Today we are talking about Tugboat, What it does, and how it can super charge your ci/cd process with guest James Sansbury. We’ll also cover ShURLy as our module of the week.

For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/521

• Celebrating 20 Years with Drupal
• Introduction to Tugboat
• Comparing Tugboat with Other Solutions
• Tugboat's Unique Advantages
• Standardizing Workflows with Tugboat
• Handling Hosting and Development Delays
• Troubleshooting and Knowledge Transfer
• Client Base and Use Cases
• Agency Partnerships and Payment Structures
• Unique and Interesting Use Cases
• Challenges and Limitations of Tugboat
• Setting Up and Onboarding with Tugboat
• The Tugboat Origin Story
• Compliance and Security Considerations

• Tugboat
• Tugboat FEDRamp
• Lullabot Sells Tugboat Platform to Enable Independent Growth
• Shurly
• Talking Drupal #390 - Employee Owned Companies

Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi James Sansbury - tugboatqa.com q0rban

Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu

• Brief description:
  • Have you ever wanted to use Drupal as a URL shortening service? There’s a module for that.
• Module name/project name:
  • ShURLy
• Brief history
  • How old: created in Aug 2010 by Jeff Robbins (jjeff) though recent releases are by João Ventura (jcnventura) of Portugal
  • Versions available: 8.x-1.0-beta4 which supports Drupal 9.3, 10, and 11
• Maintainership
  • Minimally maintained, maintenance fixes only. Also, the project page says that the 8.x branch is not ready for production use. So a big caveat emptor if you decide to try it
  • Number of open issues: 18 open issues, 5 of which are bugs against the current branch
• Usage stats:
  • 730 sites
• Module features and usage
  • With the ShURLly module installed, you can specify a long URL you want shortened, optionally also providing a case-sensitive short URL you want to use. If none is provided a short URL will be automatically generated
  • The module provides usage data for the short URLs, and and a user you can see a list the ones you’ve created as well as their click data
  • I was a little surprised to see that created short URLs are stored in a custom db table instead of as entities, but the module is able to avoid a full bootstrap of Drupal before issuing the intended redirects
  • The module provides blocks for creating short URLs, a bookmarklet to save a short URL, and URL history. There is also Views integration for listing the short URLs, by user or in whatever way will be useful in your site
  • There is also a submodule to provide web services for generating short URLs, or potentially expand a short URL back into its long form. The services support output as text, JSON, JSONP, XML, or PHP serialized array
  • The module allows provides a variety of permissions to allow fine-grained access to the capabilities it provides, and also has features like per-role rate limiting, APIs to alter redirection logic, and support for the Google Safe Browsing API, and Google Analytics
  • It’s worth mentioned that ShURLy is intended to run in a site on its own instead of within a Drupal site that is also serving content directly, but it will attempt to avoid collisions with existing site paths
  • Today’s guest, James, is one of the maintainers of ShURLy, but Nic, you mentioned before the show that you have a customer using this module. What can you tell us about the customer’s use case and your experience working with ShURLy?

In this episode, we are joined by special guests Mike Herchel and Andy Giles, founders of Dripyard. Dripyard is a premium Drupal theme designed to reduce the cost of ownership and enhance the developer experience for modern Drupal projects. Mike and Andy share insights into their motivation behind launching Dripyard, the detailed work that goes into creating accessible, high-quality themes, and how their themes will integrate with upcoming Drupal features like Canvas. We also discuss the module of the week, Content First, and a crucial public service announcement about a supply chain attack impacting NPM tools.

For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/520

• Meet the Guests: Mike Herchel and Andy Giles
• Module of the Week: Content First
• Public Service Announcement: NPM Supply Chain Attack
• Event Spotlight: Bad Camp 2025
• Introducing Dripyard: A New Drupal Theme Company
• The Concept and Vision Behind Dripyard
• The Importance of Accessibility in Themes
• Building Themes for the General Public
• Supporting Drupal CMS and Canvas
• Supporting Custom and Contrib Modules
• Styling Challenges with Webform Module
• Consulting Services for Theme Integration
• Sub-Theming and Customization Options
• Support and Assistance for Non-Developers
• Recipes for Efficient Theme Setup
• Modern CSS and JavaScript Practices
• Target Audience and Market Focus
• Licensing and Open Source Considerations
• Final Thoughts and Contact Information

with Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu

Content First - The Content First module provides a simple tool for viewing the plain text content of any node without design, media, or layout distractions. It helps content teams, editors, and designers focus on what matters most: the content itself.

Whether you're drafting, reviewing, or rethinking your site’s messaging, this module supports a true “content-first” approach by giving you a clean, layout-free version of your page.

Dripyard Supply Side Attack - Also this link grep -r --binary-files=text _0x112fa81 to diagnose if you’ve been impacted Should I Use a Carousel?

Mike Herchel mherchel Andy Giles andyg5000 dripyard.com

John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu James Sansbury - tugboatqa.com q0rban

Join John and Steve as they delve into the intricacies and challenges of maintaining Drupal modules, comparing experiences with WordPress, and sharing their journey in making web development more accessible. They discuss their personal stories, the learning curve in module development, balancing user experience, and the importance of contributing back to the community. Learn about their current projects, thoughts on AI's role in accessibility, and get inspired by their dedication to improving the web for all users.

For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/cafe010

• Drupal Beginnings: Personal Stories
• Journey into Module Development
• Accessibility in Web Development
• Navigating the Learning Curve in Development
• The Importance of Community and Collaboration
• Challenges in Module Maintenance
• Comparing Drupal and WordPress
• Innovative Approaches to Development
• Pet Peeves and Frustrations
• Future Directions and AI Integration
• The Story Behind the Shovel Avatar

Being a Developer and Tech Lead at CivicActions has exposed him to the experience of working on some of the largest government websites in the United States. A passion for opensourcing as much as possible has lead him to develop a growing number of modules, with two addressing accessibility Alt Text Validation & Node Link Report)

As the Digital Accessibility Developer at Princeton University, John has come to believe that the biggest barrier to accessible content is the idea that training can compensate for unintuitive authoring interfaces. So far his work to fix the authoring interfaces, to make workflows intuitive and accessible by default, has resulted in the Editoria11y Accessibility Checker and Link Purpose Icons JS libraries and Drupal modules.

Steve Wirt - swirt John Jameson - itmaybejj

Modules

• Editoria11y Accessibility Checker https://www.drupal.org/project/editoria11y
• Link Purpose Icons https://www.drupal.org/project/linkpurpose
• Alt Text Validation https://www.drupal.org/project/alt_text_validation
• Node Link Report https://www.drupal.org/project/node_link_report

Talking Drupal #490 Contrib First https://talkingdrupal.com/490 Contrib First https://guidebook.civicactions.com/en/latest/common-practices-tools/contribution/contrib-first/

Today we are talking about DrupalCon Vienna, what we can expect, and any surprise updates with guests Cristina Chumillas, Antonella Severo, and Catherine Tsiboukas. We’ll also cover Recipe Tracker as our module of the week.

For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/519

• When is DrupalCon Vienna
• What types of sessions will be there
• Are there any unique formats or events we don't see at other DrupalCons
• Splash Awards
• Surprises from the Driesnote
• Drupal Canvas
• Additional Keynotes
• Training
• Social events
• Tickets

• Tickets

Catherine Tsiboukas - mindcraftgroup.com bletch Antonella Severo - nestle.com antonellasevero Cristina Chumillas - ckrina

Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi James Sansbury - tugboatqa.com q0rban

Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu

• Brief description:
  • Have you ever wanted to track what recipes, and their versions, have been applied to your Drupal site? There’s a module for that.
• Module name/project name:
  • Recipe Tracker
• Brief history
  • How old: created in Mar 2025 by centarro, as part of the Commerce Recipe: Core, notionally the very first Drupal site recipe
  • Versions available: 1.0.0
• Maintainership
  • Actively maintained: only one commit to the project repo
  • Number of open issues: none (ever)
• Usage stats:
  • 207 sites
• Module features and usage
  • After installing the Recipe Tracker module, every time a recipe is applied, the name and version of the recipe will be added to a new recipe log, along with the full package name of the recipe, and the user who applied it as well as the date and time it was applied
  • The module uses an event subscriber to generate a recipe log entity, so there should also be lots of API options if you want to extend how the logging works, for example using Drupal’s Entity API
  • This module was nominated by our own John Picozzi, so John, why don’t you kick off the discussion by telling us what inspired you to nominate Recipe Tracker?

Today we are talking about Drupal Canvas, What it is, and when we can use it with guest Lauri Timmanee. We’ll also cover Starshot Demo Design System as our module of the week.

For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/518

• What is Drupal Canvas
• The Evolution and Future of Drupal Canvas
• Building with Drupal Canvas: Components and Templates
• User Experience and Flexibility in Drupal Canvas
• Collaboration and Extensibility in Drupal Canvas
• Default Components in Drupal Canvas
• Introduction to Modular Components
• Drupal CMS and Site Templates
• Acquia Source and Drupal Canvas Integration
• Pricing and Use Cases for Acquia Source
• Canvas Beta and Stability
• Migration and Upgrade Paths
• AI Integration in Drupal Canvas
• Future of Drupal Canvas

• Civictheme storybook
• Acquia Source

Lauri Timmanee - lauriii

Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi

Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu

• Brief description:
  • Have you ever wanted to try out Canvas (previously known as Experience Builder) with a fully built-out design system? There’s a Drupal theme for that.
• Module name/project name:
  • Starshot Demo Design System
• Brief history
  • How old: created in July 2024 by longtime Drupalist Kristen Pol of Salsa Digital
  • Versions available: 1.0.6, which supports Drupal 10 and 11
• Maintainership
  • Actively maintained
  • Security coverage
  • Test coverage
  • Documentation - Multipage writeup of SDDS, including contribution and development guides
• Number of open issues: 34 open issues, 3 of which are active bugs
• Usage stats:
  • 79 sites
• Module features and usage
  • Some of our users may have already tried out the pre-release demo of Canvas that phenaproxima posted on Github. That actually has the Starshot Demo Design System, or SDDS, baked in. So, even if you watched a demo video of Canvas, you’ve probably seen SDDS in action
  • SDDS is itself built on CivicTheme, a Drupal theme built to act as a component-based atomic design system. As such, CivicTheme includes a rich component library, built from published Figma and Storybook UI Kits. And because some of the early builds for SDDS were for GovCMS, the Australian whole-of-government CMS project, it is accessible, with WCAG 2.2 compliance out-of-the-box
  • While the official purpose of SDDS is providing a platform to use for demos in Driesnotes and other presentations to illustrate the progress being made on Canvas, I think it’s also safe to say that testing the latest features of Canvas with a fully-realized design system has also helped to identify issues in Canvas itself. That means the products of all the work that has gone into SDDS will include a more production-ready stable release when that gets tagged (hopefully in time for Vienna)

Join John and Chris for an engaging conversation as they dive into the latest developments in Drupal CMS, including the analytics recipe installation and upcoming features for Project Browser. They also discuss the challenges and strategies of thriving with ADHD, the impact of AI in web development, and personal stories from summer activities to travel plans.

For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/cafe009

• Introduction and Personal Reflections
• Living in Maine and Childhood Memories
• Travel Plans and European DrupalCon
• Project Browser and Technical Discussions
• AI and Coding Experiences
• The Future of Drupal and AI Integration
• Navigating ADHD Diagnosis and Management
• Conclusion and Final Thoughts

John Picozzi is the Solutions Architect at EPAM Systems, where he helps organizations implement scalable and sustainable digital solutions—most often using Drupal. With over a decade of experience in web development, John has become a trusted voice in the Drupal community for his commitment to open source, user-centered design, and thoughtful architecture. John is a contributor to Drupal and an active member of the community as the organizer of the Drupal Providence Meetup and New England Drupal Camp. He’s also well known as a co-host of the Talking Drupal podcast, a weekly show focused on all things Drupal, where he interviews community members and shares insights on development, strategy, and community engagement. Outside of podcasting and coding, John frequently speaks at DrupalCamps and conferences across the U.S., offering sessions that span technical deep dives to community and career development topics. You can find more about his work and speaking engagements at picozzi.com, or follow him on Drupal.org

Chris Wells is a co-founder and CTO of Redfin Solutions, a web development agency specializing in Drupal-based digital experiences. With over two decades of experience in software engineering and web technologies, Chris has led complex projects for higher education, nonprofits, and enterprise clients—bringing strategic vision and technical excellence to every engagement. A passionate advocate for open source, Chris is an active contributor to the Drupal project and a frequent speaker at Drupal camps and conferences. He is known for his leadership in fostering strong client relationships, building sustainable development teams, and promoting best practices in accessibility, performance, and long-term site maintenance.

John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi Chris Wells - chrisfromredfin www.redfinsolutions.com

Today we are talking about Drupal’s Event Platform, What’s new, and what’s to come with guest Martin Anderson-Clutz. We’ll also cover ECA Tamper as our module of the week.

For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/517

• What is Event Platform
• New Features and Multi-Event Architecture
• Event Platform Theme: Event Horizon
• Managing Contribution Time
• Event Platform Workflow Features
• Transitioning to Recipes
• Module Installation Challenges in Drupal
• Event Platform Installation and Configuration
• Performance Improvements and Core Installer Issues
• Modular Design and Recipe Mapping
• Content Migration and Recipe Utilization
• Event Platform Adoption and Community Feedback
• Future Features and Enhancements for Event Platform
• Getting Started with Event Platform
• How to Get Involved with Event Platform

• Event Platform Starter on Drupal Forge
• Blog post: Smart Menu Links: Drupal navigation with the power of Views
• Recap: My Return to Drupal GovCon 2025!!
• Cussing in Commits: Which Programming Language Inspires the Most Swearing?
• Recipe installer issue for modules in bulk
• Upgrade path

Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu

Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi James Sansbury - tugboatqa.com q0rban

Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu

• Brief description:
  • Have you ever wanted a flexible way to manipulate the data being used in your ECA models? There’s a module for that
• Module name/project name:
  • ECA Tamper
• Brief history
  • How old: created in Apr 2022 by Jürgen Haas of Lake Drops
  • Versions available: 1.0.6 and 2.0.4, the latter of which supports Drupal 10.4 and 11
• Maintainership
  • Actively maintained
  • Security coverage
• Number of open issues: 6 open issues, none of which are bugs
• Usage stats:
  • 1,087 sites
• Module features and usage
  • For anyone who hasn’t used it before, Tamper is a generic plugin system for transforming data. It’s often used with migrations and Feeds, where you need to make sure incoming data matches the data type of the field where it will be stored. We actually covered Feeds Tamper as MOTW all the way back in episode #056
  • For ECA you can use tamper plugins with conditions, so a model can compare against a modified result. Or, you can use the tamper plugins with actions, storing the result as a token that can be for subsequent actions.
  • I ended up using ECA Tamper in the Event Platform for a model that sends out emails if an accepted session has not yet been confirmed by the author, and the session confirmation is a specific number of days out, for example 3 days away and one day away

Today we are talking about Drupal CMS Analytics, Recipes, and how to use both with guest Dharizza Espinach. We’ll also cover Field Data as our module of the week.

For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/516

• Drupal CMS Analytics Track
• Balancing Personal and Work Contributions
• Planning and Estimating Contributions
• Team Effort and Collaboration
• Challenges and Solutions in UI and Integration
• Future Enhancements and Roadmap
• Conclusion and Contact Information

• Noise Cancellation Tool
• Recipe installer kit
• Saplings
• Creating a Simple Donation form with Drupal, Stripe, and Webforms

Dharizza Espinach - dharizza

Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi Rich Lawson - richlawson.co rklawson

Jacob Rockowitz - jrockowitz.com jrockowitz

• Brief description:
  • Did you ever need to review all the data in a field on a content entity type or a specific bundle?
• Module name/project name:
  • Field Data
• Brief history
  • How old: February 28, 2025
  • Versions available: 1.0.0-alpha12
• Maintainership
  • Actively maintained
  • Test coverage
• Documentation
  • Default settings include
  • Display only published field data
  • Display only field data in the default language
• Usage stats:
  • 34 sites report using this module
• Maintainer(s):
  • Jacob Rockowitz
• Module features and usage
  • Adds a 'Data' tab to Drupal core's 'Field list' report (/admin/reports/fields), which allows administrators to view and download field data.
  • This module can be used while developing a migration to review field data before and after a migration.
  • This module also allows site builders and developers to identify unused fields.
  • Similar Modules
  • Schema Viewer
  • Provides a backend developer tool to view table schema by table name.
  • Entity Export CSV
  • Export Content Entity to CSV.

In this episode, Martin and Jürgen dive deep into the concept of modular API, ECA and more. Jürgen shares insights from Dev Days in Lubin, key improvements in ECA 3.0, and the exciting potential of leveraging the BPMN interface for AI. The conversation also addresses future aspirations for ECA. Additionally, Jürgen and Martin share their personal travel hacks and discuss the intersection of Drupal travel and photography.

For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/cafe008

• Introduction to Modular API
• Conversations at Dev Days
• Exploring Modeler API
• AI Integration and Future Prospects
• Challenges and Comparisons with Other Tools
• Community Collaboration and AI Initiatives
• Future Roadmap for ECA
• Travel Hacks and Personal Insights
• Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Martin Anderson-Clutz is a highly respected figure in the Drupal community, known for his extensive contributions as a developer, speaker, and advocate for open-source innovation. Based in London, Ontario, Canada, Martin began his career as a graphic designer before transitioning into web development. His journey with Drupal started in late 2005 when he was seeking a robust multilingual CMS solution, leading him to embrace Drupal's capabilities. Martin holds the distinction of being the world's first Triple Drupal Grand Master, certified across Drupal 7, 8, and 9 as a Developer, Front-End Specialist, and Back-End Specialist. He also possesses certifications in various Acquia products and is UX certified by the Nielsen Norman Group. Currently serving as a Senior Solutions Engineer at Acquia, Martin has been instrumental in advancing Drupal's ecosystem. He has developed and maintains several contributed modules, including Smart Date and Search Overrides, and has been actively involved in the Drupal Recipes initiative, particularly focusing on event management solutions. His current work on the Event Platform aims to streamline the creation and management of event-based websites within Drupal. Beyond development, Martin is a prominent speaker and educator, having presented at numerous Drupal events such as DrupalCon Barcelona and EvolveDrupal. He is also a co-host of the "Talking Drupal" podcast, where he leads the "Module of the Week" segment, sharing insights on various Drupal modules. Martin's dedication to the Drupal community is evident through his continuous efforts to mentor, innovate, and promote best practices within the open-source landscape.

Jürgen Haas is a seasoned software architect, open source advocate, and long-time contributor to the Drupal community. Based in Germany, Jürgen brings decades of experience in enterprise IT solutions, specializing in system architecture, security, and digital transformation. He is known for his leadership within the ECA project and for being the track lead for privacy and data protection in Drupal CMS. Jürgen is an active participant in community initiatives, a frequent speaker at Drupal events, and a mentor to developers looking to deepen their expertise in scalable and secure web applications. His work reflects a passion for innovation, collaboration, and the power of open-source technology to solve real-world business challenges

Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu Jürgen Haas - jurgenhaas

Today we are talking about AI, How it can be privacy focused, and What amazee.ai is doing to help with guest Michael Schmid. We’ll also cover LiteLLM AI Provider as our module of the week.

For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/515

• Privacy Concerns with AI
• Amazee's Privacy-Focused AI Solutions
• Foundation Models and Their Importance
• AI-Powered Search in Drupal
• Customizing AI Responses and Search
• Proprietary vs. Open Source Models
• Understanding Neural Networks
• Training and Weights in Models
• Integrating AI with Drupal
• Practical Steps to Implement AI in Drupal
• AI and MCP for Automation
• Open Source Models in AI
• Future Directions for MAI AI
• Conclusion and Contact Information

• amazee.ai
• Foundation models
• amazee ai provider & amazee ai vector db module
• Drupal AI module
• AI Chatbot
• MCP
• DrupalGovCon

Michael Schmid - amazee.ai schnitzel

Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi Rich Lawson - richlawson.co rklawson

Matt Glaman - mglaman.dev mglaman

• Brief description:
  • AI provider for using LiteLLM. LiteLLM is a gateway that allows connecting to LLMs without accessing the providers directly using the same API as OpenAI along with other governance goodies.
• Module name/project name:
  • LiteLLM AI Provider
• Brief history
  • How old: created on 24 February 2025
  • Versions available: beta, 1.1.0 and 1.0.0 to track main AI module
• Maintainership
  • Actively maintained
• Usage stats:
  • 439
• Maintainer(s):
  • marcus_johansson, andrewbelcher, justanothermark of FreelyGive
• Module features and usage
  • Basically like OpenAI provider but allows it to work with non-OpenAI models and other logic that’s in the OpenAI provider module.