FAQs
Why use Vortex instead of the Drupal Composer template?
The Drupal Composer template gives you a starting point, but you still need to add everything else: CI pipelines, tooling, workflows, deployment scripts, hosting configurations, and documentation. Then you need to test that everything works together correctly.
You also need to watch for false negatives — faulty tests that pass silently in CI but fail at release time, blocking your deployment.
And you need to maintain all of this across every project you run.
Vortex handles all of this out of the box. You can override anything in your project while still receiving future updates. Your team gets centralized documentation and consistent tooling across all projects.
Can I use Vortex with an existing project?
Yes, you can install Vortex into your existing project. See Installation.
Can I keep my existing CI provider?
Yes, but you'll need to update your CI configuration to use Vortex workflow scripts.
Can I keep my existing hosting?
Yes, but you'll need to update some deployment scripts to match your hosting provider.
Can I change things I don't like?
Yes, you can change anything you want. Vortex is a template, so you can disable or remove any feature. Keep in mind that you'll need to maintain those changes yourself going forward.
Feel free to open an issue to discuss any of the decisions made in Vortex.
Isn't this overkill for my project?
Vortex provides a full feature set to all projects, regardless of size. You can simply opt-out of features you don't need when installing: the installer provides an interactive prompt to select only the features you want.
If you're sure you don't need certain features, Vortex may not be the right fit. That said, many developers have discovered useful tools and approaches through Vortex that they chose to keep. It's worth trying.
Isn't this too opinionated?
Vortex is opinionated where necessary to make everything work together. You can customize many things, but some defaults exist to keep tools compatible with each other.
If something seems unreasonably opinionated, we consider that a defect and would be happy to fix it. Please share your feedback in the issue queue.
How hard is it to upgrade?
Run the update command to pull in the latest Vortex version. The command updates the boilerplate code automatically. You then resolve any conflicts manually — similar to merging changes between projects, but automated.
Any customizations your team made will also need manual resolution. This is a trade-off between relying on an upgradable project template, where you have full control, and a dependency package, where someone else has full control of the code that drives your project.
We're exploring a hybrid approach: package distribution with the ability to override scaffolded code.
How easy is it to choose the features that I need?
Vortex provides an installer that allows you to choose the features that you need interactively.
It is usually used as a part of the project creation process.