reference appendices

Composer Command Index

Composer commands cover dependency installation, updates, metadata validation, audits, autoload regeneration, and diagnosis. Use the narrowest command that matches the operation, especially in deployment automation.

Use This Reference When

Installing locked dependencies in CI or production.
Updating selected dependencies during development.
Auditing packages and validating package metadata.

Useful Composer Commands

composer install --no-interaction --prefer-dist
composer validate --strict
composer audit
composer dump-autoload --optimize
composer diagnose

install respects the lock file; update resolves new versions and writes the lock file. Confusing them can make deployments non-repeatable.

Practice

Choose Install Or Update

Explain which Composer command belongs in production deployment and which belongs in a dependency upgrade pull request.

Show solution

Use composer install for deployment from the committed lock file. Use composer update deliberately during dependency maintenance, review the lock-file diff, and run checks.