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Version: 8.8 (unreleased)

Local development with element templates and Camunda 8 Run

When working with element templates in your local development environment using Camunda 8 Run with Docker Compose, ensure all dependencies are provisioned before you start.

This guide explains how to set up element templates in your local environment.

Prerequisites​

Provisioning secrets​

If your element templates use secrets, you must provide these values to the connector runtime.

Add secrets to the connector-secrets.txt file in the root directory of your Camunda 8 Run setup. Use the following format, with one secret per line:

NAME=VALUE

These secrets will then be available in the connector runtime using the format secrets.NAME.

For example:

MY_TOKEN=value
AWS_KEY=keyValue
...

In this case, the MY_TOKEN secret can be referenced as secrets.MY_TOKEN.

This applies when custom connectors are deployed as part of the Camunda 8 Run Docker Compose setup.
If you choose to run connectors differently, as described in the custom connector hosting guide, configure secrets as environment variables instead.

Provisioning a custom connector runtime​

You can add a custom connector runtime to Camunda 8 Run by copying the .jar file containing all connector dependencies into the custom_connectors directory in the root folder of your Camunda 8 Run setup.

This guide uses a generic connector template as a reference.

  1. Clone the repository and run the following command to generate a deployable file:

    mvn clean verify package

This command creates a file named target/connector-template-0.1.0-SNAPSHOT-with-dependencies.jar.

  1. Copy the .jar file into the custom_connectors directory.
  2. Start Camunda 8 Run with Docker Compose. For example:

./start.sh --docker

On Windows, use:


.\c8run.exe start -docker

  1. Your connector is ready to execute jobs when a process references it.

If you use a different connector runtime environment, ensure that secrets are also exposed to that runtime.

Provisioning other dependencies​

Using Desktop Modeler​

Deploy element template dependencies using Desktop Modeler by following the self-managed deployment guide.

This process applies to BPMN diagrams, forms, DMN diagrams, and RPA scripts.

Using the Cluster API​

For an automated approach, write scripts that use the Orchestration Cluster REST API to deploy dependencies.

To deploy additional dependencies—such as forms, DMN diagrams, or subprocesses—send a POST request with the relevant files.

For example:


curl -L 'http://localhost:8080/v2/deployments' \
-H 'Accept: application/json' \
-F resources=@/pathToYourForm/user-signup.form

You will get a response containing the details of the deployed elements:

{
  "deployments": [
    {
      "form": {
        "formKey": "KEY_OF_THE_FORM",
        "formId": "user-signup",
        "version": 1,
        "resourceName": "user-signup.form",
        "tenantId": "<default>"
      }
    }
  ],
  "deploymentKey": "KEY_OF_THE_DEPLOYMENT",
  "tenantId": "<default>"
}

You can use element templates that reference the user-signup.form.

Configure element templates in Desktop Modeler​

To make your element templates available in Desktop Modeler, see the configuration guide.

Additional resources and next steps​