Studio, Module Builder, and Module Loader Best Practices - Sept 2025

For our September Social Club, we had a great conversation about Sugar’s powerful configuration tools, Studio, Module Builder, and Module Loader, which help companies tailor Sugar to match the needs of their business. Whether you’re building new modules from scratch or tweaking dropdowns in Studio, there’s plenty of power (and nuance!) in these features. A big thanks to Andrea Ayers and Uzochi Uluh for leading the discussion and sharing real-world examples, best practices, and a few important do’s and don’ts.

Simple and Focused Studio Changes

Andrea kicked things off by sharing reminders on how to make the most of Studio, emphasizing both user experience and system performance. One of the most important things to remember is to plan your Studio changes during off-hours to avoid disrupting users, since Studio updates can affect performance, log users out of the system, and cause other unintended consequences.

Some other Studio tips that were shared include:

• Keep mobile layouts simple, removing fields like Description or long note fields that aren’t essential for quick, on-the-go reference
• Use Role-Based Views to tailor visibility, such as hiding discount fields from non-managers or removing health scores from users who don’t need them
• Rename fields to match your internal language (maybe update “Billing Contact” to “Accounts Payable Contact”)
• Update dropdown lists to reflect your business, such as updating the “Industry” list to only include the industries you typically work with
• Leverage Sugar Logic for field automation to calculate totals, revealing fields based on status, and more (Example: Calculated Field - Count of Days Between Two Dates)
• Explore Action Buttons to launch processes, create records, or link to external resources with one click

Remember: if you have a business problem to solve, there’s a good chance Studio has a feature that can help!

Building Smarter with Module Builder

If you need to create a new module in Sugar that doesn't already exist, Module Builder is your next step after Studio. Examples of common custom modules include Distributor Management or Equipment Tracking modules, which may require their own relationships and logic.

Some best practices for Module Builder include:

• Use one module per package, which gives you flexibility later and helps avoid having to redeploy multiple modules if only one needs an update
• Always deploy custom modules to a sandbox or dev environment for stakeholder review and testing before going live
• After deployment, make further customizations in Studio instead of Module Builder
• Add relationships in Studio after deploying the module, as adding them directly in Module Builder can create issues later
• Dropdown fields can be a bit slow during deployment in Module Builder, so be patient and give time for the process to complete
• Use the “Publish” option to export a module for use elsewhere, or “Deploy” to push it directly into the current environment

Module Loader Powers and Responsibilities

Module Loader gives you the ability to install custom packages and features, including new modules, logic hooks, schedulers, and other system-wide updates.

Some key things to keep in mind include:

• Use the SugarCRM Marketplace to find packages to enhance your environment
• As with Studio updates, schedule your changes during off-hours to avoid impacting users
• Once a package is installed or removed, always run a Quick Repair and Rebuild
• Packages installed through Module Loader are upgrade safe, but editing the code may affect that safety
• Learn more about customizing module loader packages in the Module Loader Developer Guide, or check out the Developer Guide section on Logic Hooks if you're interested in developing custom logic hooks

We also touched on Module Loader restrictions, which limit certain functions for security purposes. If you’re self-hosted, you should still use Module Loader to maintain a record of what was installed and when, instead of pushing directly to the filesystem.

Additional Notes & Quick Links

• Curious about the new Package Builder (released in Sugar 25.1)?
  •  Behind the Build: A Sugar Admin's Guide to Package Builder and Deployer  
  • 25.1 Release Notes
  • Known issue: #97759
• Want to attend Andrea’s 3-day Admin Training? See Sugar Admin Fundamentals for details and future classes
• Custom schedulers can be used to recalculate fields on a scheduled basis (e.g., daily updates). See the Developer Guide for details.
• If you’re working in a global environment with no “quiet hours,” aim for the least disruptive times to deploy.
• A Quick Repair & Rebuild is a great first step for any troubleshooting!

Looking Ahead

A big thank you again to Andrea and Uzochi for sharing their knowledge and answering the group's questions!

Our next Social Club session is scheduled for November 13th, where we'll be discussing Record and Data Management. In the meantime, keep the conversation going in the SugarClub Help Forums, and let us know if you have a topic or question you’d like to see in a future session.

Hope to see you next time!