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The dev commands help OSS contributors test Drupal contrib changes against a local site. They require a local sitectl context because they edit the checked-out project tree. ISLE contexts can use these commands through the Drupal plugin because the ISLE plugin includes Drupal.

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checkout-pr

Checkout a module or theme branch and bind-mount it into the Drupal container: 
sitectl drupal dev checkout-pr token --branch 1.x
sitectl drupal dev checkout-pr controlled_access_terms --source islandora --branch issue-123
sitectl drupal dev checkout-pr my_module --source custom --repo git@github.com:me/my_module.git --branch feature
By default, sitectl clones Drupal.org projects into drupal-projects/, detects the extension from its .info.yml, updates docker-compose.override.yml, and runs docker compose up drupal -d. Use --skip-up when you only want the file changes.

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patch-pr

Add a GitHub pull request patch to composer.json: 
sitectl drupal dev patch-pr https://github.com/drupal/token/pull/42
sitectl drupal dev patch-pr islandora/controlled_access_terms#123 --package drupal/controlled_access_terms
The command writes extra.patches and then runs docker compose build drupal followed by docker compose up drupal -d. Use --skip-run to edit composer.json without rebuilding.

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overwrite-starter-site

Overwrite the active context’s Drupal root from an upstream GitHub archive: 
sitectl drupal dev overwrite-starter-site --force
sitectl drupal dev overwrite-upstream --repo https://github.com/example/site-template --ref main --force
The default upstream is islandora-devops/islandora-starter-site@main. The command removes upstream development metadata such as .github, .git, ci, and renovate.json5, preserves assets/patches/default_settings.txt when present, and ensures custom module and theme directories remain tracked.

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create-starter-site-pr

Prepare or create a pull request for upstream root updates: 
sitectl drupal dev create-starter-site-pr
sitectl drupal dev create-upstream-pr --force --title "Update Drupal root from upstream"
Without --force, the command stages changes and prints the status for review. With --force, or inside GitHub Actions, it creates the branch, commits, pushes, and runs gh pr create.