Composer Installation
Composer can be used in several ways to install CodeIgniter4 on your system.
Important
CodeIgniter4 requires Composer 2.0.14 or later.
Note
If you are not familiar with Composer, we recommend you read Basic usage first.
The first technique describes creating a skeleton project using CodeIgniter4, that you would then use as the base for a new webapp. The second 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
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.
Note
Before v4.4.0, CodeIgniter autoloader did not allow special
characters that are illegal in filenames on certain operating systems.
The symbols that can be used are /, _, ., :, \ and space.
So if you installed CodeIgniter under the folder that contains the special
characters like (, ), etc., CodeIgniter didn’t work. Since v4.4.0,
this restriction has been removed.
Important
When you deploy to your production server, don’t forget to run the following command:
composer install --no-dev
The above command will remove the Composer packages only for development that are not needed in the production environment. This will greatly reduce the vendor folder size.
Initial Configuration
After installation, a few initial configurations are required. See Initial Configuration for the details.
Upgrading
Whenever there is a new release, then from the command line in your project root:
composer update
Read the upgrade instructions, and check Breaking Changes and Enhancements.
Pros
Simple installation; easy to update.
Cons
You still need to check for file changes in the project space (root, app, public, writable) and merge them after updating.
Note
There are some third-party CodeIgniter modules available to assist with merging changes to the project space: Explore on Packagist.
Structure
Folders in your project after set up:
app, public, tests, writable
vendor/codeigniter4/framework/system
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.
Update for Latest Dev
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.
After using the builds command be sure to run composer update to sync your vendor
folder with the latest target build. Then, check the Upgrading From a Previous Version and update project
files if necessary.
Next Minor Version
If you want to use the next minor version branch, after using the builds command
edit composer.json manually.
If you try the 4.4 branch, change the version to 4.4.x-dev:
"require": {
"php": "^7.4 || ^8.0",
"codeigniter4/codeigniter4": "4.4.x-dev"
},
And run composer update to sync your vendor
folder with the latest target build. Then, check the Upgrading Guide
(user_guide_src/source/installation/upgrade_{version}.rst) and
update project files if necessary.
Revert to Stable Release
To revert the changes run:
php builds release
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.
Installation
Develop your app inside the app folder, and the public folder
will be your document root.
In your project root:
composer require codeigniter4/framework
Important
When you deploy to your production server, don’t forget to run the following command:
composer install --no-dev
The above command will remove the Composer packages only for development
that are not needed in the production environment. This will greatly reduce
the vendor folder size.
Setting 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
$systemDirectoryproperty in app/Config/Paths.php to refer to the vendor one, e.g.,__DIR__ . '/../../vendor/codeigniter4/framework/system'.
Initial Configuration
A few initial configurations are required. See Initial Configuration for the details.
Upgrading
Whenever there is a new release, then from the command line in your project root:
.. code-block:: console
composer update
Read the upgrade instructions, and check Breaking Changes and Enhancements.
Pros
Relatively simple installation; easy to update.
Cons
You still need to check for file changes in the project space (root, app, public, writable) after updating.
Note
There are some third-party CodeIgniter modules available to assist with merging changes to the project space: Explore on Packagist.
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.