🚀 Setting Up Your Drupal Module Development Environment: Best Practices + VSCode Setup

Are you starting Drupal module development and want to follow the community’s best practices from Day 1? You're in the right place! 🎯

In this guide, we’ll walk through setting up your Drupal development environment with Composer, Drush, PHPUnit, code linting, and VSCode — so you can develop like a pro. 👨‍💻

🧱 1. Install Drupal Using Composer

Start by creating a new Drupal project with the recommended structure:

composer create-project drupal/recommended-project my_site_name_dir
cd my_site_name_dir

This gives you:

• Clean project structure
• web/ as web root
• Composer-managed core and contrib modules

🛠️ 2. Fix Core Dependencies

If you're getting errors like “missing or incorrect dependency in your project”, run:

composer require drupal/core --with-all-dependencies

🧩 3. Install Developer Tools & Drush

Drush is your CLI superpower ⚡. Add it and other useful dev tools:

composer require drush/drush --dev
composer require phpunit/phpunit --dev
composer require squizlabs/php_codesniffer --dev
composer require dealerdirect/phpcodesniffer-composer-installer --dev
composer require drupal/coder --dev

✅ Now you can run:

vendor/bin/drush status
vendor/bin/phpcs --version

🧪 4. Enable Must-Have Dev Modules

Add these modules to supercharge development:

composer require \
  drupal/devel \
  drupal/webprofiler \
  drupal/stage_file_proxy \
  drupal/admin_toolbar

✅ 5. Setup PHP Code Standards (Linting)

Drupal uses strict coding standards. Here's how to enable automatic linting:

Configure PHP CodeSniffer:

vendor/bin/phpcs --config-set installed_paths vendor/drupal/coder/coder_sniffer
vendor/bin/phpcs --config-set default_standard Drupal

Create .phpcs.xml in your root:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ruleset name="Drupal">
  <description>Drupal Coding Standards</description>
  <rule ref="Drupal"/>
  <rule ref="DrupalPractice"/>
  <file>web/modules/custom</file>
</ruleset>

Run linting:

vendor/bin/phpcs web/modules/custom

🧪 6. Configure PHPUnit for Automated Tests

Add this phpunit.xml to your project root:

<phpunit bootstrap="web/core/tests/bootstrap.php"
         colors="true"
         verbose="true">
    <testsuites>
        <testsuite name="Custom Module Tests">
            <directory>web/modules/custom/YOUR_MODULE/tests/src</directory>
        </testsuite>
    </testsuites>
</phpunit>

Run tests with:

./vendor/bin/phpunit

💻 7. VSCode Configuration for Drupal

Use VSCode with these extensions for a silky-smooth Drupal experience:

🧩 Recommended Extensions:

• PHP Intelephense
• Drupal Snippets
• PHPUnit
• Twig Language 2
• EditorConfig for VSCode

⚙️ .vscode/settings.json:

{
  "php.validate.executablePath": "/usr/bin/php",
  "intelephense.environment.phpVersion": "8.1",
  "intelephense.files.exclude": ["**/vendor/**"],
  "files.exclude": {
    "**/.git": true,
    "**/.DS_Store": true,
    "**/vendor": true
  },
  "editor.formatOnSave": true,
  "editor.codeActionsOnSave": {
    "source.fixAll": true
  }
}

🎁 Bonus Tips

• Use DDEV or Lando for container-based local dev.
• Use .editorconfig for consistent formatting across teams.
• Use composer patches for clean contrib module customizations.

🏁 Final Thoughts

With this setup, you’re now ready to: ✅ Write clean modules ✅ Follow coding standards ✅ Run automated tests ✅ Develop with confidence 🚀

Got questions or want to automate even more? Let’s connect! 💬

♥️ Built with love for the Drupal community