Drupal Quick Start

This guide provides a step-by-step overview to quickly configure the Drupal Connector for your Drupal instance. It is applicable for Drupal versions 8 through 11.

1. Install Mandatory Modules

Install and enable the following modules in your Drupal instance:

  • JSON:API Module Enables JSON-based endpoints for accessing Drupal content. For installation details, see: JSON:API Module Documentation.

  • Serialization Module Provides services for serializing and deserializing data (e.g. to/from JSON and XML). For details, see: Serialization Module Documentation.

  • HTTP Basic Auth Module Enables HTTP Basic Authentication on Drupal API endpoints. For details, see: Http Basic Auth

For instructions on installing modules, see: Installing Modules in Drupal.

2. Create a Role for the Technical Account

Create a custom role (e.g., ConnectorTechnicalRole) that has only the necessary permission to access content via JSON:API:

  • Required Permissions:

    • Access content: This permission allows the role to view published content through JSON:API. It must be enabled for all relevant content types:

  • Required Permissions:

    • Nodes

    • Articles

    • Taxonomy terms

    • Comments (only if the connector is configured to index comments)

    • Other custom content types used in your Drupal instance

Ensure that Access content is enabled for all content types that the connector needs to index.

Steps to create the role:

  1. In your Drupal admin UI, navigate to People → Roles.

  2. Click + Add role and enter a name such as “ConnectorTechnicalRole.”

  3. Save the role.

  4. Edit the role’s permissions and ensure that Access content is enabled. (Note: If your connector requires access to additional content types, adjust the permissions accordingly. For example, if indexing comments is optional, ensure you configure permissions appropriately.)

For detailed instructions on creating a new role, see: Creating a New Role.

3. Create the Technical Account and Assign the Role

Set up a dedicated technical account to be used exclusively by the connector:

  1. In your Drupal admin UI, navigate to People → + Add user.

  2. Fill in the required details (username, email, password). For example, you might use “connector_crawl_user” as the username.

  3. Under Roles, assign the newly created role (e.g., ConnectorTechnicalRole) to the user.

  4. Save the account.

For detailed instructions on creating a new user, see: Creating a New User.