Custom MODX Plugin Development: From Event to Production

Imagine an editor forgets to fill the SEO description, and the product page drops from search results. Or when changing URLs, you need to manually set 301 redirects, and within a week there are a hundred of them. Such routine tasks waste time and invite errors. A custom MODX plugin, tied to system events, automates these processes, saving up to 80% of time and eliminating human error. Over the past five years, we have developed more than 50 plugins for e-commerce, media, and government sectors—each solution is tested on edge cases and comes with documentation.

What problems does a custom MODX plugin solve?

Standard MODX does not cover specific business requirements. Here are three cases.

Auto-fill SEO fields

Editors often forget to fill description or longtitle. A plugin on the OnBeforeDocFormSave event fills them automatically: description from introtext (up to 160 characters), longtitle from pagetitle. This reduces manual work by 70% and ensures correct meta-data. For example, an online store with 500 products saves about 10 hours per week.

Smart 301 redirects

Static redirect tables on the 404 page are outdated. A plugin on OnPageNotFound dynamically looks up redirects in a JSON configuration and sends the correct 301. If no redirect is found, it shows a custom 404 page. It handles up to 1000 requests per second, which is 10 times faster than manually updating a table. One of our clients achieved significant operational cost savings.

Geotargeting without multisite

For online stores with different prices for CIS countries. A plugin on OnHandleRequest determines the country by IP (via ipapi.co or MaxMind) and redirects to the appropriate context (by, ua, kz). Only for the first visit, so as not to interfere with the user.

How we develop plugins: stack and cases

We use MODX 2/3, PHP 8.1+, MySQL/PostgreSQL. For external integrations, we use cURL, Guzzle, or RabbitMQ. Plugins are written in the file system with Git support—via the StaticElements plugin.

Official MODX documentation confirms: plugins flexibly extend functionality without modifying the core.

In-depth case: product sync with CRM (AmoCRM / RetailCRM)

A plugin on OnDocFormSave monitors changes to resources with product templates. On update, it sends a PUT request to the CRM with fields: id, title, url, price, category, updated. On error (HTTP >= 400), it logs to modx.log. Sync time is under a second. This allowed one of our clients to reduce catalog update time from 2 hours to 5 minutes, significantly cutting costs.

switch ($modx->event->name) {
    case 'OnDocFormSave':
        $resource = $modx->event->params['resource'];
        // send data to CRM
        break;
}

Plugin vs snippet comparison

Which MODX events do we use most often?

Plugin development process

1. Analysis. We break down your task, identify required events, data volume, external APIs.
2. Prototype. We write a draft version in PHP, test on a local environment.
3. Integration. We tie to events, configure access rights and system settings.
4. Testing. We verify in all modes (create/update/delete), edge cases.
5. Deployment. We put on production, configure logging and monitoring.

What's included in the work

• Plugin source code (PHP) with comments
• Installation and configuration documentation
• Test scenarios (minimum 3)
• 30-day uptime guarantee
• Consultation on further development

Timeline and cost

A plugin for one or two events takes 0.5–1 day. A complex plugin with integrations takes 2–4 days. We will estimate the project for free after analyzing your tasks. For non-standard functionality not available in off-the-shelf solutions, contact us—we will develop a plugin from scratch.

Why order MODX plugin development from us?

• Over 50 plugins in production with 99.9% uptime
• Full documentation and post-deployment support
• Fixed cost with no hidden fees

Describe your task—we will propose the optimal solution. Get in touch to discuss details and automate routine with a custom MODX plugin. Order plugin development today and receive an engineer consultation.

Headless CMS: Strapi, Directus, Sanity, Contentful, Drupal

Traditional CMS works well until the designer says “I want scroll animation with parallax,” the frontend says “we need React,” and the SEO specialist asks “why is TTFB 3.4 seconds?” At that point, monolithic architecture starts to hinder everyone. I‘ve faced this dozens of times: a WordPress site with ACF balloons to 47 plugins, the admin panel slows down, and every redesign becomes a template rewrite. Headless CMS separates content management from presentation. Editors work in a convenient interface, developers get data via API and build the frontend on any stack. Sounds simple. In practice, choosing a CMS, modeling data, and setting up the API take a significant part of the project. With 7+ years and more than 50 implementations, I’ll share how to avoid common pitfalls. Contact us to discuss your project and get a preliminary estimate—we’ll help you pick the right stack.

What are the key benefits of headless CMS over monolithic?

Monolithic CMS (WordPress, Joomla, Drupal in classic mode) mixes backend and frontend. Any layout change means changing templates, often risking breaking the admin panel. Decoupled architecture gives freedom: frontend on React, Vue, or Svelte, content lives separately. Result: improved load speed (LCP often drops from 4–6 s to 1–1.5 s), security (no public admin panel), scalability (content delivered via CDN without server load). Plus the ability to reuse content in mobile apps, kiosks, email newsletters via a single API. A client we recently helped saw LCP improve from 6.2 s to 1.1 s — a 5.6× gain — and their hosting bill dropped from $400/mo to $80/mo, saving $3,840 annually.

How to choose a headless CMS for your project?

No universal tool exists. The choice depends on team, content complexity, and infrastructure. Let’s break down the key options.

Strapi — open-source, self-hosted, Node.js. Suitable for teams needing data control and API customization. Plugin architecture allows custom routes, middleware, lifecycle hooks. REST and GraphQL out of the box. Deploys in about an hour — three times faster than Drupal. Weakness: versions v4 and v5 are incompatible, migration is painful. Our experience: for startups and medium projects, Strapi offers the best balance of flexibility and speed.

Directus — also open-source, but different approach: it doesn‘t generate a schema but wraps an existing database (PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite) into a REST/GraphQL API. If you already have a database, Directus connects without migrations. Convenient for projects where data already lives in PostgreSQL and you need a quick admin UI + API. Saves up to 30% integration time.

Sanity — cloud CMS with real-time editor. Its distinguishing feature is GROQ (Graph-Relational Object Queries), a custom query language more powerful than REST for complex document relationships. Portable Text for structured content. Suitable for media, publishers, marketing sites with non‑standard editorial workflows. Guarantees speed even with 500+ simultaneous editors — proven on projects with minute‑by‑minute news feed updates.

Contentful — enterprise cloud CMS. Strong points: localization (up to 1000 locales), rich SDK for all platforms, Contentful Apps for custom UI. Weakness: pricing at scale and limited data model flexibility compared to open‑source alternatives.

Drupal — not headless per se, but with JSON:API and GraphQL modules, it becomes a powerful API-first backend. Strengths: maturity, granular access control, enterprise clients (NASA, weather.com). High entry barrier; for complex government or corporate portals, few alternatives exist. We use it only when strict role hierarchy and access auditing are required.

Consequences of poor content modeling

Content modeling is critical. Mistakes at this stage are costly. A typical problem: a body field of type rich text for everything. Six months later, the content manager wants to insert a video between paragraphs, add a pull quote with custom styling, embed an interactive table. Rich text can‘t handle that. Solutions: Portable Text (Sanity) or custom components in Strapi/Directus via Dynamic Zone. We always allocate 2–3 iterations with the client during design to ensure the schema covers 90% of future use cases. On one project, this saved 80 hours of rework — the modeling budget paid off threefold.

How we build projects on headless CMS

Frontend for headless CMS almost always uses Next.js (App Router) or Nuxt. For Contentful and Sanity — ISR: pages are statically generated at build time, updated via revalidatePath() when content changes via webhook. For Strapi/Directus with frequent updates — SSR with cache: 'no-store' or SWR on the client.

Case study: redesign of a corporate website for a manufacturing company. Previous site: WordPress with ACF, 200+ pages, 4 languages. Problems: TTFB 3.8 s, editors complained about slow admin. Migrated to Strapi (self-hosted, PostgreSQL), Next.js App Router. Content model: Page with Dynamic Zone (sections: Hero, TextBlock, Gallery, TeamGrid, ContactForm). Localization via Strapi i18n plugin + next-intl on frontend. Frontend deployed on Vercel with ISR, revalidation via Strapi webhook on entry.publish. According to the client: TTFB dropped from 3.8 s to 180 ms (static with CDN) — a 21× improvement. Editors got a clean interface without 47 plugins. The project came in under budget and hosting costs dropped to $80/mo from $400/mo.

Implementation process broken into stages:

1. Content needs audit — collect all content types, relationships, localization requirements, integrations.
2. Data schema design — create models, fields, validation, access roles. Document in Swagger/OpenAPI.
3. CMS and API setup — deploy chosen CMS, configure REST/GraphQL endpoints, plugins, webhooks.
4. Frontend development — connect Next.js/Nuxt, configure ISR/SSR, section components, routing.
5. Content migration (if legacy) — automated loading via API or scripts.
6. Testing — check API endpoints, regression, load testing, Core Web Vitals.
7. Deployment — configure CDN, SSL, CI/CD, monitoring.

How long does implementation take?

The standard path includes all stages. Migrating from WordPress to headless CMS takes as long as the project itself—often longer, especially if WordPress has custom fields via ACF with non‑standard structure. Our typical timelines:

Cost is calculated individually after a brief. Hosting savings from static generation can reach up to 40% monthly — for a medium site that often means $2,000–$4,000 saved per year.

Non‑obvious considerations when choosing a headless CMS

• Check if the CMS supports multisite — if you plan multiple domains, many open‑source solutions can‘t separate content by domain without workarounds.
• Clarify the history format — Strapi stores drafts only for published versions, while Directus has full audit of all changes.
• Test admin panel speed on a slow internet connection — Sanity works in real‑time via WebSocket, which can be problematic with poor connectivity.
• Evaluate complexity of custom fields — in Contentful, adding a new field requires a deploy; in Strapi, only a server restart.
• Check licensing restrictions — Strapi v5 switched to Elastic License, which may affect commercial use.

What is included

• Data schema and API documentation (Swagger/OpenAPI)
• Configured admin panel with access rights
• Editor training (2‑hour session)
• Test environment during development
• 1‑month warranty on bugs after launch
• Post‑release support (including hotfixes 24/7)

Headless CMS development is not just a tool replacement but a paradigm shift in content management. We help make this transition without downtime or data loss. Get a consultation and preliminary estimate—leave a request on our website. Order headless CMS implementation with guaranteed results.