# symfony/process

Executes commands in sub-processes

Repository: https://github.com/symfony/process
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/process
Homepage: https://symfony.com/process
Language: PHP
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: php, symfony, component, symfony-component
Last push: 2026-08-22T13:46:56+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 99/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 99, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5671, "days_push": 11, "days_rel": 11, "gap_med": 0.0, "n_releases_24m": 53}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 7453, forks 104 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:59.951530+00:00)

## What it is
Symfony Process is a PHP component that executes commands in sub-processes, replacing raw PHP functions like exec and shell_exec. It handles cross-platform argument escaping, environment variables, timeouts, signals, and synchronous or asynchronous execution with real-time output streaming.

## Use cases
- run shell commands from php safely
- execute external binaries in a subprocess
- run processes asynchronously with streaming output
- replace exec and shell_exec in php
- manage process timeouts and signals in php
- spawn php child processes with same configuration

## When to choose
- you need safe, portable command execution in PHP with proper argument escaping
- you need async process management, streaming output, or TTY/PTY support
- you are building on Symfony or Laravel and want a battle-tested process component

## When to avoid
- you need a full job queue or scheduler rather than simple subprocess execution
- you are not working in PHP
- you need parallelism within a single PHP request rather than external process execution

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: developer-tools, concurrency, cli
- domain: developer-tools
- platform: php, cross-platform, cli
- tags: subprocess, process-management, symfony-component, shell-execution, async-processes, command-line, automation

## Member repositories
- symfony/process (main) score 99

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:59.951530+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 2026-08-29T17:37:40.264287+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/symfony/process (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:59.951530+00:00, sha 22ddaed9e074)
  - homepage: https://symfony.com/process (fetched 2026-08-29T08:33:05.978330+00:00, sha 124736af1531)
  - site_page: https://symfony.com/doc (fetched 2026-08-29T08:33:05.980726+00:00, sha 44889134f4fb)
  - site_page: https://symfony.com/doc/current/components/process.html (fetched 2026-08-29T08:33:05.982610+00:00, sha c398b1e1f7d4)
  - site_page: https://symfony.com/releases (fetched 2026-08-29T08:33:05.985160+00:00, sha f109a7a4a5da)
  - site_page: https://symfony.com/blog/category/releases (fetched 2026-08-29T08:33:05.987965+00:00, sha f34945599288)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.