Keeping your Craft CMS website up to date is essential for security, performance, and access to new features. Manually updating Craft CMS and its dependencies can be time-consuming, especially when managing multiple projects. Fortunately, Violinist.io offers an automated solution for handling Composer dependencies, making updates seamless and efficient.
In this article, we'll explore how to set up Violinist.io to automatically update Craft CMS and its dependencies.
What is Violinist.io?
Violinist.io is a Composer dependency updater that continuously monitors and updates your project's dependencies. It automatically creates pull requests in your Git repository when new versions of your dependencies are available. This ensures that your Craft CMS installation stays up to date with minimal manual intervention.
Why Use Violinist.io for Craft CMS?
- Automates updates for Craft CMS and its plugins.
- Reduces security risks by keeping dependencies current.
- Saves time by eliminating the need for manual updates.
- Provides version control through automated pull requests.
Setting Up Violinist.io for Craft CMS
Step 1: Ensure Your Project Uses Git and Composer
Before configuring Violinist.io, ensure your Craft CMS project:
- Uses Git for version control (GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket).
- Uses Composer to manage dependencies (composer.json).
Step 2: Sign Up for Violinist.io
Go to Violinist.io and sign in using your Git provider (GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket). Grant Violinist.io access to your repositories.
Step 3: Add Your Craft CMS Project
- Once signed in, select "Add a repository" from the Violinist.io dashboard.
- Choose the repository that contains your Craft CMS project.
Step 4: Configure Update Preferences
Violinist.io allows you to customize update settings. You can browse them all in the documentation.
Step 5: Enable Automated Testing (Recommended)
To prevent breaking changes, you should integrate automated testing with your updates. If you use GitHub Actions, CircleCI, or another CI/CD tool, configure tests to run on Violinist.io pull requests before merging updates.
Monitoring and Managing Updates
Review Pull Requests: When Violinist.io finds updates, it creates a pull request in your repository. Review and merge them as needed.
Use Craft's Project Config: If your Craft CMS project uses Project Config, make sure to run
./craft project-config/apply after merging updates.
Check for Breaking Changes: Occasionally, Craft CMS updates require manual adjustments. Always test updates on a staging environment before deploying to production.
Conclusion
By integrating Violinist.io with your Craft CMS project, you can automate Composer updates and ensure your site remains secure and up to date. This approach minimizes manual work while maintaining control over updates through Git-based workflows.