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Developer Guide

Purpose

Define development conventions and extension strategy.

Scope

Foundation project structure, run commands, and extension points.

Local Setup

1. Ensure PHP 8.x is installed with required extensions (pdo_mysql, json, mbstring, and gd or imagick; zip for backups).
2. From the repository root, start a local PHP server: php -S localhost:8000.
3. Open http://localhost:8000/opero/installer/ and complete setup.
4. Sign in at http://localhost:8000/opero/admin/.

Key Paths

• opero/includes: backend services, auth, generator, media processing, upgrade helpers
• opero/installer: setup flow and install lock handling
• opero/admin: admin shell sections, JS, CSS, and API actions
• opero/modules: reserved directory for module registry expansion
• opero/themes/default: default presentation assets
• opero/templates/layouts/default: public page templates
• opero/public: public web entry assets
• opero/storage: runtime state and audit logs

Extension Rules

• New features should be introduced as modules where applicable
• Keep backend contracts stable and versioned
• Avoid mixing public presentation with core platform logic

Demo Mode

• Repository defaults must remain non-demo for GitHub distribution.
• To enable demo mode on a server, upload a private opero/storage/system/demo-mode.json file that matches the example at opero/storage/system/demo-mode.example.json.
• The real demo-mode.json file is gitignored and can safely contain demo-only credentials, database values, and hidden analytics configuration.
• Removing that file returns the installer and admin login to normal fresh-setup behavior.