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Latest From the Wheels Dev Blog

CFWheels Joins Open Source Collective

We are happy to announce that CFWheels has joined Open Source Collective. According to their website, Open Collective enables all kinds of groups to raise, manage, and spend money transparently. We’re also in good company in the collective. Other projects hosted by the Open Source Collective include Lucee, WebPack, PHP Foundation, Vue, LinuxServer, ESLint, Bower, Svelte, and the list literally goes on and on.

So what does this mean for CFWheels. Well, it allows us to finally be able to accept donations from our community. Many of you have offered your donations to us in the past but we really had no good way to do accept them legally. Plus we felt strongly that as an open source project we needed to adopt an open and transparent accounting practices. As a member of the collective, you’ll be able to donate and see every dollar we raise and what it is spent on. Creating a sustainable ecosystem is important for the long term viability of the CFWheels project. So how do you donate, visit Open Source Collective directly or any of our GitHub projects and look for the Sponsor this project link in the right side bar.

We’ve already received our first monthly donation and we are truly grateful. These funds will allow us to offer bounties for small issues or bugs, commission larger works, and pay for marketing, logo, or branding services.

April 25, 2022 by Peter Amiri

CFWheels has moved to GitHub Discussions

Although Google Groups has served us well over the years, it’s started to lose some essential abilities and it’s looking a little long in the tooth.

We have decided that it would be a benefit to the community to migrate to GitHub Discussions. GitHub Discussions allows us to bring our community closer to where the code lives.

"People around the world are turning to open source—and to GitHub. It is becoming not only the home for developers, but a platform where people in many roles, doing diverse work, come to learn, engage with the community, and contribute to projects that advance the greater good."

GitHub Octoverse 2020 Report

The benefits of moving to Github Discussions are numerous, but at a glance, we look forward to having better syntax highlighting, marking comments as answers, flagging threads as Answered, easily turning a discussion into an issue, and many more.

The Google Group will remain available, but we have disabled posting to the group, and we'll treat it as a read-only archive of past discussions.

May 27, 2022 by Peter Amiri

Upcoming (and Previous) Wheels Presentations

Thanks to the ColdFusion Community for supporting Wheels. Hat-tips to upcoming ColdFusion Conferences cf.Objective() and CFUnited for accepting and expressing interest in Wheels sessions. Individual thanks to Sean Corfield for asking people to submit Wheels topics to CFUnited and Charlie Arehart for hosting Wheels topics on the Online ColdFusion Meetup.

Upcoming

Previous

Screencasts (each under 10 minutes)

Screencast page Postcast feed

Call for Speakers and Audiences

If you are interesting in presenting or have someone present for your event, please contact Wheels via the Google Group. The group will be glad to help.

December 11, 2010 by Mike Henke

Wheels Presentation at MDCFUG Tonight

Mike Henke presented about Wheels tonight at the Maryland ColdFusion User's Group. He gave an overview of how Wheels and MVC frameworks work and demonstrated some code examples. Here are the slides. You can also view a full screen version with speaker's notes. Thanks Mike for your efforts to get the word out there!

December 10, 2009 by Chris Peters

Released: ColdFusion on Wheels 1.0.4

Today we're releasing ColdFusion on Wheels version 1.0.4. This release fixes another round of bugs and adds more stability improvements. Download it now, replace the wheels folder with the new one, and reload your application. If you're upgrading from a version earlier than 1.0, follow these instructions. From the change log at wheels/CHANGELOG:
  • Added missing support for passing in array of model objects as options to select() - #411
  • Fixed so "afterFind" callback methods are only called once during pagination - #435
  • Added "prependOnAnchor" and "appendOnAnchor" arguments to paginationLinks() to get around an issue where the "appendToPage" string was added on anchor pages - #434
  • Fixed bug in paginationLinks() when using "appendToPage" with single page result
  • Fixed bug with count() when using composite primary keys
  • Fixed concurrency issue related to setting the model name on associations - #419
  • Fix for skipping duplicate columns returned from cfdbinfo when using Oracle - #437 & #439
  • Fix for race conditions when setting the join clause in an application scoped model object - #432
  • Fixed so URLFor() is not duplicating controller and action when URL rewriting is off - #433
  • Added support to imageTag() for all image types that the CFML engine supports

December 21, 2010 by Chris Peters

Come Get Your Fresh 0.7 Release!

ColdFusion on Wheels is back with its triumphant 0.7 release. We're glad to have Wheels's ORM features back, along with a complete rewrite of the code base for improved performance. We're hoping to write about great uses of the ORM features in particular in the coming weeks. Some very capable hands went into this release. Per Djurner completely rewrote the code base, Peter Amiri has been helping with bug fixes and documentation, and yours truly has been coordinating efforts, documentation, and redesigning the site. There is a ton to do. Peter, Per, and I will primarily be working together on documentation. We understand that it's all quite sparse at the moment, and we also understand that it is our biggest opportunity for standing out from the other frameworks. Be sure to subscribe to the blog to stay up to date with current developments on the project.

December 21, 2008 by Chris Peters

Wheels 0.8.3: Our Final Beta Release?

You probably didn't see this one coming, at least not so soon... Wheels 0.8.3. I'm most excited to announce that this release introduces support for Railo Express 3.0. As soon as the open sourced Railo 3.1 is released, we'll have an opportunity to offer a full-stack open source CFML environment similar to Ruby on Rails. Many thanks to Wheels's Peter Amiri and the Railo team for their efforts in getting this working. Additionally, there were some bugs that Per couldn't live with in the last release, so he cranked this one out for everyone. We're getting pretty stable at this point. Keep the bug reports coming as we near the release candidate for 1.0! Please note that there were some changes to method names that will probably affect your Wheels application after upgrading. Refer to our guide on Upgrading to Wheels 0.8 for highlights on what has changed with this 0.8.3 release.

December 28, 2008 by Chris Peters

CFWheels Added to the htmx Server-Side Examples Page

Back in March we published an example app where we took the TodoMVC spec and built a reference implementation of the app with CFWheels and htmx. Here is a quick graphic of the UI of the app.

Todo app implemented with CFWheels and htmx

This app has now been added to the list of Server-Side integration examples on the htmx website.

htmx at it's core is html over the wire. Instead of returning JSON from backend APIs and consuming them with Javascript to build page interactivity, htmx takes a different approach. It expects actual html snippets to be returned that are swapped into the DOM. How it does it, is by extending html with a handful of additional attributes, that probably should have been there in the first place, which enable any HTML element to issue an AJAX call to the backend, specify what triggers the call, and specify how the returned HTML should be added to the DOM.

We'll be doing more with HTMX in the future so it's great to get CFWheels on the radars of the htmx project.

June 17, 2022 by Peter Amiri

Wheels CLI matures to Version 1.0

It's hard to believe it took so long to get here but modern CFML development has come a long way thanks to tools like CommandBox and ForgeBox. The Wheels CLI is built as a CommandBox module and wouldn't have even been possible without the support of the fine folks at Ortus Solutions.

The first commit to the repo for this project was committed back in July of 2016. It's taken a while, that's an understatement, to get here but Wheels itself jumped to 2.0, CommandBox matured, and we were able to put the plumbing in place to support the communication between the CLI and the running server. With nearly 300 commits in the repo, 25 commands in the CLI, and over 20 pages of documentation, it's now time to take the alpha/beta label off send this baby out into the world.

Some of the more notable commands are wheels new to use our wizard to start a brand new project. With this command and the corresponding wheels generate app command, you can start a new Wheels project in a directory, specify the template to use, pick the CF engine to use, configure the datasource, and setup your reload password. In fact there's a whole host of generate commands for every type of object you may want to create. There are a bunch of dbmigrate commands to interact with database migrations.

To install the CLI issue the following command:

box install cfwheels-cli

Don't forget to check out the full CLI Commands section in the guides too.

June 20, 2022 by Peter Amiri

Wheels Added to CFML Framework Generator for Eclipse

Robert Burns was pretty quick at adding Wheels to his CFML Framework Skeletons plugin for Eclipse after we released version 1.0. After installing the plugin in CFEclipse or ColdFusion Builder, you can start a new Wheels project in a wizard that appears after going to File > New > Project.... It will load up all the framework files that you need automatically. To install, add http://www.robertburns.me/update/ to your update sites in Eclipse. The framework generator also supports code for ColdBox, FuseBox, FW/1, LightFront, Mach-II, and Model-Glue.

December 17, 2009 by Chris Peters

Welcome to Our Community

Welcome to Our Community - a place where like-minded people connect, share ideas,
and grow together in a positive and supportive environment.

Explore community
Wheels.dev Community

Top Contributors

Per Djurner

Contributed as a Software Developer

Per Djurner is a long-time core contributor and leader of the Wheels framework, with a history of shaping its direction since the project’s early days. He made the very first commit and has continued to contribute regularly, fixing important bugs, refining SQL handling, and enhancing model methods with more flexible options. In addition to code, he has improved documentation, templates, and overall project stability, ensuring Wheels remains reliable and developer-friendly. His work reflects both technical expertise and long-term commitment to the growth of the framework.

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Peter Amiri

Contributed as a Software Developer and Project Manager

Peter Amiri is a senior developer and community leader who has taken on a core team / maintainer role in the Wheels framework. He has decades of experience with ColdFusion (since version 1.5), including work in user-groups, large scale sites, and infrastructure. Since returning to the project, he’s helped revitalize it — organizing roadmap discussions, guiding structure changes, supervising modernization (including CLI improvements, package modularization, and updating workflows), and helping re-energize community contributions.

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Zain Ul Abideen

Contributed as a Software Developer

Zain Ul Abideen is an active contributor to the Wheels framework, playing a key role in improving its stability and usability. His work includes fixing issues like invalid columns not throwing exceptions, ensuring primary keys return correctly as numeric, and refining logic around calculated properties. He also enhanced view helpers to better handle active states and improved default routing behavior. Through these contributions, Zain has strengthened both the framework’s reliability and developer experience.

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Anthony Petruzzi

Contributed as a Software Developer

Anthony Petruzzi has made valuable contributions to the Wheels through code improvements, bug fixes, and collaborative reviews. They’ve helped refine core components, enhanced framework stability, and actively participated in issue discussions to steer design decisions. Their efforts in writing clear, maintainable code and offering constructive feedback in pull requests have strengthened the project’s code quality. Overall, Anthony Petruzzi involvement showcases dedication to open-source collaboration and meaningful impact on the Wheels ecosystem.

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Tom King

Contributed as a Software Developer and Maintainer

Tom King is one of the core maintainers of Wheels, with deep involvement in both development and leadership. He oversaw major releases, such as Wheels 2.0, which introduced features like RESTful routing, database migrations, improved CLI support, and a rewritten core in CFScript. He also helps steer the project’s long-term direction — writing blog posts reflecting on its history (e.g. noting its first commits, celebrating milestones) and working to modernize both tooling and community engagement.

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Adam Chapman

Contributed as a Software Developer

Adam Chapman has been a dedicated and influential contributor to the Wheels ecosystem. He joined the core team after years of community support, helping to steer architectural evolution and plugin integrations. Beyond code, he’s actively engaged in issue triage, proposing enhancements and shaping long-term design direction. His commitment to both community discussion and technical contributions has strengthened the project’s cohesion and future readiness.

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James

Contributed as a Software Developer

James has brought forward meaningful contributions to the Wheels through consistent code enhancements, test case development, and active engagement in issue resolution. He frequently submits detailed pull requests, helping to bolster the framework’s robustness and maintainability. Beyond code, James participates in discussion threads and reviews, offering thoughtful feedback which helps keep the project aligned with community needs. His steady involvement has strengthened both core modules and auxiliary features, making Wheels more reliable and polished for all users.

James profile picture

Andrew Bellenie

Contributed as a Software Developer and Maintainer

Andrew Bellenie has played a pivotal role in the Wheels ecosystem, as a long-standing core team member and active community contributor. He brings deep experience in CFML development and framework architecture. Andy has contributed code, design feedback, documentation, and mentorship to newcomers. He also helps triage issues, guide feature direction, and maintain the project’s stability. His dedication helps keep the framework evolving and its community engaged.

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scahyono

Contributed as a Software Developer

scahyono has contributed thoughtful enhancements to the Wheels codebase, particularly in ensuring compatibility with Oracle setups. Notably, they worked on a module (or plugin) to allow ColdFusion on Wheels to correctly read table metadata across Oracle remote database links, which broadens database support and resilience. Their willingness to tackle specialized integration challenges strengthens the framework’s versatility and helps more users adopt Wheels in diverse environments.

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MvdO79

Contributed as a Software Developer

MvdO79 has shown his support for the Wheels not only through code but also as a financial backer. He contributes monthly via Open Collective, helping sustain the framework’s ongoing development. Beyond funding, his presence in issue discussions demonstrates engagement with bug tracking and community feedback. His dual role-as supporter and participant-reinforces the open-source spirit behind Wheels.

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Raul Riera

Contributed as a Software Developer

Raúl Riera has been an enthusiastic supporter and contributor to the Wheels community-beyond writing code, he’s helped through design, advocacy, and community engagement. He has designed swag such as T-shirts for Wheels events and promoted the framework through his dev shop, Hipervínculo. As a software entrepreneur (founder of Odonto.me) and developer, Raúl bridges technical and community roles, helping raise awareness of Wheels and adding a touch of creativity and outreach to the project’s ecosystem.

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Michael Diederich

Contributed as a Software Developer

Michael Diederich has contributed key fixes and enhancements to the Wheels, particularly around framework usability and interface issues. Notably, he addressed documentation and UI elements-changes such as showing the current Git branch in the debug layout in version 2.5.0 reflect his involvement. In earlier releases, he also fixed bugs (for example with form and URL handling in the startFormTag() and array routing) that improved reliability across use cases. His contributions help refine both developer-facing tools and core correctness.

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Rob Cameron

Contributed as a Software Developer

Rob Cameron had the original idea for CFWheels (and by extension, the foundation for Wheels), having built the framework with inspiration from Ruby on Rails in 2005. Though he eventually moved on from active core development to focus on other projects (such as Rails work), his early design and architectural direction still underpin much of the project's structure and philosophy.

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Chris Peters

Contributed as a Software Developer

Chris Peters has been foundational in the development, documentation, and promotion of the Wheels framework since its early days. He authored many of the earliest releases, oversaw version 1.3.0 that introduced HTML5 enhancements, table less models, and thread-safe startup, and managed releases like 1.0.5 with dozens of bug fixes and stability updates. He also wrote technical blog posts about core features (flash messages, asset query strings, error handling) and established guidelines for contributing and documentation, helping to build a strong community around the framework.

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David Paul Belanger

Contributed as a Software Developer

David Paul Belanger has been a core force behind the Wheels, contributing both technically and strategically across many versions. He has co-authored features and bug fixes (such as updates to sendFile() and usesLayout()) in the 2.x releases. Beyond code, David has helped lead the transition of the framework’s governance and been active in community outreach-having participated in CF-Alive podcasts and collaborated with Tom King and others on guiding the project’s future direction.

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John Bampton

Contributed as a Software Developer and Documentation Writer

John Bampton made his mark as a contributor to the Wheels project beginning with version 2.4.0, where he helped fix broken links in documentation and correct spelling errors in the README and core templates. His attention to detail improved the documentation clarity and usability for future developers. Though he is noted as a “new contributor,” his work helped plug small but important gaps in the project’s written material, aiding the framework’s polish and accessibility.

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Simon

Contributed as a Software Developer

Simon contributed to the Wheels framework by refining code and improving framework functionality. His work helped address issues and enhance stability, making the project more reliable and easier for developers to use. These contributions support the continued growth and effectiveness of the Wheels ecosystem.

Simon profile picture

Brian Ramsey

Contributed as a Software Developer and Quality Assurance Engineer

Brian Ramsey has been a long-time contributor and advocate within the Wheels community. His work spans both code contributions and knowledge sharing, with a focus on improving framework usability for everyday developers. Brian has participated in bug resolution, tested new releases, and provided feedback that shaped core improvements. Beyond code, he’s been active in community discussions, answering questions, and guiding newer users. His steady involvement has helped ensure Wheels remains both developer-friendly and reliable, reflecting his commitment to open-source collaboration and practical problem solving.

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Danny Beard

Contributed as a Software Developer

Danny Beard has contributed to the Wheels framework through targeted code enhancements and thoughtful participation in issue discussions. His work has included fixing bugs, refining logic in core functions, and improving overall framework consistency. Danny’s involvement reflects an eye for detail and a practical approach to problem-solving, ensuring the framework remains dependable in real-world applications. Beyond code, his willingness to collaborate with other contributors has reinforced the community-driven nature of Wheels, helping maintain a strong and sustainable open-source project.

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Reuben Brown

Contributed as a Software Developer

Reuben Brown has been a valuable contributor to the Wheels framework, offering code improvements and community input that strengthen the project’s overall quality. His work includes bug fixes and refinements that enhance stability and usability, ensuring developers can rely on Wheels in production environments. Reuben’s involvement extends beyond code, as he has taken part in discussions, reviewed issues, and provided practical feedback to guide development. His contributions reflect a thoughtful balance of technical skill and collaborative spirit, reinforcing the open-source ethos of the Wheels project.

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Seb

Contributed as a Software Developer

Seb has provided important contributions to the Wheels that help improve framework robustness and usability. Through resolving issues, submitting pull requests, and polishing code, Seb has helped close gaps and make the system smoother for both new and experienced users. They’ve also participated in reviews, giving constructive feedback, which strengthens code quality and consistency across releases. Seb’s steady involvement supports the project’s open-source mission, making Wheels more reliable, maintainable, and welcoming for all contributors.

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timbadolato

Contributed as a Software Developer

Timbadolato has contributed to the Wheels with a focus on improving functionality, fixing issues, and enhancing developer experience. His pull requests demonstrate a clear attention to detail, addressing edge cases and refining framework behavior to make it more predictable and reliable. By engaging in code reviews and community discussions, timbadolato has helped shape technical decisions and ensured smoother adoption for users. His contributions highlight a practical, solution-oriented approach that supports both the long-term stability and growth of the Wheels ecosystem.

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Alex

Contributed as a Software Developer

Alex has played a supportive and constructive role in the Wheels, contributing code improvements and feedback that strengthen the framework’s overall reliability. His efforts include bug fixes, refinements to core features, and helpful participation in discussions that guide project direction. By addressing issues and proposing practical solutions, Alex has contributed to making Wheels easier to use and more stable for developers. His involvement reflects a collaborative spirit and reinforces the open-source values that keep the project moving forward.

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Chris Geirman

Contributed as a Software Developer

Chris Geirman made contributions to the Wheels that helped refine parts of the codebase and improve developer experience. While his involvement was smaller in scope, his participation still added value to the framework and reflects the spirit of open-source collaboration.

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Zac Spitzer

Contributed as a Software Developer

Zac Spitzer provided contributions to the Wheels that helped address specific issues and improve framework stability. Though his involvement was brief, his work added value to the codebase and demonstrated the importance of community participation in strengthening and maintaining open-source projects.

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Nikolaj Frey

Contributed as a Software Developer

Nikolaj Frey has made contributions to the Wheels framework that supported improvements in the project’s codebase and functionality. While his involvement was limited in scope, his participation still added meaningful value, reinforcing the collaborative nature of the open-source community that drives Wheels forward.

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Gralen

Contributed as a Software Developer

Gralen contributed improvements to the Wheels framework that enhanced code quality and supported overall stability. Their work helped refine the project and contributed to making the framework more reliable for developers using it in real-world applications.

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Doug McCaughan

Contributed as a Software Developer

Doug McCaughan contributed to the Wheels framework by helping refine functionality and addressing issues that improved developer experience. His efforts supported the stability of the project and ensured smoother use of core features. Through his work, Doug added value to the framework’s ongoing development and its open-source community.

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Coleman Sperando

Contributed as a Software Developer

Coleman Sperando contributed to the Wheels framework by making improvements that strengthened its functionality and reliability. His work addressed specific areas of the codebase, helping to refine features and ensure a smoother experience for developers. These contributions supported the project’s ongoing growth and the collaborative effort behind Wheels.

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Charlie Arehart

Contributed as a Software Developer

Charlie Arehart has supported the Wheels framework through his deep expertise in ColdFusion and the broader CFML ecosystem. He has provided valuable feedback, shared knowledge with the community, and highlighted best practices that strengthen adoption and reliability. His involvement helps connect Wheels development with the wider ColdFusion community, ensuring the framework remains relevant and accessible to developers.

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Charley Contreras

Contributed as a Software Developer

Charley Contreras contributed to the Wheels framework by helping refine parts of the codebase and supporting improvements that enhance usability. His work added value to the project’s overall stability and reflects the collaborative effort of developers working together to keep the framework evolving and reliable.

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Brant Nielsen

Contributed as a Software Developer

Brant Nielsen contributed to the Wheels framework by improving functionality and addressing issues that supported better performance and reliability. His work helped refine the codebase and enhance the developer experience, reinforcing the project’s commitment to building a stable and effective open-source framework.

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Ben Nadel

Contributed as a Software Developer

Ben Nadel is a veteran ColdFusion developer known for deep technical thought leadership and contributions to the community, including work around Wheels and related topics. He writes regularly about extending and customizing parts of Wheels (for example, customizing the router/proxy component behavior to suit specific workflow preferences). He also shares experiments and educational posts (e.g. integrating HTMX in ColdFusion apps) that help other developers understand modern patterns in CFML. While he may not always be contributing direct core framework commits, his influence shows up in how people use and adapt Wheels in real-world apps, and in sharing best practices, tutorials, and ideas that help shape how the framework is viewed and utilized.

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Andrei B.

Contributed as a Software Developer

Andrei B. contributed to the Wheels framework by helping refine code and improve functionality in targeted areas of the project. His efforts supported greater stability and usability, making the framework more dependable for developers. These contributions reflect the collaborative spirit that drives the ongoing success of Wheels.

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Adam Larsen

Contributed as a Software Developer

Adam Larsen contributed to the Wheels framework by improving functionality and addressing issues that enhanced the stability and reliability of the codebase. His work helped refine features and ensure a smoother experience for developers, supporting the ongoing growth and maintenance of the project.

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