Composer
Dependency Manager for PHP
Overview
Composer is a tool for dependency management in PHP. It allows you to declare the libraries your project depends on and it will manage (install/update) them for you. Composer is not a package manager in the same sense as Yum or Apt are.
✨ Key Features
- Manages per-project dependencies
- Finds and downloads packages from Packagist
- Autoloading capabilities
- Resolves and locks dependency versions
🎯 Key Differentiators
- Project-level dependency management (vs. system-wide)
- Strong integration with the Packagist repository
- The standard for modern PHP development
Unique Value: Brings modern dependency management to PHP, making it easy to use and reuse community-built components.
🎯 Use Cases (2)
✅ Best For
- Development with modern PHP frameworks like Laravel and Symfony.
💡 Check With Vendor
Verify these considerations match your specific requirements:
- Legacy PHP projects not designed with Composer in mind.
🏆 Alternatives
Vastly superior to older methods like PEAR, Composer is the only viable choice for modern PHP application development.
💻 Platforms
✅ Offline Mode Available
🔌 Integrations
💰 Pricing
Free tier: N/A (Open Source)
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