--- title: "Development" slug: "development" tags: ["Site Administrator", "Explainer", "Totara Platform"] updated: 2025-07-22T10:52:18Z published: 2025-07-22T11:18:01Z canonical: "totara.help/development" --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://totara.help/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Development By going to *Quick-access menu > Development* there are a number of development tools you can use to fine-tune your Totara experience, including [debugging](/19/docs/debugging) and [experimental settings](/19/docs/experimental-features). You might also find our [public developer documentation](https://help.totaralearning.com/display/DEV) helpful, as it contains a number of useful guides and resources for developers. Below you can find explanations about what each of these tools do (except for experimental features and debugging, as these are slightly more complex and therefore have their own dedicated pages). ## **Web service test client** The web service test client executes the functions for real, so you should not test functions that you don't know. All existing web service functions are not yet implemented into the test client. In order to check that a user cannot access some functions, you can test some functions that you didn't allow. To see clearer error messages set the debugging to **NORMAL: Show errors, warnings and notices** in [Debug messages](/19/docs/debugging). ## **Purge all caches**

Purge all caches can be accessed via the Administration block within Quick-access menu > Development > Purge all caches.

 Totara can cache themes, javascript, language strings, filtered text, RSS feeds, and many other pieces of calculated data. Purging these caches will delete that data from the server and force browsers to refetch data, so that you can be sure you are seeing the most up-to-date values produced by the current code. There is no danger in purging caches, but your site may appear slower for a while until the server and clients calculate new information and caches it. ## **Make test course** This tool creates standard test courses that include many sections, activities, and files. This is intended to provide a standardised measure for checking the reliability and performance of various system components (such as backup and restore). This test is important because there have been many cases previously where, faced with real-life use cases (e.g. a course with 1,000 activities), the system does not work. Courses created using this feature can occupy a large amount of database and file system space (tens of gigabytes). You will need to delete the courses (and wait for various cleanup runs) to release this space again. Do not use this feature on a live system. Use only on a developer server. To avoid accidental use, this feature is disabled unless you have also selected **DEVELOPER** [debugging](/19/docs/debugging) level. ## **Make JMeter test plan** This tool creates a JMeter test plan file along with the user credentials file. This test plan is designed to work along with [https://github.com/moodlehq/moodle-performance-comparison](https://github.com/moodlehq/moodle-performance-comparison), which makes it easier to run the test plan in a specific Totara environment, gathers information about the runs, and compares the results. You will need to download it and use its **test_runner.sh** script or follow the installation and usage instructions. You need to set a password for the course users in **config.php** (e.g. **$CFG->tool_generator_users_password = 'totara';**). There is no default value for this password to prevent unintended usage of the tool. You need to use the update passwords option in case your course users have other passwords, or they were generated by **tool_generator** but without setting a **$CFG->tool_generator_users_password** value. It is part of **tool_generator** so it works well with the courses generated by the courses and the site generators, it can also be used with any course that contains, at least: - Enough enrolled users (depends on the test plan size you select) with the password reset to 'totara' - A page module instance - A forum module instance with at least one discussion and one reply You might want to consider your server's capacity when running large test plans, as the amount to load generated by JMeter can be especially big. The ramp up period has been adjusted according to the number of threads (users) to reduce this kind of issue, but the load is still huge. Do not run the test plan on a live system. This feature only creates the files to feed JMeter, so is not dangerous by itself, but you should NEVER run this test plan in a production site. > [!NOTE] > Available from Totara 19.1 > > ## **Excimer Profiler** > > From Totara 19.1, the Excimer profiler is included as a core component to help diagnose and troubleshoot performance issues in production environments. This profiler runs efficiently and safely, capturing performance data for slow requests without impacting system stability. > > The profiler is disabled by default, even if the PHP extension is installed and enabled. > > ### **Requirements** > > The Excimer profiler requires the Excimer PHP extension. Follow the instructions on [**MediaWiki’s**](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Excimer) documentation to install and enable the extension on your server. > > Once installed, the profiler interface is available via: > > Quick-access menu > Development > Excimer profiler. > > ### **Enabling and Configuring the Profiler** > > You can configure Excimer via: > > *Quick-access menu > Development > Excimer profiler > Excimer settings* > > The following options are available: > > | **Setting** | **Description** | **Default** | > | --- | --- | --- | > | **Enable Excimer** | Enables or disables the profiler. | Off | > | **Enable auto profiling** | Automatically save slow request profiles. | Off | > | **Enable fuzzy counting** | Uses approximate counting to track page usage. | Off | > | **Minimum request duration (ms)** | Only profile requests slower than this value. | 5000 | > | **Task min duration (s)** | Only profile scheduled tasks slower than this value. | 60 | > | **Sampling period (ms)** | Interval for performance sampling. | 10 | > | **Processing interval (s)** | Frequency of task processing. | 10 | > | **Sample limit** | Max number of samples to retain. | 1024 | > | **Stack limit** | Max recursion/stack depth. | 1000 | > | **Log expiry (days)** | Time before profiles are purged. | 30 | > | **Months to keep approximate count data** | Leave blank to keep data indefinitely. | 12 | > | **Parameters to be redacted** | Automatically removes sensitive parameters (e.g., authtoken, sesskey, etc.). | – | > | **Enable partial save** | Allows saving partial profiles during long-running processes. | Off | > | **Max to save** | Maximum number of slow profiles to retain. | 1000 | > | **Max to save by page** | Maximum number of profiles retained per script. | 5 | > > ### **Using the Profiler** > > If auto profiling is enabled, requests slower than the configured threshold (default: 5 seconds) are automatically logged. > > You can also manually trigger a profile: > > **Web example:** > > `/course/view.php?id=2&FLAMEME=1` > > If there are no existing URL parameters, use `?FLAMEME=1` > > > > **CLI example:** > > `export FLAMEME=1 && php admin/cli/upgrade.php` > > ### **Interpreting the Results** > > Each profile includes a flame graph which visualises the stack trace: > > - X-axis: Alphabetical list of all recorded functions (not chronological) > - Y-axis: Stack depth (lower = called earlier) > - Width: Duration of the function call > - Colour: Aesthetic only — colours don’t carry meaning > > Clicking on a box filters to that function and its child calls for easier inspection. > > ### **Cleanup and Data Retention** > > Excimer profiles are automatically cleaned up via scheduled tasks: > > - Expire Excimer logs > - Purge fastest Excimer profiles > - Purge page group approximate count data > > You can configure how long logs are kept and the number of profiles retained. > > ### **Locked Profiles** > > Some profiles may be locked (with a “Lock Profile Reason”) to protect them from deletion. Locked profiles: > > - Are excluded from cleanup and manual deletion > - Cannot be deleted in group actions > - Are preserved for auditing or investigation > > **Exception:** Locked profiles will be deleted if they belong to a user whose data is being purged. > > ### **Exporting** **and Importing Profiles** > > **Export:** > > You can export a profile as a JSON file for analysis or support reporting. Use the Export profile button on a profile's page. > > Review exported data before sharing, as it may include identifiable information. > > > > **Import:** > > To import a profile, your config.php must include PHP: > > `$CFG->excimer_allow_profile_import = true;` > > Imported profiles are marked with a “reason” of `import`. ## **Other development tools** There is also a range of other tools for developers to utilise including: - Third-party libraries - Acceptance testing - PHPUnit tests - Template library - XMLDB editor - Web API Join the [Totara Community](https://totara.community/) for more resources to help you get the most out of Totara. © Copyright 2025 Totara Learning Solutions. All rights reserved. Some content originally obtained via [GPLv3 license](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#GPL) and continues to be available under GPLv3. All other content is the sole copyright of Totara Learning Solutions.