johnfmorton / craft-twig-scaffold

1.2.0 2026-09-06 14:01 UTC

Requires

• php: >=8.2
• craftcms/cms: ^5.11.0

Requires (Dev)

• craftcms/ecs: dev-main
• craftcms/phpstan: dev-main
• phpstan/phpstan: ^2.2

proprietary

Published on Packagist.org on 2026-09-06 14:01 UTC

README

Twig Scaffold is a control panel utility for Craft CMS 5 that writes a starter Twig template for any entry type, straight from its field layout. Pick an entry type, click Generate Twig, copy the result into your templates folder, and edit from there.

It exists to skip the tedious part of templating: typing out every field handle, every Matrix loop, and every block-type branch before you can see anything on the page. The generated template is a starting point, not a finished design.

Requirements

This plugin requires Craft CMS 5.11.0 or later, and PHP 8.2 or later.

Installation

Twig Scaffold is not yet listed in the Craft Plugin Store, so for now install it with Composer. The package is published on Packagist, so no extra repositories entry is needed in your project’s composer.json.

Open your terminal and run the following commands:

# go to the project directory
cd /path/to/my-project.test

# tell Composer to load the plugin
composer require johnfmorton/craft-twig-scaffold

# tell Craft to install the plugin
./craft plugin/install twig-scaffold

Once the plugin is listed in the Plugin Store, you will also be able to go to the Plugin Store in your project’s control panel, search for “Twig Scaffold”, and press “Install”.

Usage

1. In the control panel, go to Utilities → Twig Scaffold.
2. Choose an entry type. They are grouped by section; entry types that only exist inside Matrix or CKEditor fields are listed under Nested entry types.
3. Choose how Matrix fields should be written (see below) and click Generate Twig.
4. Click Copy to clipboard and paste the template into your templates/ folder. The utility suggests a location: the section’s template setting, or the partial template path for a nested entry type.

The entry is available in the template as entry, which is what Craft provides in section templates and in partial templates rendered with render().

What gets generated

Every custom field in the layout gets a block of Twig with a comment naming the field and its type, so you can find your way around:

Field type	Output
Plain Text	<p>{{ entry.handle }}</p>, with |nl2br for multi-line fields
CKEditor, Redactor	{{ entry.handle }} (and a note when the field has nested entries, which render via their partial templates)
Assets	An <img> with alt, width and height for images, a link for other files; a single <img> when the field allows one asset
Entries, Categories, Tags, Users	A <ul> of linked titles (usernames for users), fetched once into a variable so an empty list costs one query
Matrix, Super Table	A {% for %} loop nested as deep as the content model goes, with {% switch %} on block type when a field has several; a {% set %} and {% if %} when the field allows one block
Neo	A {% for %} over level(1) blocks with {% switch %} on block type, and a nested {% for child in block.children.all() %} for every block type that allows children, as deep as the field’s max levels allow. A type that can contain itself is cut off with a comment
Content Block	The block’s fields, guarded by {% if %}
Date, Time	A <time> tag with a machine-readable datetime attribute, always guarded (Twig treats a null date as “now”)
Dropdown, Radio Buttons, Button Group	{{ entry.handle.label }}
Checkboxes, Multi-select	A <ul> of the selected labels
Lightswitch	{% if entry.handle %} with the field’s on/off labels
Table	A <table> with headings and a row loop, cells formatted by column type
Link	An <a> using the link’s url and label
Number, Range	The value with the field’s prefix and suffix
URL, Email	A link or mailto: link
Color, Country, Money, Icon, JSON	The hex value, country name, formatted amount, icon name, and pretty-printed JSON
Addresses	{{ address|address }} for each address
Other field types	A comment naming the field, so nothing is dropped silently. Plain string or number values are printed.

Fields that aren’t required are wrapped in {% if %} so empty values don’t leave empty tags behind. Fields whose values are objects (dates, links, colors) are always guarded. Layouts with several tabs get a comment per tab.

Block fields: inline loops or partial templates

• Inline loops (the default) writes everything into one template: a {% for %} loop for each Matrix, Super Table or Neo field, a {% switch %} on block.type.handle when the field has more than one block type, and the same again for block fields nested inside blocks. An entry type or Neo block type that contains itself is cut off with a comment rather than looping forever.
• Partial templates writes {{ entry.myMatrixField.render() }} instead. Craft then renders each block with its own partial template: templates/_partials/entry/<entryTypeHandle>.twig for Matrix and Super Table blocks, and templates/_partials/neoblock/<blockTypeHandle>.twig for Neo blocks (the folder follows your partialTemplatesPath config setting). The utility writes those partials too: below the main template it lists a starter for every partial it relies on, each with its path, the variable the block is available as (entry or neoblock), and a copy button. Partials that need partials of their own, such as a Neo block type with child blocks or a Matrix field inside a block, are included as well. To regenerate a single Matrix or Super Table partial later, pick its entry type under Nested entry types.

Custom field types

Twig Scaffold has built-in output for every field type that ships with Craft, plus CKEditor, Redactor, Neo and Super Table, and it bundles renderers for these popular plugins:

Plugin	Output
Hyper	{{ entry.handle.getLink() }}, guarded by isEmpty(); a <ul> loop when the field allows multiple links
SEO	A comment: the SEO plugin writes the data to <head> through {% hook "seo" %}, so there is nothing to output in the body; it lists the properties for a custom meta template
oEmbed	{{ entry.handle.render() }} when the URL is valid
Maps	The address and coordinates, with a note on embed() and img()
Table Maker	A <table> looping the value’s columns and rows, cells formatted by column type
Code Field	<pre><code class="language-…"> with the code, escaped so it displays as text
Linkit	{{ entry.handle.getLink() }} when the link is available

Those renderers live in src/renderers/, one file per plugin, in the same format as a plugin’s own twig-scaffold.php, so a plugin author can copy one into their plugin and own it; a file shipped by the plugin itself overrides the bundled one. Super Table fields are Matrix fields in Craft 5, so they work exactly as Matrix fields do. Field Manager adds no field types, so there is nothing for it to render.

A field type from any other plugin gets a comment instead:

{# Podcast Audio (Podcast Audio Field) #}
{# No built-in rendering for this field type. Try {{ entry.podcastAudio }} or see the field's documentation. #}

Both plugin developers and site developers can fix that.

Site developers: config/twig-scaffold.php

Create config/twig-scaffold.php in your project, mapping field classes to the Twig you want generated for them. $value stands for the expression that reaches the field's value:

<?php
// config/twig-scaffold.php

return [
    // A field type from a plugin that doesn't describe itself yet.
    acme\podcast\fields\PodcastAudioField::class => [
        'twig' => '<audio controls src="{{ $value.url }}"></audio>',
        'guard' => '$value',
    ],

    // Override one of Craft's own field types, here to use your picture macro.
    craft\fields\Assets::class => [
        "{% import '_macros/media' as media %}",
        '{% for asset in $value.all() %}',
        '    {{ media.picture(asset) }}',
        '{% endfor %}',
    ],
];

This file has the last word: it overrides renderers shipped by plugins, the ones Twig Scaffold bundles, and its built-in output for Craft's own fields. The full format, including closures for settings-dependent output and the $element, $handle, and $label placeholders, is documented in INTEGRATION.md.

Plugin developers: add Twig Scaffold support to your plugin

If your plugin provides a field type, ship a src/twig-scaffold.php file that tells Twig Scaffold how to render it. It's a plain PHP array, it adds no dependency on Twig Scaffold, and it's only read when someone clicks Generate Twig:

<?php
// src/twig-scaffold.php in your plugin

use acme\podcast\fields\PodcastAudioField;

return [
    PodcastAudioField::class => '<audio controls src="{{ $value.url }}"></audio>',
];

If Twig Scaffold already bundles a renderer for your field type, your file wins, and the bundled one is a ready-made starting point to copy.

Read the integration guide for the file's location, the four renderer forms (string, list of lines, twig + guard, closure), placeholders, matching by parent class, guidance on writing a good scaffold, how to adopt a bundled renderer, how to test, and the event-based alternative for modules.

Permissions

Twig Scaffold shows up in the Utilities section for admins and for any user group with the Utilities → Twig Scaffold permission. The generator only reads your field layouts; it never touches content.