Adobe Commerce (Magento 2): How to Stop Worrying About Entropy in Your Magento 2 Instance

As the manager of an online store on Magento 2, your goal is to achieve the best possible technical performance: top-notch security, optimal site speed, improved SEO, fewer bugs, and seamless upgrades and security patches. But managing such a vast and complex system can be overwhelming, especially when you’re dealing with a large number of features—some of which you don’t even use but still have to support.

Remember that integration you tried three years ago? It installed 30 modules, and now it’s affecting everything. Every time you see it in the admin panel, your frustration grows.

Sound familiar? It’s a mess, and it’s time to clean it up.

Leave Only the Modules You Actually Use in Magento

A critical step in maintaining a clean and efficient Magento instance is ensuring that only the modules you actually use are left in your project. While it’s tempting to keep a variety of modules installed, thinking you might need them later, doing so comes with some risks.

Risks of Leaving Unused or Disabled Modules:

• Increased Security Vulnerabilities: Every module in your Magento instance, even if disabled, can become a potential security risk. Unused modules may contain outdated code or vulnerabilities that could be exploited, increasing your site’s attack surface.

• Performance Degradation: Unused or disabled modules can still drag down your site’s performance. They add unnecessary bloat to your codebase, slow down compilation processes, and consume system resources, leading to slower load times and a less responsive site.

• Higher Maintenance Costs: Managing unnecessary modules can lead to confusion during updates and maintenance. It becomes harder to manage your codebase when you’re unsure which modules are actually in use, increasing the likelihood of conflicts and bugs.

• Unpredictable Environment: A cluttered environment may make your instance unpredictable, leading to unexpected issues that are difficult to diagnose and resolve.

You may object here that you have just started developing your store. What unused modules? Simply depending on the functionality and the chosen theme, even from bare Magento 2 you can remove up to 100 modules.

Actionable Steps:

• Audit Your Installed Modules: review all the modules in your Magento instance and identify which ones are actively used. Remove any that are not necessary for your current operations.

• Monitor and Update Periodically: Keep an eye on your modules and update them as needed. This will help maintain a clean and efficient environment.

Note for developers: consider using the “replace” functionality in Composer to clean up your codebase — for example, by removing unused extensions. You can also check out extensions like Yireo’s Magento2 Replace GraphQL to streamline your setup.

By taking these steps, you’ll not only reduce entropy but also enjoy a more secure, performant, and manageable Magento 2 store. This proactive approach will save you time, reduce headaches, and provide a solid foundation for your ongoing development work.

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