🧩 JCB Packaging Is Back — Smarter, Git-Driven, and Fully Integrated

[Llewellynvdm]

After much anticipation, we're thrilled to announce that JCB Packaging is not only back but entirely reimagined — delivering a robust, repository-based system for exporting, importing, and sharing JCB assets. As of JCB 5.1.1 Beta 2, the packaging engine is fully functional and ready for community testing.

This post explains what JCB Packaging is, how it works, and why it changes the game for Joomla developers using JCB.

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🚀 What Is JCB Packaging?

Packaging in JCB refers to the ability to export and import JCB entities like:

• Fields
• Layouts & Templates
• Admin Views & Site Views
• Libraries
• Snippets
• Entire Components

…but now it does so via Git repositories, not ZIP files.

This means every part of your component infrastructure can be versioned, reused, and shared using modern, team-friendly Git workflows.

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✅ Key Features in the New JCB Packaging System

1. Built-In Push Engine

JCB now allows you to push entities directly to Git repositories (GitHub or Gitea). Whether it's a single layout or an entire component, JCB automatically bundles all dependencies and structures the output correctly.

2. GUID-Based Architecture

The system now uses Globally Unique IDs (GUIDs) instead of numerical database IDs. This makes cross-instance portability safe and reliable, avoiding ID conflicts and broken relationships during import.

3. Hierarchical Packaging

Packaging adapts based on what you push:

• Pushing a component includes everything linked to it (views, layouts, fields, etc.).
• Pushing a field or layout includes only relevant dependencies.
• You can push multiple items at once for batch management.

4. Fork + Push + Pull Request Workflow

To contribute to core repositories:

• Fork the official repository
• Connect your fork to JCB via the Repositories manager
• Push from within JCB using your personal access token
• Create a Pull Request (PR) from your fork to the upstream repo

This is the only supported contribution path, ensuring consistency and traceability.

5. Live Repository Integration

JCB supports pushing to and pulling from any GitHub or Gitea instance. You can:

• Maintain your own private or team repositories
• Sync your demo components
• Build internal libraries of field types or templates

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📦 Core Package Repository

JCB now includes three pre-built demo components in the official core packages repository:

🔗 https://github.com/joomengine/packages

If you’ve installed JCB 5.1.1 Beta 2 using the upgrade path, this repo is already linked. If not, you can add it manually via the Repositories panel.

💡 You don’t need an access token to pull from public repositories.
🔐 To push (for contribution), you’ll need write access and a valid token in JCB’s configuration.

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🧪 Ready to Test? Here’s How You Can Help

We are asking the community to get involved by:

• Testing the packaging system with your own components
• Pushing your own demo extensions to your forked package repo
• Opening PRs to contribute demo components to the core repo
• Helping us fine-tune the logic and catch any edge cases

We especially welcome real-world components to diversify the demo library!

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🔁 Snippets Follow the Same Pattern

Snippets now follow this same Git-based pattern. If you want to contribute a snippet:

• Fork the snippets repo
• Point your JCB instance at the fork
• Push your snippet(s)
• Open a PR back to the core

JCB supports pushing individual snippets or multiple at once. You can also reset and pull the latest versions from upstream.

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🐞 Issues? Feedback?

If you encounter any problems, please open an issue in our official tracker:
👉 https://git.vdm.dev/joomla/Component-Builder/issues

For discussion, feedback, or to showcase something cool you’ve built with JCB packaging, feel free to start a thread right here in Discussions.

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💬 Final Thoughts

This packaging system is a major leap forward in the evolution of JCB:

• 🔄 Fully Git-based and token-authenticated
• 🧱 Component-aware and dependency-smart
• 🛠️ Supports everything from fields to full apps
• 🌐 Works with both GitHub and self-hosted Gitea instances

We’re incredibly excited to see how the community uses, extends, and contributes to this system. Your input will help us refine and expand JCB’s packaging capabilities even further.

So please — try it out, break it, improve it, and help us shape it.