I was disappointed to see the recent discussion around documentation improvements removed, because the intention behind it was genuinely constructive.
EspoCRM is an extremely capable platform with a strong technical foundation, but one recurring theme throughout years of forum discussions is that many users struggle with the documentation — especially around formulas, hooks, metadata behavior, ORM usage, lifecycle timing, and architectural expectations.
This is not usually because users refuse to read the docs. In many cases, users have read them, but still end up needing clarification through forum threads because:
A lot of the most valuable explanations currently exist only inside scattered forum replies rather than official documentation.
The removed post was not intended as criticism of the enormous amount of work that goes into maintaining EspoCRM. It was simply trying to highlight recurring friction points that appear repeatedly across many years of community discussions.
I also think it is important for communities to leave room for constructive criticism and improvement discussions, even when people disagree with parts of the feedback. Open discussion around user experience, onboarding difficulty, and documentation quality can ultimately strengthen the ecosystem long-term.
Many users making these suggestions are not attacking the project — they are invested in it, building on top of it, and trying to help identify areas where the experience could become even better.
Hopefully conversations like this can remain open in the future, because they often contain valuable insight into the challenges newer developers and integrators face when adopting the platform.
EspoCRM is an extremely capable platform with a strong technical foundation, but one recurring theme throughout years of forum discussions is that many users struggle with the documentation — especially around formulas, hooks, metadata behavior, ORM usage, lifecycle timing, and architectural expectations.
This is not usually because users refuse to read the docs. In many cases, users have read them, but still end up needing clarification through forum threads because:
- important edge cases are undocumented,
- runtime behavior differs from user expectations,
- practical examples are limited,
- or implementation details assume deep framework knowledge.
A lot of the most valuable explanations currently exist only inside scattered forum replies rather than official documentation.
The removed post was not intended as criticism of the enormous amount of work that goes into maintaining EspoCRM. It was simply trying to highlight recurring friction points that appear repeatedly across many years of community discussions.
I also think it is important for communities to leave room for constructive criticism and improvement discussions, even when people disagree with parts of the feedback. Open discussion around user experience, onboarding difficulty, and documentation quality can ultimately strengthen the ecosystem long-term.
Many users making these suggestions are not attacking the project — they are invested in it, building on top of it, and trying to help identify areas where the experience could become even better.
Hopefully conversations like this can remain open in the future, because they often contain valuable insight into the challenges newer developers and integrators face when adopting the platform.

Comment