MODX Contexts Setup for Multi-Site

MODX Context Setup for Multi-site

MODX contexts allow managing multiple sites from one installation or splitting a site by languages, subdomains, protocols. Each context has its own settings, root resources, and switching keys.

Context Use Cases

Multi-site: ru.company.com and en.company.com — two contexts with different root resources.

Multi-language: one domain, different URL prefixes /ru/ and /en/.

Mobile version: m.company.com — separate context with simplified templates.

Admin vs Public: built-in mgr context — manager. web context — public site.

Creating New Context

System → Contexts → Create → key en (Latin only, brief).

After creation configure context parameters:

Key: en
Name: English Version

Settings:
  base_url: /en/
  site_url: https://yourdomain.com/en/
  site_start: 55  (ID of root resource for English version)
  error_page: 56  (ID of 404 page for this context)
  default_template: 3  (default template)
  cultureKey: en
  locale: en_US.UTF-8

Context Switching Plugin

// Plugin: ContextSwitcher
// Event: OnHandleRequest

$host = $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'];
$uri  = $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];

// By domain
$contextMap = [
    'ru.company.com'  => 'ru',
    'en.company.com'  => 'en',
    'by.company.com'  => 'by',
];

if (isset($contextMap[$host])) {
    $contextKey = $contextMap[$host];
    if ($modx->context->key !== $contextKey) {
        $modx->switchContext($contextKey);
    }
    return;
}

// By URL prefix (one domain)
$prefixMap = ['/ru/' => 'ru', '/en/' => 'en', '/uk/' => 'uk'];
foreach ($prefixMap as $prefix => $contextKey) {
    if (strpos($uri, $prefix) === 0) {
        if ($modx->context->key !== $contextKey) {
            $modx->switchContext($contextKey);
        }
        return;
    }
}

Nginx Configuration for Subdomains

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name ru.company.com en.company.com by.company.com;
    root /var/www/company.com;

    # One MODX, different contexts by host
    location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        fastcgi_param HTTP_HOST $host;  # pass host to PHP
        include fastcgi_params;
    }
}

Resources in Context

Each resource is created in specific context. When creating resource: Document Settings tab → Context → select needed.

// Programmatically create resource in specific context
$resource = $modx->newObject('modDocument');
$resource->set('pagetitle', 'About Us');
$resource->set('alias', 'about-us');
$resource->set('context_key', 'en');  // context binding
$resource->set('template', 3);
$resource->set('parent', 55);  // context root resource
$resource->save();

Cross-context Links

[[- Link to resource in another context ]]
[[~42? &context=`en`]]

[[- Language switcher in chunk ]]
[[- (via LangSwitch snippet or manually) ]]

Settings Synchronization Between Contexts

MODX system settings have priorities: Global > Context > Namespace. Context settings override global for specific context.

// Get setting considering current context
$siteUrl = $modx->getOption('site_url');  // returns current context setting

Timeline

Setting up two contexts (ru/en) with multi-language resource structure and language switcher — 2–3 days.