Presenting extensions one by one is one thing; showing how they work together is another. That is exactly what the Webconsulting TYPO3 Lab is for: a DDEV-based feature environment where modern TYPO3 v14 building blocks run side by side, from visual editing and workspaces to search, themes and AI integration.
This article is therefore the connecting thread for our extension series: everything we have covered individually comes together here in one working setup.
Table of contents
Overview
What the lab is – and how it originated.
What is included
The building blocks in interaction.
Installation
Ready to go in just a few DDEV commands.
What it has become
From a demo setup to a feature lab.
Overview
The TYPO3 Lab is a DDEV-based playground for TYPO3 14.3. It includes the Visual Editor, workspace editing, API-driven content workflows, Desiderio theme rendering, custom Records List views, Solr search and an accompanying News API Studio application. The aim is not a finished product, but a reproducible environment in which features can be tested and combined under realistic conditions.
The lab began as the Visual Editor DDEV demo setup by Kanti (anders und sehr). We build on that setup and have steadily grown it into a broader feature lab.
The lab is built throughout for TYPO3 v14.3 LTS. The included site package is versioned as 14.0.0 and supports TYPO3 v14 only. Local development runs on DDEV (Docker/OrbStack).
What is included
The appeal of the lab lies in how the parts work together. The following building blocks fit neatly into one another: each is useful on its own, and together they form a modern TYPO3 stack.
The lab's building blocks, from editing and frontend to search and API/AI.
| Building block | Role in the lab |
|---|---|
| Visual Editor | Frontend editing of pages directly in the preview. |
| Workspaces & Easy Workspace | Drafting, approval, and one-click publishing. |
| Desiderio + Camino | shadcn/ui-based theme and a classic demo theme. |
| Records List Types/Examples | Grid, teaser, catalogue, and timeline views in the backend. |
| Apache Solr | Enterprise search with numbered pagination. |
| sg-apicore, MCP, WorkOS | API layer, AI tool integration, and authentication. |
| News API Studio | Next.js/Electron client for editing EXT:news via the API. |
A closer look at the key integrations: frontend editing is handled by the Visual Editor. Search is provided by Apache Solr for TYPO3 (EXT:solr), pre-configured in the lab with numbered pagination. For API-based editorial workflows, the lab shows WorkOS-backed authentication alongside MCP tooling, which opens up the TYPO3 backend context to AI assistants.
We cover the individual extensions in detail in separate articles:
Records List Types
Grid, compact, and teaser views for the Records module. → To the article
Records List Examples
Six ready-made views as an addition. → To the article
Desiderio
shadcn/ui design as a native TYPO3 theme. → To the article
Easy Workspace
Publish content with a single click. → To the article
Installation
The lab launches as a DDEV project. All you need is an installed DDEV environment and Docker or OrbStack running.
cp config/system/settings.php.example config/system/settings.php
ddev start
ddev composer install
ddev import-db --file=dump.sql.gz
mkdir -p .tarballs
curl -L -o .tarballs/fileadmin.tar.gz \
https://curt.at/downloads/typo3-lab/fileadmin-v1.2.0.tar.gz
ddev import-files --source=.tarballs/fileadmin.tar.gz
ddev typo3 extension:setup
ddev typo3 cache:flushThe database dump (dump.sql.gz) lives in the GitHub repository. The fileadmin archive
(~120 MB of demo media and FAL assets) is provided by curt.at.
From there, ddev launch /typo3/module/web/edit opens the TYPO3 backend. The lab ships with several demo sites, among them a Camino theme, blog demos and theme-related sample pages, all reachable via the local DDEV URLs.
The config/system/settings.php file, like .ddev/config.local.yaml, is gitignored for good reason: secrets such as API keys and the encryption key have no place in the repository. They belong behind getenv() calls or in local, unversioned configuration.
What it has become
The starting point was Kanti's Visual Editor DDEV demo. It has grown into a much broader environment without losing sight of the original goal: simple reproducibility.
Visual Editor DDEV Demo (Kanti)
Shared Site Package
Theme & Search
Backend Views & API
News API Studio
Frequently asked questions
Conclusion
The TYPO3 Lab shows how modern building blocks (visual editing, workspaces, a token-based theme, enterprise search and AI integration) come together into a coherent TYPO3 v14 stack. For us it is both a workshop and a showcase; for anyone interested, it is a reproducible starting point for seeing these extensions at work in context.
Our thanks go to Kanti (anders und sehr) for the excellent Visual Editor DDEV setup. We build on it and have added a site package, Desiderio, Solr, Records List views, API/MCP tooling, WorkOS login and News API Studio. The bulk of the demo setup comes from Kanti; dkd (Apache Solr for TYPO3) and the TYPO3 Core Team contribute further essential technical building blocks. The lab is licensed under GPL-2.0.