Why Ludwig?

External PHP libraries management

Contributed Drupal modules often require external PHP libraries. Since Drupal 8 is released, preferred tool for Drupal site management is Composer. Composer takes care of all the required libraries nicely and automatically.

Can I upload required libraries to 'vendor' folder manually just like I did to 'libraries' folder in Drupal 7?

Due to the way Composer works, these libraries can't be manually uploaded to the site's vendor folder. Instead, Composer must be used to download the module, which then pulls in the required libraries.

Once Composer is used to manage a single module, it also needs to be used to manage and update Drupal core, since manual Drupal core updates replace the '/vendor' folder, removing all the downloaded libraries.

I am not familiar with command-line tools such as Composer. Is there an alternative?

Even though we fully believe in the superiority of a Composer-based approach to site management, we still wanted to offer an UI alternative to users who are not friendly with the command line tools or want to avoid Composer usage for other reasons.

Ludwig is written for them. It is not as powerful as Composer, but in most cases it will do the job well enough.

For Ludwig module integration requirements and current library limitations please read:

• Can I manage libraries of all contrib modules with Ludwig?
• Library types support status

Can I use both Composer and Ludwig in my project?

If you are using Composer to manage your Drupal project you don't need Ludwig, and you shouldn't use it!

If you decide to switch your Drupal project from Ludwig-managed project to Composer-managed project at some point - don't forget to uninstall and remove Ludwig module from it.

Name origin

Ludwig van Beethoven was a **deaf composer**.

Ludwig integration help

If you are a contrib module developer/maintainer and you need help to integrate your contrib project with Ludwig, feel free to contact @devad at Drupal.org.