Programmatically define the active add-ons and theme

Volto allows you to define the active add-ons and theme via a file in the root of your project called volto.config.js.

Dynamic Volto Addons Configuration

There are some cases where defining the Volto addons your project is going to use via package.json addons key is not enough, and you need more control over it. For example, when you have several builds under the umbrella of the same project that share the core of the code, but each build have special requirements, like other CSS, customizations, shadowing or the features of other addons available.

This is an example of a volto.config.js file. This module exports an object and can have arbitrary code depending on your needs:

let addons = [];
if (process.env.MY_SPECIAL_CUSTOM_BUILD) {
  addons = ['volto-custom-addon'];
}

if (process.env.MY_SPECIAL_SECOND_CUSTOM_BUILD) {
  addons = ['volto-custom-addon', 'volto-custom-addon-additional'];
}

module.exports = {
  addons,
};

In the case above, we delegate to the presence of an environment variable (MY_SPECIAL_CUSTOM_BUILD) the use of the list of addons specified.

This list, sums up to the one defined in package.json (it does not override it), and the addons added are placed at the end of the addons list, so the config in there is applied after the ones in the package.json.

Dynamic Volto active theme configuration

The same applies for the active theme:

let addons = [];
let theme;
if (process.env.MY_SPECIAL_CUSTOM_BUILD) {
  addons = ['volto-custom-addon'];
  theme = 'volto-my-theme';
}

if (process.env.MY_SPECIAL_SECOND_CUSTOM_BUILD) {
  addons = ['volto-custom-addon-alternative', 'volto-custom-addon-additional'];
  theme = 'volto-my-alternate-theme';
}

module.exports = {
  addons,
  theme
};

VOLTOCONFIG environment variable usage

This environment variable allows you to specify a custom location for volto.config.js.

It can be relative to the current project or absolute.

VOLTOCONFIG=../../volto.config.js yarn start

VOLTOCONFIG=$(pwd)/volto.config.js yarn start

You can also set it from the root of the monorepo:

VOLTOCONFIG=../../volto.config.js pnpm --filter @plone/volto start