fcrepo (Fedora Commons) is the linked data repository that Islandora uses to store digital objects and their metadata alongside Drupal. In an Islandora stack, fcrepo runs as a Docker service alongside the rest of the application.
The fcrepo component controls whether the Fedora service, its volumes, and related Islandora configuration are part of your stack. The LibOps template defaults to superseded with Drupal private files; enable Fedora only when the site requires the Fedora-backed repository.
Supported dispositions:
Check current state
The output shows whether fcrepo is on, off, or drifted (meaning the project files no longer match the last applied state).
Enable fcrepo
This adds the fcrepo service and its volumes back to docker-compose.yml and restores the Islandora configuration required to connect Drupal to Fedora.
It also restores scripts/init-database.sh when an older downstream fork does not have the generic scoped-database initializer required by fcrepo-database-init. If that path already contains a regular custom script, sitectl preserves its bytes and only repairs its executable bits. A directory or other non-regular object at that path is an error rather than something sitectl overwrites.
Disable fcrepo
This removes the fcrepo service and volumes from docker-compose.yml, disables Fedora indexing in Alpaca, removes Fedora-specific Drupal config sync files, and rewrites managed media field storage to use the requested filesystem URI.
Use public, private, or a custom Drupal stream wrapper scheme for --isle-file-system-uri. If you omit the flag, sitectl prompts for it when confirmation is enabled.
Disabling fcrepo is a hard migration boundary. Existing Fedora-backed binaries must be migrated out of Fedora before you remove it from a site with content. The component removes volumes from the Compose project definition; data may still exist on disk until volume lifecycle commands such as docker compose down -v remove it.
Create flags
Choose the Fedora shape during sitectl create isle:
Sync fcrepo between environments
Copy the fcrepo database from one context to another:
This backs up the fcrepo database on the source context, stages it, and imports it into the target. Like the Drupal database sync, it asks for confirmation before importing. Pass --yolo to skip in automation.
Use --fresh to always take a new backup rather than reusing one from today.
When to disable fcrepo
fcrepo adds significant resource requirements to a stack. You might disable it for:
- Minimal local development: when you’re working on Drupal theme or module code that doesn’t interact with digital objects
- Stacks that don’t use Islandora’s linked data features: some projects use Islandora as a Drupal hosting pattern but don’t use Fedora-backed objects
If you’re running a full Islandora installation with digital objects, fcrepo should be on. 
