---
title: Composer
---
## Composer
Composer is a package manager for PHP packages. You use a `composer.json` file to configure the packages for a PHP project, similar to the `package.json` file in NodeJS projects.
### Install Composer
To install Composer, you first have to download it from getcomposer.org.
You can then install Composer locally or globally.
### Install Packages
Install packages with `composer install`. Composer will install the packages listed in the `composer.json` file to the vendor/ folder.
```shell
composer install
```
To install only a specific package, use `composer require `. This will only download and install the latest version available to the selected package.
If you run this command without a `composer.json` file, composer will automatically create it the before the installation.
```shell
composer require
```
### Updating Packages
Update packages with `composer update`, Composer will automatically download and install the latest versions of the packages listed in the `composer.json` file to the vendor/ folder.
```shell
composer update
```
To update a single package, use `composer update `.
### Removing Packages
Removing is easy as installing packages with composer. Just enter `composer remove ` to uninstall the package from your vendor/ folder. This will automatically update your `composer.json` file.
```shell
composer remove
```
### More Information:
* The Composer website: getcomposer.org
* Composer's GitHub repo: composer/getcomposer
* The popular PHP package repository that Composer uses to search for packages: Packagist