Composer Installation¶
Composer can be used in several ways to install CodeIgniter4 on your system.
The first two techniques describe creating a skeleton project using CodeIgniter4, that you would then use as the base for a new webapp. The third technique described below lets you add CodeIgniter4 to an existing webapp,
Note: if you are using a Git repository to store your code, or for
collaboration with others, then the vendor folder would normally
be “git ignored”. In such a case, you will need to do a composer update
when you clone the repository to a new system.
App Starter¶
The CodeIgniter 4 app starter repository holds a skeleton application, with a composer dependency on the latest released version of the framework.
This installation technique would suit a developer who wishes to start a new CodeIgniter4 based project.
Installation & Set Up¶
In the folder above your project root:
composer create-project codeigniter4/appstarter project-root
The command above will create a “project-root” folder.
If you omit the “project-root” argument, the command will create an “appstarter” folder, which can be renamed as appropriate.
If you don’t need or want phpunit installed, and all of its composer dependencies, then add the “–no-dev” option to the end of the above command line. That will result in only the framework, and the three trusted dependencies that we bundle, being composer-installed.
A sample such installation command, using the default project-root “appstarter”:
composer create-project codeigniter4/appstarter --no-dev
After installation you should follow the steps in the “Upgrading” section.
Upgrading¶
Whenever there is a new release, then from the command line in your project root:
composer update
If you used the “–no-dev” option when you created the project, it
would be appropriate to do so here too, i.e. composer update --no-dev.
Read the upgrade instructions, and check designated app/Config folders for affected changes.
Pros¶
Simple installation; easy to update
Cons¶
You still need to check for app/Config changes after updating
Structure¶
Folders in your project after set up:
- app, public, tests, writable
- vendor/codeigniter4/framework/system
- vendor/codeigniter4/framework/app & public (compare with yours after updating)
Latest Dev¶
The App Starter repo comes with a builds scripts to switch Composer sources between the
current stable release and the latest development branch of the framework. Use this script
for a developer who is willing to live with the latest unreleased changes, which may be unstable.
The development user guide is accessible online. Note that this differs from the released user guide, and will pertain to the develop branch explicitly.
In your project root:
php builds development
The command above will update composer.json to point to the develop branch of the
working repository, and update the corresponding paths in config and XML files. To revert
these changes run:
php builds release
After using the builds command be sure to run composer update to sync your vendor
folder with the latest target build.
Adding CodeIgniter4 to an Existing Project¶
The same CodeIgniter 4 framework repository described in “Manual Installation” can also be added to an existing project using Composer.
Develop your app inside the app folder, and the public folder
will be your document root.
In your project root:
composer require codeigniter4/framework
As with the earlier two composer install methods, you can omit installing phpunit and its dependencies by adding the “–no-dev” argument to the “composer require” command.
Set Up¶
Copy the app, public, tests and writable folders from vendor/codeigniter4/framework
to your project root
Copy the env, phpunit.xml.dist and spark files, from
vendor/codeigniter4/framework to your project root
You will have to adjust the system path to refer to the vendor one, e.g. ROOTPATH . '/vendor/codeigniter4/framework/system',
- the $systemDirectory variable in app/Config/Paths.php
Upgrading¶
Whenever there is a new release, then from the command line in your project root:
composer update
Read the upgrade instructions, and check designated
app/Config folders for affected changes.
Pros¶
Relatively simple installation; easy to update
Cons¶
You still need to check for app/Config changes after updating
Structure¶
Folders in your project after set up:
- app, public, tests, writable
- vendor/codeigniter4/framework/system
Translations Installation¶
If you want to take advantage of the system message translations, they can be added to your project in a similar fashion.
From the command line inside your project root:
composer require codeigniter4/translations
These will be updated along with the framework whenever you do a composer update.