partial-composer.md

title	description	contributors	tags	categories	type	permalink
Manage Some Dependencies with Composer	Get your feet wet with Composer on WordPress or Drupal 7 before going all in.	rachelwhitton dustinleblanc wbconnor sarahg	automation workflow moreguides composer	develop	guide	docs/guides/:basename/

In this guide, you'll learn how to use Composer in small doses with WordPress and Drupal 7 so you can work towards best practices achieved by more advanced implementations. This allows you to continue using Pantheon's one-click core updates in the Site Dashboard while managing non-core dependencies with Composer.

Before You Begin

• Read Composer Fundamentals and Workflows
• Install Composer and Git locally
• Create a WordPress or Drupal 7 site on Pantheon

• Set the site's connection mode to Git within the Site Dashboard or via Terminus:

  terminus connection:set <site>.<env> git

• Create a local clone of your site code, and navigate to it in your terminal

Initialize and Configure Composer

Use the init command to create a composer.json file that includes the appropriate package repository, then configure installation paths for dependencies like plugins and modules:

1. If you haven't done so already, clone your Pantheon site repository and navigate to the project's root directory. Replace <site_name> with your site's name (e.g., your-awesome-site):

SITE=<site_name>
`terminus connection:info $SITE.dev --fields='Git Command' --format=string`
cd $SITE

1. Initialize composer to create a composer.json file with the WordPress package repository:

composer init --repository=https://wpackagist.org --no-interaction

1. Edit the composer.json to add extra configuration that specifies installation paths for WordPress plugins and themes.

Since Pantheon does not support Git submodules , we recommend using the provided script remove-git-submodules to remove any .git directories upon install and update.

{
  "repositories": [
    {
      "type": "composer",
      "url": "https://wpackagist.org"
    }
  ],
  "require": {},
  "extra": {
    "installer-paths": {
      "wp-content/plugins/{$name}/": ["type:wordpress-plugin"],
      "wp-content/themes/{$name}/": ["type:wordpress-theme"]
    }
  },
  "scripts": {
    "remove-git-submodules": "find . -mindepth 2 -type d -name .git | xargs rm -rf",
    "post-install-cmd": [
      "@remove-git-submodules"
    ],
    "post-update-cmd": [
      "@remove-git-submodules"
    ]
  }
}

1. Commit the composer.json file to version control with Git:

   git add composer.json

   git commit -m "Create composer.json with WP repo and install paths"

2. Push your new file to Pantheon:

   git push origin master

1. If you haven't done so already, clone your Pantheon site repository and navigate to the project's root directory. Replace <site_name> with your site's name (e.g., your-awesome-site):

SITE=<site_name>
`terminus connection:info $SITE.dev --fields='Git Command' --format=string`
cd $SITE

1. Commit the `composer.json` file to version control with Git:

git add composer.json

git commit -m "Create composer.json with D7 repo and install paths"

1. Push your new file to Pantheon:

git push origin master

Anything you aren't managing with Composer is installed and maintained using the standard techniques such as using the WordPress or Drupal admin interfaces. Continue applying one-click core updates from Pantheon in the Site Dashboard.

Require Dependencies

Use the require command to add new dependencies to your project, such as libraries or themes. This command modifies your composer.json file by including the specified dependency and it's compatible version.

Note that Pantheon does not run composer install on the platform, so you need to install and commit the dependencies.

Install a Plugin

1. Require the plugin, Pantheon Advanced Page Cache for example, with Composer:

```bash
composer require wpackagist-plugin/pantheon-advanced-page-cache
```

2. Review modified files using git status, you should see the module has been installed in the wp-content/plugins directory like so:

![Require wpackagist-plugin/pantheon-advanced-page-cache output](../../images/guides/partial-composer/require-papc-plugin.png)

Notice a missing dependency was also installed, `composer/installers`. This package is needed to support the installation paths configured in the previous section, and needs to be tracked in version control.

3. Commit your work to version control with Git:

```bash
git add .
```

```bash
git commit -m "Require pantheon-advanced-page-cache ^0.3.0 "
```

4. Push your changes to Pantheon:

```bash
git push origin master
```

5. Navigate to the Dev environment of the Site Dashboard.
6. Click the Site Admin button and login.
7. Navigate to Plugins and activate Pantheon Advanced Page Cache.

Install Site Local Drush

The following example shows you how to install a site local Drush. You can use this method to require contrb modules, themes, and libraries.

1. First, require the composer/installers package to support the installation paths configured in the previous section:

```bash
composer require composer/installers
```

2. Require Drush with Composer:

```bash
composer require drush/drush
```

3. Review modified files using git status:

![Require drupal/pantheon_advanced_page_cache output](../../images/guides/partial-composer/require-drush.png)

4. Commit your work to version control with Git:

```bash
git add .
```

```bash
git commit -m "Require drush and composer/installers"
```

5. Push your changes to Pantheon:

```bash
git push origin master
```

Next Steps

If your use case doesn't require the more advanced Build Tools method, continue using Composer to manage any number of your non-core dependencies while preserving Pantheon's one-click core updates. This is only supported for Drupal 7 and WordPress. This is not supported on Drupal 8 as it will break one-click updates due to excessive conflicts.

If you're ready to learn best practices for Composer on Pantheon, follow the Build Tools guide.