Extending / Bundled Extensions / Introduction

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What is a Bundle¶

Bundled extensions, or "Bundles", should be thought of as components that are specific to your site project.

Simply a Bundle is:

• A PHP loader class located in the site src/ directory* that implements Bolt\Extension\ExtensionInterface and adds your required functionality to the application container
• A PSR-4 autoload entry, e.g. "Bundle\\": "src/"
• An extensions: value in your .bolt.yml file, e.g. - Bundle\Site\CustomisationExtension

Every Bundle you implement for your site will have these properties.

Bundles are developed, managed, and deployed using the same tools and methodologies you would normally use to deploy your Bolt site.

Bundles have a lot in common with regular extensions, such as you'd install from the Marketplace.

Note: Bundle PHP class files can live anywhere on your project's filesystem. However for simplicity, and ease of understanding documented examples, it is recommended that they are placed in either the project's src/ directory or a subdirectory thereof.

What a Bundle is not¶

Bundles are, by design, intended as PHP code that provides a collection of site-specific functionality.

It is very important to note that, Bundles do not:

• Manage updating of included web assets with public directories
• Require a composer.json file
• Auto-configure autoloading

Note: File types such as Twig templates, CSS, and JavaScript, are normally better suited being located inside your site's theme directory.

When & why to use a Bundle¶

Bundles are intended for:

• Functionality that is specific to a site
• Code that is intended to be committed to your project's version control

Bundles are not intended for:

• Publishing on the Bolt Marketplace
• Running extensions from the Bolt Marketplace

Difference to Marketplace Extensions¶

Bundled extensions are completely self-managed in terms of configuration, automatic set-up of CSS & JavaScript assets in public locations, etc.

One big difference between Bundles and normal extensions is that Bundles do not require their own composer.json file.

Getting Started¶

For an overview of a basic site based Bundle recipe see the Bundle Quick Start guide, or for the complete guide, see the Building Bundles page.