Local development

Getting it running

git clone https://github.com/InsertCart/radius.git
cd radius

composer install
npm install && npm run build

cp .env.example .env
php artisan key:generate

Then create a database, fill in the DB_ values, and:

php artisan migrate --seed
php artisan cms:admin
php artisan storage:link
php artisan cms:demo          # optional: realistic sample content
echo "{}" > storage/installed

php artisan serve             # http://127.0.0.1:8000

A clone will not run until assets are built

vendor/ and public/build/ are build output and are not committed. A fresh clone with neither shows a short page saying exactly that, rather than a PHP fatal about vendor/autoload.php.

Working on assets

npm run dev      # Vite dev server with hot reload
npm run build    # compile for production

Compiled assets are committed under public/build/ in a release, so a buyer never needs Node installed. In the source repository they are not — build them yourself.

Development settings

In .env:

APP_ENV=local
APP_DEBUG=true

And under Settings → Advanced, leave Cache rendered pages off. A cached page does not reflect your last edit, which wastes an afternoon roughly once per developer.

The stack

Framework	Laravel 12
PHP	8.2+
Database	MySQL 5.7+ / MariaDB 10.3+
CSS	Tailwind 4, via the Vite plugin
JS	Alpine.js 3 — no build-step framework
Editor	A hand-written rich text editor, no third-party dependency
Builder	Server-rendered Blade, with a vanilla-JS editor

Alpine and a hand-written editor rather than a framework is a deliberate choice: the product has to run on hosting where nobody will ever run npm install.

Tests

php artisan test                              # everything
php artisan test --filter=CheckoutTest        # one class
php artisan test tests/Feature/Shop           # one directory

Tests run against an in-memory SQLite database by default, configured in phpunit.xml, so they do not touch your development data.

Run the payment tests before touching a gateway

They cover the verification paths — the code that decides whether an order is paid. That is the most expensive thing in the codebase to get wrong.

Useful commands while developing

php artisan optimize:clear      # after any config change
php artisan route:list          # confirm a module's routes exist
php artisan about               # environment summary
php artisan tinker              # REPL with the app booted
php artisan cms:demo            # reset to known sample content

cms:demo re-run restores the demo records to their original state, which makes it a quick way to reset a database you have been experimenting with.

Testing what a buyer receives

A source download is not a release

Testing with a git archive only tests the missing pieces. It has no vendor/, no public/build/, and may wrongly include storage/installed.

Build a real release and extract that:

composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader
npm install && npm run build
php artisan cms:release

See Cutting a release.

Things that will catch you out

Route caching. optimize:clear after touching routes, modules or CMS_ADMIN_PREFIX. A cached route table does not notice that a module changed.

The catch-all page route. routes/pages.php is loaded last so it cannot shadow anything. If you add a route file, keep it before that one.

Module guards. A new public route belonging to an optional module goes inside the if (modules()->enabled(...)) block, and a new admin section gets module:<slug> middleware. Forgetting the second one leaves the section reachable by URL when the module is off.

Integer money. 499 is 4.99. Passing a float into an order total is a bug that will not show up until somebody's invoice is a penny out.

site_logo_light_url() naming. -light describes the ink, not the background. The light files are white. See Branding.

The uploads .htaccess files. storage/app/public/.htaccess and public/themes/.htaccess are part of the product, not leftovers. cms:release ships them deliberately.

Code style

./vendor/bin/pint

Laravel's default style. The repository carries an .editorconfig; match the surrounding file for anything Pint does not decide.

Comments in this codebase tend to explain why, not what — the existing comments in config/cms.php and routes/admin.php are a good guide to the register expected.