Pimcore

Pimcore Platform Development

You are helping develop on the Pimcore platform. Before writing any code, load context about Pimcore's architecture and patterns.

Step 1: Understand Pimcore's Three Pillars

Pimcore has three fundamental element types, all extending Pimcore\Model\Element\AbstractElement:

1. Assets — File management (images, videos, PDFs). Uses League Flysystem for storage.
2. Documents — Web pages, emails, links, snippets. Template-based rendering with editables.
3. Data Objects — Structured data (products, customers, etc.). Defined by Class Definitions.

Every element has: id, path, key, creationDate, modificationDate, userOwner, properties, dependencies.

Step 2: Bundle Architecture

AbstractPimcoreBundle

All Pimcore bundles extend Pimcore\Extension\Bundle\AbstractPimcoreBundle (not plain Symfony Bundle):

use Pimcore\Extension\Bundle\AbstractPimcoreBundle;

class MyBundle extends AbstractPimcoreBundle
{
    public function getNiceName(): string { return 'My Bundle'; }
    public function getDescription(): string { return 'Description'; }
    public function getInstaller(): ?InstallerInterface { return $this->container->get(Installer::class); }
}

DependencyInjection Pattern

class MyBundleExtension extends ConfigurableExtension implements PrependExtensionInterface
{
    public function loadInternal(array $config, ContainerBuilder $container): void
    {
        $loader = new YamlFileLoader($container, new FileLocator(__DIR__.'/../config'));
        $loader->load('services.yaml');
    }
}

Compiler Passes

Used heavily for tag collection, registry building, service decoration:

public function build(ContainerBuilder $container): void
{
    parent::build($container);
    $container->addCompilerPass(new MyRegistryPass());
}

Step 3: Data Object Class Definitions

Class Definitions define the structure of Data Objects (like database schemas).

Field Types (Pimcore\Model\DataObject\ClassDefinition\Data\*)

Basic: Input, Textarea, Wysiwyg, Numeric, Slider, Date, DateTime, Checkbox, Select, Multiselect, Email, Country, Language

Relations: ManyToOneRelation, ManyToManyRelation, AdvancedManyToManyRelation

Complex: Block (repeating groups), Fieldcollection, Localizedfields (i18n), ObjectBrick (extendable), Classificationstore (dynamic attributes), QuantityValue

Custom Field Types (CoreExtensions)

Add custom field types to the Class Definition editor:

namespace MyBundle\CoreExtension;

use Pimcore\Model\DataObject\ClassDefinition\Data\Select;

class MyCustomField extends Select
{
    public string $fieldtype = 'myCustomField';

    public function getFieldType(): string {
        return $this->fieldtype;
    }
}

The $fieldtype string must match the frontend dynamic type ID exactly.

Step 4: Event System

Pimcore uses Symfony EventDispatcher with predefined event constants:

use Pimcore\Event\DataObjectEvents;
use Pimcore\Event\Model\DataObjectEvent;

class MySubscriber implements EventSubscriberInterface
{
    public static function getSubscribedEvents(): array
    {
        return [
            DataObjectEvents::POST_UPDATE => 'onPostUpdate',
            DataObjectEvents::PRE_DELETE => 'onPreDelete',
        ];
    }
}

Event types per element: PRE_ADD, POST_ADD, PRE_UPDATE, POST_UPDATE, PRE_DELETE, POST_DELETE, POST_LOAD, PRE_COPY, POST_COPY

Event classes: AssetEvents, DataObjectEvents, DocumentEvents

Step 5: Workflow System

Built on Symfony Workflow Component, configured via YAML:

pimcore:
    workflows:
        product_approval:
            enabled: true
            type: state_machine
            supports:
                - Pimcore\Model\DataObject\Product
            places: [draft, review, approved]
            transitions:
                submit_for_review:
                    from: draft
                    to: review

Step 6: Pimcore Studio v2

The new admin UI is React/TypeScript with:

• Backend: pimcore/studio-backend-bundle — REST API (OpenAPI)
• Frontend: pimcore/studio-ui-bundle — React app with InversifyJS DI container
• Real-time: Symfony Mercure for live updates
• Search: pimcore/generic-data-index-bundle

Plugin System

Studio plugins register via IAbstractPlugin:

const plugin: IAbstractPlugin = {
  name: 'my-plugin',
  onInit() { /* DI bindings, dynamic types */ },
  onStartup({ moduleSystem }) { /* module/widget registration */ }
}

Dynamic Types (Frontend)

Custom field types need frontend registration:

import { DynamicTypeObjectDataAbstractSelect } from '@pimcore/studio-ui-bundle/modules/element'

export class DynamicTypeMyField extends DynamicTypeObjectDataAbstractSelect {
  readonly id = 'myCustomField' // Must match PHP $fieldtype
}

Step 7: Configuration

Main config via config/config.yaml:

pimcore:
    general:
        domain: "example.com"
    documents:
        default_controller: 'App\Controller\DefaultController::default'
    objects:
        class_definitions:
            data:
                map: {}

Step 8: Caching

use Pimcore\Cache;

// Core cache (Redis/Memcached/Filesystem)
Cache::save($data, 'my_key', ['tag1', 'tag2'], 3600);
Cache::load('my_key');
Cache::clearTag('tag1');

// In-memory runtime cache (current request only)
use Pimcore\Cache\RuntimeCache;
RuntimeCache::save('key', $data);

Step 9: Installer Pattern

use Pimcore\Extension\Bundle\Installer\AbstractInstaller;

class Installer extends AbstractInstaller
{
    public function install(): void { /* SQL migrations, permissions, configs */ }
    public function uninstall(): void { /* cleanup */ }
    public function isInstalled(): bool { /* check state */ }
}

Step 10: Before Committing

• Validate YAML: bin/console lint:yaml src
• Validate Twig: bin/console lint:twig src
• Validate container: bin/console lint:container
• Clear cache: bin/console cache:clear

Reference

See .claude/skills/pimcore/reference.md for directory structure templates and common patterns.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: cors-gmbh
• Source: cors-gmbh/pimcore-skills
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.