PSA Moodle Development Environment

Podman-based Moodle 4.5 development environment for BC Gov PSA.

Components

Component	Location	Type	Description
psaelmsync	plugins/psaelmsync/	local_psaelmsync	ELM enrollment synchronization
githubsync	plugins/githubsync/	local_githubsync	GitHub-based course sync
pathcurator	plugins/pathcurator/	mod_pathcurator	Learning path curation activity
course_search	plugins/course_search/	block_course_search	Course search block
bcgovpsa	themes/bcgovpsa/	theme	BC Gov PSA Boost child theme

All are mounted as volumes for live development—edit locally, changes reflect immediately.

Prerequisites

• Podman and Podman Compose
• Production SQL dump: PROD-mysql-moodle_2025-03-11.sql (place in project root)

Quick Start

git clone <repository-url>
cd moodle-dev
podman compose up -d

First run takes 10-15 minutes for the ~900MB database import. Monitor with:

podman compose logs -f mariadb

Access Moodle at http://localhost:8081

Development

Plugin/Theme Development

Edit files in plugins/ or themes/ directories. Changes appear immediately in the container.

After modifying version.php or database schema:

podman compose exec moodle php /var/www/html/admin/cli/upgrade.php

Purge caches when needed:

podman compose exec moodle php /var/www/html/admin/cli/purge_caches.php

Claude Code

Claude Code CLI is pre-installed in the container. First use requires authentication:

podman compose exec moodle claude

Credentials persist across container restarts.

Container Access

podman compose exec moodle bash

Database Access

podman compose exec mariadb mysql -u moodle -pmoodlepassword moodle

Commands Reference

Action	Command
Start	podman compose up -d
Stop	podman compose down
Logs	podman compose logs -f moodle
Rebuild	podman compose build moodle && podman compose up -d
Reset all data	podman compose down -v

Configuration

Optional .env file:

DB_ROOT_PASSWORD=rootpassword
DB_NAME=moodle
DB_USER=moodle
DB_PASSWORD=moodlepassword
MOODLE_WWWROOT=http://localhost:8081

Fresh Install

To start without the production database:

1. Remove or rename PROD-mysql-moodle_2025-03-11.sql
2. Run podman compose up -d
3. Complete installation wizard at http://localhost:8081

Project Structure

moodle-dev/
├── plugins/
│   ├── psaelmsync/            # ELM sync plugin (mounted volume)
│   ├── githubsync/            # GitHub course sync (mounted volume)
│   ├── pathcurator/           # Learning path activity (mounted volume)
│   └── course_search/         # Course search block (mounted volume)
├── themes/
│   └── bcgovpsa/              # PSA theme (mounted volume)
├── db-init/                   # Database initialization scripts
├── compose.yml
├── Containerfile
├── entrypoint.sh
└── config.php.template

Technical Details

Component	Version
Moodle	4.5 (MOODLE_405_STABLE)
PHP	8.1
MariaDB	10.11
Base Image	php:8.1-apache

Ports: Moodle 8081, MariaDB 3306

Volumes: Database, moodledata, and Claude Code config persist between restarts.