosen

Brief history How old: created in Jul 2011 by shadcn but recent releases are by Bálint Nagy (nagy.balint) of Hungary
Versions available: 3.0.6, 4.0.3, and 5.0.3, the last of which works with Drupal 10.2 or 11

Maintainership Actively maintained
Security coverage
Test coverage
Number of open issues: 221 open issues, 4 of which are bugs against the 5.x branch

Usage stats: Almost 38,000 sites

Module features and usage With the module installed, your Drupal site will selectively replace select elements with a more intuitive widget, leveraging the Chosen library. In the module's configuration you can specify how many options should trigger Chosen, and also specify form field selectors to explicitly include or exclude.
The three active branches of the module reflect usage of different forks of the Chosen library. Notably, the 5.x versions use a fork that no longer requires jQuery, and allows Chosen to be enabled for mobile devices.
In addition to the module configuration, you can also force a custom form's select element to use the Chosen library simply by adding the "chosen-select" class to the form array.
Back in episode #409 we talked about Tagify, which in some ways is similar, but is designed specifically to work with entity reference fields. That makes it less "general purpose", though Tagify does also include some additional capabilities, such as being able to include labels or icons on results based on a property of the result.
Years ago I used another popular project called Select2 for turning multiselects into listboxes that included a search filter, but that project relied on a library that required jQuery but is incompatible with jQuery 4. So, Select2 has been officially replaced by Tagify, but Chosen could also be useful if your field is not an entity reference.
There are a variety similar modules you can also look at, including Choices.js, Selectize, and Selectify, but Chosen is by far the most widely used, even if you're only looking at numbers for the 5.x branch