Odoo Module Development

Odoo Module Development

A customer-ready module is self-describing: the manifest, models, security, demo data, and translations each answer one question about what it does and who may use it. These are stances to carry, not a checklist to run — the exact layouts, manifest keys, and file names live in references/module-structure.md, pulled only when you need the fact. When a task skips the planning pass (odoo-grill), these reflexes carry the design alone.

The stances

The manifest is the module's cover letter

A reviewer who reads only __manifest__.py should already know what the module does, what it depends on, what it ships, and which Odoo version it targets — if they have to open models/ to find out, the manifest is failing its one job. It also carries the paperwork that makes the work traceable and shippable to a customer: a name following the MMC convention, a real summary/description, the project.task id the work traces to, and a customer license (not LGPL). (Exact keys and formats: references/module-structure.md.)

One module, one responsibility — and depends is a contract

Customers install what they pick, so a module that does "project management and invoicing extensions" is really two modules wearing one manifest. Every depends entry is something you carry on your upgrade path forever — depend on the smallest thing that works, and never pull in account just to borrow one constant. The tell that the boundary is wrong: a product_extra on sale + stock + pos + purchase forces four apps on a customer who runs one. Split it — a base module on the shared dependency, then thin *_sale / *_stock satellites that each add their single app.

Security is a deliverable, not an afterthought

Every model owns its access — an ir.model.access.csv line even for the model that's "only used internally," because "internal" is exactly the assumption that leaks data. Who-may-see-which-row is the record rule's job (ir.rule), never a Python if: ad-hoc checks silently skip search, read_group, and report exports (→ odoo-code-review). And every sudo() is a trust boundary you justify in a comment — assert the right, then sudo (→ odoo-python).

_inherit over redefining — the framework is the extension API

Extending an existing model is _inherit; delegating to a parent record is _inherits; only a genuinely new thing earns a bare _name. Confuse them and you get fields that exist twice with security that applies once. The reflex underneath: the framework is the extension API — inherit the model, xpath the view, extend the method, rather than redefining or monkey-patching, so you keep core's edge cases and its upgrade path instead of forking them. (Override discipline on the Python side → odoo-python.)

Store only what you must, and make each field a deliberate choice

Every stored field is data you migrate and keep consistent forever, so don't store what you can derive — a check_in/check_out boolean pair where one punch_type would do, a stored punch_date you could get by grouping the datetime. Stored values must be deterministic from their stored inputs (→ odoo-python owns this). For the fields that earn their place, decide required-ness instead of defaulting to optional: ask whether an empty value is genuinely meaningful — a transaction with no amount, a terminal with no company usually shouldn't be possible.

Field and view design is a user-facing decision

Field names are read by users in tooltips and exports, not just by you — partner_id not partner, is_active not flag. And views describe data, not behavior: a <field> carrying a three-way invisible/attrs branch is logic that belongs in a computed field on the model, where it's testable and reusable. (XML naming, formatting, and inheritance → odoo-xml-conventions.)

Demo data and translations are part of "done"

A module isn't done when it works — it's done when a customer installs it on a fresh DB and sees the feature work without typing anything. Demo data is what demonstrates it; every user-facing string goes through _(), and a customer module ships the .po for their locale. And if a change would strand existing rows on upgrade, you owe a migration before it ships, not after (→ odoo-migrations owns the when and how).

References (consult for the fact, don't memorize)

If a reference contradicts existing PSDU code (customer legacy, project exception), follow the existing file and log the case in skills/_journal.md.