Moodle Herd Installer Skill

A skill for AI coding assistants (Claude, OpenCode, etc.) to install and configure Moodle LMS on Laravel Herd.

Why This Skill?

Moodle 5.x introduced a new directory structure with a public/ folder, which causes issues with Laravel Herd/Valet:

• CSS/JS files return HTML instead of actual content
• ERR_CONTENT_DECODING_FAILED errors
• Slash arguments not working with Nginx
• Database driver confusion (mysqli vs mariadb)

This skill documents all the solutions discovered through trial and error.

Key Fixes

Issue	Solution
CSS/JS not loading	$CFG->slasharguments = false;
Gzip decode errors	Add gzip off; to Nginx config
dirroot errors	Point to /public folder
DB connection fails	Use mariadb driver, port 3307

Installation

For OpenCode / Claude

Copy the SKILL.md file to your skills directory:

# OpenCode
cp -r moodle-herd-installer ~/.opencode/skills/

# Claude Code
cp -r moodle-herd-installer ~/.claude/skills/

Manual Usage

Just reference the SKILL.md file when setting up Moodle on Herd.

Files

moodle-herd-installer/
├── SKILL.md                         # Main skill instructions
├── assets/
│   ├── config.template.php          # Ready-to-use config template
│   └── nginx-gzip-off.conf          # Nginx fix snippet
└── README.md                        # This file

Quick Start

1. Clone Moodle 5.x
2. Link from public/ folder: cd moodle/public && herd link moodle
3. Copy assets/config.template.php to moodle/config.php
4. Replace placeholders in config
5. Run: php admin/cli/install_database.php --agree-license
6. Access: https://moodle.test

Tested With

• Moodle 5.1.1 (MOODLE_501_STABLE)
• Laravel Herd (Windows)
• MariaDB 10.11
• PHP 8.4

Contributing

Found another issue? PRs welcome!

License

MIT