composer require drupal/varbase_starterVarbase Starter is the default Varbase site template and a general-purpose starting point for Drupal CMS. One recipe composes 24 recipes into a working site, with a Canvas home page, a blog, demo content, search and editorial workflow ready on first install.
It is the recipe-first successor to the older Varbase profile install, and it runs in production: Vardot built www.vardot.com with it.
Built for
- Company and agency websites
- Blogs and editorial sites
- Teams that want a configured Drupal CMS base to build on
- Developers building their own site templates
What you get
- A working site from one recipe: it composes 24 recipes, installs Vartheme BS5 and sets the front page.
- A Canvas home page: built from Vartheme BS5 components, with ready-made patterns editors can drop onto any page.
- Demo content: blog posts, pages, a media library and menus from Varbase Demo Content, so the site looks functional on first boot.
- Search: preconfigured with Search API, with a search block placed by a config action.
- Editorial workflow: content moderation and content access permissions set up out of the box.
- To customize the template click here.
A base for other templates
Horizon Aid, Educare and The Rightup are all built from Varbase Starter. Start here when you want the Varbase foundation without a sector-specific design.
About Varbase
Varbase is the AI-Native Enterprise CMS built on top of Drupal CMS 2.0. Powered by Vardot.
- Drupal CMS recipes: admin UI, authentication, media, forms, search, SEO basic and SEO tools, accessibility tools, anti-spam and privacy.
- Varbase base recipes: users, admin, security, media, editor, content, workflow, SEO, webform, page, blog and performance.
- Theme: Vartheme BS5, set as the default theme, with the front page at /home.
Features
Support
FAQ
Is Varbase Starter free?
Yes. It is open source under GPL-2.0-or-later, and every part of it, including the theme, comes from drupal.org.
Which Drupal version does it need?
Drupal CMS 2 (Drupal 11).
How do I install it?
Require drupal/varbase_starter with Composer, then choose Varbase Starter in the installer. The commands on this page do the same with DDEV and Drush.
Is it used in production?
Yes. Vardot built www.vardot.com with Varbase Starter.
Do editors need to write code?
No. The home page is built with Drupal Canvas and edited in the Canvas editor, and ready-made patterns can be added to any page.
Can I build my own template from it?
Yes. Vardot's other site templates, Horizon Aid, Educare and The Rightup, are built from it.
Does it track visitors?
No analytics or tracking is enabled by default. Form submissions stay in your site's own database.
Is hosting included?
No. Varbase Starter is a site template. Deploy it on any hosting that supports Drupal CMS.
Where can I get help?
Open an issue in the drupal.org issue queue. Vardot maintains the project and triages issues there.
