codesyntax/plone-expert-developer

Overview

This skill provides expert guidance for Plone 6 backend and Volto (React) frontend development. It focuses on practical, reproducible workflows: generators, plone.api, plone.restapi, Volto blocks, and deployment patterns. Advice follows community standards and enforces Plone 6+ conventions.

How this skill works

I inspect your goal and map it to the appropriate generator workflow (uvx cookieplone, plonecli create/add) using mrbob.ini files to ensure non-interactive, repeatable scaffolding. For frontend work I default to Volto: create add-ons, blocks, schema, and schema enhancers, and wire services to plone.restapi. I enforce best practices like using plone.api, code formatters, behavior-first schema decisions, and clean git state before generation.

When to use it

• Starting a new Plone 6 project or add-on and you want a reproducible scaffold.
• Building or extending backend features: content types, behaviors, services, control panels, upgrade steps.
• Creating Volto add-ons, custom blocks, block variations, or schema enhancers.
• Exposing REST endpoints for Volto instead of browser views.
• Preparing deployment or CI for a Plone + Volto stack.

Best practices

• Always assume Plone 6+ with Python 3.x and default to Volto for the frontend.
• Use uvx cookieplone for new projects and plonecli with mrbob.ini for non-interactive generation.
• Keep git clean: commit or stash changes before running any plonecli add commands.
• Prefer existing behaviors over adding new schema fields; consult the Behavior Catalog first.
• Use plone.api for backend operations and run black, flake8, prettier, and eslint for code quality.

Example use cases

• Generate a new Volto-first Plone project with uvx cookieplone and automated options for CI and Ansible.
• Add a new Dexterity container type using plonecli add content_type with mrbob.ini variables and default to Container base class.
• Create a plone.restapi service via plonecli add restapi_service and consume it from a Volto add-on service.
• Build a Volto block with schema, View, and optional Edit + sidebar, then register it via applyConfig in the add-on index.
• Implement a behavior using plonecli add behavior and enable it on a content type instead of modifying schema directly.