# Using Composer the Right way

Composer

If you are not a PHP developer and have no idea about [composer](https://getcomposer.org/) then you can skip this article.

If you are a PHP developer then you must be using [Composer](https://getcomposer.org/) for Dependency management then most of the time (just like almost every programmers) you must be doing `composer install` or `composer update` and then `composer dumpautoload` even on the Production Server (I was doing the same mistake).

By default `composer install` will install all the packages listed in the *composer.json* file and it is recommended to skip dev packages on Production Server.

so, here I am listing some useful composer commands which will help you to install only the required packages with proper auto-loading.

1.  Instead of `composer dumpautoload` use `composer dumpautoload -o` or `composer du -o` : `composer dumpautoload -o` will take more time that `composer dumpautoload` but after the command the file autoloading will be faster due to PSR-0/4 autoloading to classmap.
2.  Instead of `composer install` use `composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader`: Composer by default installs all the packages from composer.json and `--no-dev` will prevent it from doing so. `--optimize-autoload` will optimize autoloader for after autoloading (as mentioned in point 1) post installation.
3.  `composer install` recommendation for build scripts: If you are using a CI system then here is the recommended `composer install` command for build scripts: `composer install --no-ansi --no-dev --no-interation --no-progress --no-scripts --optimize autoloader`, what is does: a. Skip Dev dependencies ( `--no-dev`) b. Optimize autoloader ( `--optimize-autoload` ) c. Stop installation scripts (might cause issue during build but completely dependent on your business logic)( `--no-scripts` ) d. It will not print progress and will work without generating o/p or asking for any i/p ( `--no-progress` `--no-interaction` and `--no-ansi` )

You can read more about composer cli and all the options provided by the composer over here: [https://getcomposer.org/doc/03-cli.md](https://getcomposer.org/doc/03-cli.md)

References:

[**How to deploy correctly when using Composer's develop / production switch?**  
*Composer has the option to load several dependencies only while being in development, so the tools will not be…*stackoverflow.com](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/21721495/how-to-deploy-correctly-when-using-composers-develop-production-switch "https://stackoverflow.com/questions/21721495/how-to-deploy-correctly-when-using-composers-develop-production-switch")[](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/21721495/how-to-deploy-correctly-when-using-composers-develop-production-switch)

[**Command-line interface / Commands - Composer**  
*You've already learned how to use the command-line interface to do some things. This chapter documents all the…*getcomposer.org](https://getcomposer.org/doc/03-cli.md "https://getcomposer.org/doc/03-cli.md")[](https://getcomposer.org/doc/03-cli.md)

That’s all folks!!!

Thank you for reading :) :) :)