Composer is a dependency management tool for PHP that allows you to manage your project's libraries and dependencies. Pantheon, a website management platform, fully supports the use of Composer in its workflow, making it easier to manage WordPress or Drupal sites with complex dependency requirements. This guide explores how to use Composer on Pantheon to manage dependencies effectively.
Setting Up Composer on Pantheon
To begin using Composer on Pantheon, you first need to ensure that your site is set up to handle a Composer-based workflow. Pantheon recommends using their Integrated Composer feature, which automatically handles Composer dependencies whenever you push changes to your Pantheon repository.
If your site is not yet configured, start by converting your existing site or setting up a new site using Pantheon’s example repositories for Drupal or WordPress.
Using Composer in Your Development Workflow
With a Composer-managed site on Pantheon, you make changes to your codebase locally. After updating or adding new dependencies in your composer.json file, run composer update to lock the changes with composer.lock, then commit both files to your Git repository.
When you push your changes to Pantheon, the platform's build step will automatically execute Composer and build your site using the latest committed composer.lock file, ensuring all dependencies are up to date.
It's important to note that you should never run Composer directly on the Pantheon live environment. Instead, manage all Composer dependencies through your local development environment and commit the changes to be deployed.
Advantages of Using Composer on Pantheon
- Dependency Management: Composer handles PHP package dependencies efficiently, keeping them up to date without manual intervention.
- Automated Workflows: Pantheon's integrations with Composer automate the build and deployment processes, reducing errors and inconsistency in builds.
- Improves Security: Regular updates through Composer ensure that security updates for plugins and modules are applied as soon as they are available.
Conclusion
Using Composer in conjunction with Pantheon can significantly streamline the process of managing and updating dependencies for your Drupal or WordPress projects. By following best practices for dependency management and utilizing Pantheon’s native Composer integration, developers can maximize efficiency and maintain high security standards easily.
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