Quick Start Guide#

Get up and running with Entity Builder in under 5 minutes.

Prerequisites#

Drupal 11.x
PHP 8.3+
Composer

Installation#

# Install Entity Builder and dependencies
composer require drupal/eb drupal/eb_aggrid drupal/eb_field_group drupal/eb_pathauto drupal/eb_auto_entitylabel

# Install AG-Grid library (requires Asset Packagist - see Installation Guide)
composer require npm-asset/ag-grid-community:33.0.0

# Enable all modules
drush en eb eb_ui eb_aggrid eb_field_group eb_pathauto eb_auto_entitylabel field_group pathauto auto_entitylabel -y

# Clear cache
drush cr

Recommended: AG-Grid Interface

The eb_aggrid module provides a powerful spreadsheet-like AG-Grid interface for managing definitions. Strongly recommended for the best visual editing experience. Requires the AG-Grid library via Asset Packagist - see Installation Guide for setup.

Quick Start#

Step 1: Navigate to Entity Builder#

Go to Configuration > Development > Entity Builder (/admin/config/development/eb)

Step 2: Create a New Definition#

Click Add definition
Enter a Label (e.g., "Blog Architecture")
The ID will auto-generate from the label

Step 3: Define Bundles#

Click the Bundles tab to add content types, vocabularies, or media types:

Entity Type	Bundle ID	Label	Description
taxonomy_term	blog_category	Blog Categories	Categories for blog posts
node	blog_post	Blog Post	Blog articles

Step 4: Define Fields#

Click the Fields tab to add fields to your bundles:

Entity Type	Bundle	Field Name	Field Type	Label	Widget	Formatter
node	blog_post	field_category	entity_reference	Category	options_select	entity_reference_label
node	blog_post	field_image	image	Featured Image	image_image	image
node	blog_post	field_summary	text_long	Summary	text_textarea	text_default

Step 5: Define Field Groups (Optional)#

If you have eb_field_group enabled, click the Field Groups tab to organize fields into tabs, fieldsets, or accordions.

Step 6: Validate, Preview, Apply#

Click Validate to check for errors
Click Preview to see planned operations
Click Apply to execute

Demo: Job Board Platform#

Optionally, import a complete Job Board Platform example to explore Entity Builder features:

drush eb:import web/modules/custom/eb/tests/fixtures/examples/job_board_platform.yml && drush cr

Then visit /admin/config/development/eb, click Job Board Platform, and click Apply.

This creates 7 taxonomies, 4 content types, 60+ fields, 40+ field groups, URL patterns, and auto-generated labels. Study the YAML at tests/fixtures/examples/job_board_platform.yml.

Re-Running Definitions (Smart Sync)#

Entity Builder uses smart sync - you can safely re-run definitions:

New items: Created
Changed items: Updated
Unchanged items: Skipped

Next Steps#

Core Concepts - Understand the architecture
YAML Format Reference - Complete YAML specification
Operations Guide - All available operations
AG-Grid Extension - Spreadsheet-like interface
Field Group Extension - Tabbed forms and fieldsets
Pathauto Extension - URL alias patterns
Auto Entity Label Extension - Automatic titles
Drush Commands - Full CLI reference

Troubleshooting#

"Field type not found" Error#

composer require drupal/datetime && drush en datetime -y

"Bundle already exists" Error#

In sync mode, existing bundles are updated. Use create_only mode to fail on duplicates.

Permission Denied#

drush role:perm:add administrator "administer entity builder"

Validation Errors in UI#

Hover over red-highlighted cells for error details
Check that entity types and bundles exist
Verify field type compatibility with widgets/formatters