planning.md

# Planning your project

## Community input

Before you start on any code to extend CiviCRM, it is really important
to discuss your ideas with the community. Here are a few of the reasons
why this is a good idea:

-   It may have been done already
-   You'll get suggestions and advice on suitable ways to approach the
    problem
-   Other people will know what you are doing, and be able to contact
    you if they want to collaborate

A typical pre-development workflow will start with a discussion on
[Mattermost](https://chat.civicrm.org/) (in the Developer channel) about what
you want to do. Here you'll receive feedback from other members of the
community and core team about your ideas. You might be lucky and find
out that there is a already a way to do what you want using the user
interface (and that no coding is necessary). Or it might be that someone
has done something similar already and all that is required is a few
tweaks to their code.


## Requirements and specifications

If and when you have confirmed that some coding is required, it is good
practice, even for relatively small projects, to write

-   a requirements document which describes in detail what you want the
    finished code to do
-   a specification that outlines how you are going to meet these
    requirements with CiviCRM

The requirements are typically written to be understandable to end
users, and the specification can be thought of as a translation of those
requirements into the language of CiviCRM. Both requirements and
specification should go on the
[wiki](http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRM/CiviCRM+Wiki).

Once you've written the requirements and specification document, you
should go about soliciting feedback.  Get feedback on the requirements
from your end users and feedback on the requirements and the
specification from anyone that is willing to comment. To encourage more
discussion, you can write a post on CiviCRM's
[blog](https://civicrm.org/blog/), tweet it out with
the [#civicrm](https://twitter.com/hashtag/civicrm) hashtag, tell similar
CiviCRM users and organisations and so on.
The more feedback you can get the better.

!!!tip
    If you get stuck writing your requirements and specification, or would
    like to get more background, have a look at some
    [existing requirements and specifications](https://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRM/Requirements+and+specifications)
    from CiviCRM developers.

## Recommendations

**Open a free [GitHub](https://github.com/) account** for revision control.
The official CiviCRM [repositories](https://github.com/civicrm)
are housed in `git` repositories on GitHub.  If you use GitHub you will find
it easy to access the latest source-code, to submit pull requests
for any patches you create and to collaborate with many other
CiviCRM developers who also use GitHub.

**Install the [buildkit](https://github.com/civicrm/civicrm-buildkit)**,
ideally as a [vagrant virtual-machine](https://github.com/civicrm/civicrm-buildkit-vagrant)
or using one of available `docker` images ([1](https://github.com/progressivetech/docker-civicrm-buildkit),
[2](https://github.com/ErichBSchulz/dcbk)). The buildkit is not an absolute
requirement but it is definitely the fastest path to a good development
experience!

**From the outset, [automate testing](https://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/Testing)**.
In the current climate of rapid evolution of not just CiviCRM, but
also it's myriad of dependancies, automated testing of PHP code with `phpunit`
and javascript with tools like `karma` and `jasmine` is essential. Start all
your work by considering how you will provide automated testing for it.
Starting with the buildkit will make this much simpler for you to set up.
Getting started with unit-testing may seem daunting and onerous when you start,
but you will soon come to love the freedom it gives you. If you are
unsure how to proceed with testing ask the [community](/basics/community).

**Create a native [extension](/extensions/basics)**.
If you have new functionality to add to CiviCRM, it probably belongs in an
extension. "Native" extensions will install into all CiviCRM sites
regardless of the  underlying CMS used (Drupal or Wordpress), making it easy to
share your extension with the CiviCRM community.

**Use the [API](/api/general) and [hooks](/hook)** to access and manage CiviCRM data in any patch,
native extension, CMS module, or external program that you
develop. The API will function as expected with every new release
and backwards compatibility of the API is maintained for several
versions of CiviCRM.

**Avoid [hacking the core](/core/hacking)** of CiviCRM unless you understand
the implications.

**Follow the
[Coding Standards](https://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC/Coding+Standards)**
for uniform structure that will make everyone's development work easier.


## Make it happen

If you need or would like extra resources for your code improvement, you
might consider a [Make It Happen](https://civicrm.org/make-it-happen)
(aka MIH) campaign, which is a crowd-sourcing initiative for CiviCRM.
The MIH work is carried out by the
core team or trusted consultants, and has helped build many amazing new
features into CiviCRM in recent years.