# Composer

Dependency Manager for PHP

Repository: https://github.com/composer/composer
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/composer
Homepage: https://getcomposer.org/
Language: PHP
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: php, composer, dependency-manager, package-manager, packages
Last push: 2026-08-26T15:01:46+00:00
Link (homepage): https://getcomposer.org/
Link (site_page): https://getcomposer.org/changelog/2.10.3
Link (site_page): https://getcomposer.org/doc

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 96/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 91, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5565, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 63, "gap_med": 20.5, "n_releases_24m": 33}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 29505, forks 4828 (observed 2026-08-28T04:11:53.524201+00:00)

## What it is
Composer is the standard dependency manager for PHP, letting developers declare, resolve, and install project libraries from Packagist and other repositories. It also generates autoloaders, manages version constraints via composer./composer.lock, and supports plugins and scripts.

## Use cases
- install php packages for my project
- manage php library versions and lock files
- set up autoloading for php classes
- publish a php package to packagist
- resolve dependency conflicts in a php app
- install private php packages from a custom repository
- update project dependencies safely

## When to choose
- you are building any PHP project with external libraries
- you need reproducible dependency installs via a lock file
- you want autoloading (PSR-4) generated for your codebase
- you need to consume or publish packages on Packagist

## When to avoid
- you are working in a non-PHP language (use npm, pip, cargo, etc.)
- you need runtime package installation inside production code paths rather than build-time dependency management
- you want a framework or application rather than a build/dependency tool

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: stable
- function: package-manager, dependency-audit, cli, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, version-control
- platform: php, cli, cross-platform, windows
- tags: packagist, dependency-management, php-ecosystem, autoloading, vendor-directory, command-line, php, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- composer/composer (main) score 96
- composer/semver (sdk) score 67
- composer/ca-bundle (sdk) score 98
- composer/xdebug-handler (sdk) score 66
- composer/spdx-licenses (sdk) score 82

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:53.524201+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T16:52:58.793214+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/composer/composer (fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:53.524201+00:00, sha 94655706eb10)
  - homepage: https://getcomposer.org/ (fetched 2026-08-29T07:50:07.310954+00:00, sha c8e0681d7b6f)
  - site_page: https://getcomposer.org/changelog/2.10.3 (fetched 2026-08-29T07:50:07.320242+00:00, sha 4b03b4047462)
  - site_page: https://getcomposer.org/doc (fetched 2026-08-29T07:50:07.322247+00:00, sha 9b69f7ff35d5)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.