Developer guide

Automatic recompilation and file watching

Zotonic's file handler watches source changes when a supported watcher is available. Erlang, templates, dispatch files, and assets have different handlers.

  1. Start a local development node and inspect watcher startup messages.
  2. Change one known template and save it.
  3. Check the terminal for the expected compile or index activity.
  4. Reload the matching page.
  5. Repeat with one Erlang change if you need to verify compilation and loading.

If nothing happens, check the watcher installation, watched path, and whether the application is known to Zotonic. An SCSS source can also depend on a project's Makefile rather than a generic file-extension handler.

Browser live reload is separate from server recompilation. See Reload the browser after source changes and A saved change does not appear.

Related documentation

Developer guide

Trace a small number of Erlang calls

Open the Development function tracing tool as the admin user. Enter a module, optionally a function, and a small limit on the number of…

Developer guide

Run tests and site checks

Use the project's test workflow in a dedicated development or test environment. Two CLI entry points have different scopes:

Cookbook

Create a reusable module

Create apps_user/zotonic_mod_garden with the following files. This example adds a discoverable module without starting an extra process.