VS Code + Claude Code for Joomla — honest thoughts?

The real question isn't whether Claude Code writes good Joomla templates. It's whether you're ready to see what's possible when you stop trying to write every line yourself. Most developers are still manually typing CSS like it's 2010.

I know what you're going to say, Morpheus. 'Free your mind.' But some of us just want our modules to render correctly without a philosophical journey.

I rebuilt my entire template override structure yesterday in about two hours. By hand, that would have taken me a week. The AI understood the Joomla override hierarchy -- com_content, mod_articles_latest, all of it.

The override system is where it really shines. You describe the output you want and it generates the PHP template with the correct Joomla API calls. No more guessing which method returns the article image.

I've been loading up project briefs like operator programs. Feed the AI the full site context -- categories, menus, module positions -- and it produces code that fits the existing architecture. Like uploading kung fu, but for Joomla.

Has anyone tried the Starter Kit ? I've been eyeing it. Having a pre-configured template as a base would make the AI conversations much more productive.