Managing PHP Dependencies with Composer

Composer is the standard dependency manager for PHP. The panel gives you a web interface to run common Composer commands without needing SSH access.

Opening the Composer Panel#

Go to Software → Composer in the sidebar. If you manage multiple domains, select the one you want from the domain dropdown at the top — each domain has its own composer.json.

Package List#

The panel reads your project's composer.json and composer.lock and displays:

• Package name — the vendor/package identifier
• Required — the version constraint from composer.json
• Installed — the exact version locked in composer.lock (green if installed, amber if not yet installed)
• Type — prod (require) or dev (require-dev)

If no composer.json is found in your project directory, you will see a warning. Upload your project files via FTP or SSH first.

Running Commands#

Install / Update / Dump Autoload#

Use the Run Command panel on the right to run standard Composer commands:

Optional flags:

Select a command and any flags, then click the button to run. The panel shows a live spinner while the command runs — Composer can take a few minutes for large projects.

Requiring a New Package#

Use the Require Package form:

1. Enter the package name, optionally with a version constraint:
   • vendor/package — latest stable version
   • vendor/package:^2.0 — version 2.x
2. Check --dev to add to require-dev instead of require
3. Click composer require

Removing a Package#

Use the Remove Package form:

1. Enter the package name (e.g. vendor/package)
2. Click composer remove

This updates both composer.json and composer.lock and removes the package from vendor/.

Command Output#

After each command, the terminal output appears at the bottom of the page. If the command failed, the full Composer error is shown there — check it for missing extensions, version conflicts, or network errors.

Working Directory#

Composer runs in the directory containing your composer.json. For most setups this is the parent of your public_html folder (e.g. /home/myuser/example.com/).

Composer and Laravel#

If you installed Laravel via the panel's Laravel installer, composer.json is already set up. Use install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader after deploying to production.

[!NOTE] For large dependency trees or slow servers, commands may take several minutes. The panel allows up to 10 minutes per command before timing out.

Next Steps#

• Installing Laravel
• PHP Versions
• SSH Access