MODX Field Notes: April 2025

A curated collection of MODX extras, updates, and tools from developer Jens Wittmann.

By Jens Wittmann  |  April 25, 2025  |  4 min read
Community Insights MODX CMS
MODX Field Notes: April 2025

Once again, Jens Wittmann has pulled together some of his recent finds and other things he's come across while working on projects and participating in the community. Enjoy Jens' Field Notes for April 2025. You can check out his previous Field Notes entry.

This year starts a little bit silent in the MODX Community. But only the first weeks. There was the MODX SnowUp and the MODX AI Hackathon in the last weeks.

There are also some great notes to know:

  • A MODX extra to sanitize SVG files and parse them inline, or as part of an SVG sprite. The file is cleaned first to make sure there are no malicious scripts, links or other XSS tricksters inside. After that, you can tweak the output to match any compatibility or design requirements you may have.
  • Another MODX extra that acts as a wrapper for HtmlPageDom, a library for easily editing HTML documents using DOM.
  • Some cool SEO MODX Placheolders for your <head>.
  • Docker-based local development environment for MODX CMS with PHP, MariaDB, Nginx, and advanced developer tools. Features automatic installation, data import/export, Xdebug, phpMyAdmin, MailHog, and more.
  • Would you like a cleaner MODX Manager theme and a modern ContentBlocks modal background? You should check out CurlyFramework 7.6.
  • Or maybe you'd like a bit of colour in your MODX manager resource tree? Check this out.
  • Do you want to hook up FormIt Extra with Brevo? There's now an extra for that.
  • Display an upload area with pqinoa/filepond for uploading multiple files in FormIt with AjaxUpload 2.0.
  • Babel's version 3.5 has had a massive upgrade.
  • Algolia is a really powerful cloud-based search platform that provides instant and relevant search results. Now you can integrate it in MODX with this extra.
  • Use MagicPreview 1.5 to view VersionX delta previews before reverting.

Content Editing

  • Now you can create tabs, fields, and tables directly from PHP code, without digging through the admin panel. This means you can update the interface via GitHub and manage it from your favorite code editor. Check out PageBlocks – a powerful tool for MODX in the Laravel style!
  • ContentBlocks 2 is a complete rebuild. Taking the lessons and things that work well in v1, modernising them, and then adding the missing pieces we identified over the last decade and adding the strict typing you deserve. To bring ContentBlocks 2 to completion, they were looking for extra support in the form of funding.

MODX × AI

  • Aixo is a service class that you can build AI plugins and snippets on top of. One benefit is that it the architecture of it allows you to connect to any provider you want (OpenAI, HuggingFace etc.) as well as local models (theoretically).
  • modAI brings the power of generative AI directly into your MODX manager with just one click of the “sparkle button” (✦). Transform your content workflow by instantly generating SEO-optimized meta titles, descriptions, summaries, full articles, images, and alt tags that actually convert. It also supports Redactor now, by the way.
  • A long stream-of-consciousness post reflecting on the last month or two working on AIKit and talking with John and Ryan at MODX about their modAI extra.

Do You Have Any MODX Field Notes to Share?

Message Jens via Slack or MODX Forum.

Jens Wittmann is an accessibility and sustainability developer from Leipzig, Germany. He has been a MODX enthusiast since 2006 and publishes his daily learnings as CurlyFramework and also maintains the JoliTypo Extra.