documentation/how_to/structure-your-project.md

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documentation/how_to/structure-your-project.md

# Structure your project

In this guide we'll discuss some best practices for how to structure your project.

## A few notes

- None of the things we show you here are _requirements_, only recommendations.

- We avoid any pattern that requires you to name a file or module in a specific way, or put them in a specific place. This ensures that all connections between one module and another module are explicit rather than implicit.

- We break a common Elixir pattern of having the module name match the file name in one specific way. If the resource has a folder, we suggest putting the `resource.ex` in the folder with the same name. See the example below for more.

```
lib/ # top level lib folder for your whole project
├─ my_app/ # your app's main namespace
│  ├─ accounts/ # The Accounts context
│  │  ├─ user/ # resource w/ additional files
│  │  ├─ token.ex # A resource without additional files
│  │  ├─ password_helper.ex # A non-resource file
│  │  ├─ accounts.ex # The Accounts domain module
│  ├─ helpdesk/ # A Helpdesk context
│  │  ├─ notification.ex # A resource without additional files
│  │  ├─ other_file.ex # A non-resource file
│  │  ├─ ticket/ # A resource with additional files
│  │  │  ├─ preparations/ # Components of the reosurce, grouped by type
│  │  │  ├─ changes/
│  │  │  ├─ checks/
│  │  │  ├─ ticket.ex # The resource file
```

Generally speaking, your Ash application lives in the standard place within your elixir application, i.e `lib/my_app`. Within that folder, you create one folder for each context that you have. Each context has an `Ash.Domain` module within it, and the resources that live within that context. All resource interaction ultimately goes through a domain module.

Alongside the domain module, you have your resources, as well as any other files used in the context. If a resource has any additional files that are used to implement it, they should be placed in a folder with the same name as the resource, in subfolders grouping the files type, and _the resource should be placed there too_. This is optional, as stated above, but we've found that with large contexts it keeps things very simple.