Introduction to Composer

We use Composer to manage Magento components and their dependencies. Using Composer to get the Magento software metapackage provides the following advantages:

  • Reuse third-party libraries without bundling them with source code
  • Reduce extension conflicts and compatibility issues by using a component-based architecture with robust dependency management
  • Adhere to PHP-Framework Interoperability Group (FIG) standards
  • Repackage Magento Open Source with other components
  • Use the Magento software in a production environment

You must create a Composer project from our metapackage if you want to use the Magento Web Setup Wizard to upgrade the Magento software and third-party extensions.

The key to developing any Magento component is its composer.json, which specifies version and dependency information for a component, among other things. You can look at Magento 2 code, such as:

For more information

For more information about Composer, see the Composer documentation.