php-composer-cli

An npm CLI package that automatically downloads PHP and Composer for your current platform and exposes them as php and composer terminal commands.

Supported platforms

| OS | Arch | PHP binary source | |---------|-------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Linux | x64 | crazywhalecc/static-php-cli | | Linux | arm64 | crazywhalecc/static-php-cli | | macOS | x64 | crazywhalecc/static-php-cli | | macOS | arm64 | crazywhalecc/static-php-cli | | Windows | x64 | shivammathur/php-builder-windows |

PHP version is resolved from php/php-src releases.
Composer is resolved from composer/composer releases.

Installation

Global (recommended)

npm i -g --allow-scripts=php-composer-cli php-composer-cli@latest

npm v11+: npm blocks install-time lifecycle scripts (preinstall / install / postinstall) of registry packages by default, so they must be allowed explicitly. --allow-scripts=php-composer-cli allows this package's postinstall script to run and download the PHP binary + composer.phar into the package's dist/ folder. The flag is ignored on npm < 11, so the command works there as well.

Verify that both CLIs are installed and working:

php --version && composer --version

Local (per-project)

npm install php-composer-cli
npx php --version
npx composer --version

For local installs, npm v11+ also skips the postinstall script by default. Add an allowScripts entry to your project's package.json and reinstall:

{
  "allowScripts": {
    "php-composer-cli": true
  }
}

Alternatively, run node node_modules/php-composer-cli/install.js once after npm install.

Usage

After a global install:

# Check versions
php --version
composer --version

# Run a PHP script
php my-script.php

# Create a new Laravel project
composer create-project laravel/laravel my-app

# Install dependencies from composer.json
composer install

# Add a package
composer require guzzlehttp/guzzle

Project structure

php-composer-cli/
├── bin/
│   ├── php.js          # `php` CLI wrapper
│   └── composer.js     # `composer` CLI wrapper
├── dist/               # Downloaded binaries (created at install time)
│   ├── php  /  php.exe
│   └── composer.phar
├── lib/
│   ├── github.js       # GitHub Releases API helpers
│   ├── platform.js     # Platform detection + version resolution via GitHub API
│   └── download.js     # HTTP download + archive extraction
├── install.js          # postinstall script
└── package.json

How it works

1. npm install triggers the postinstall script (install.js).
2. The script detects the OS and CPU architecture.
3. PHP version is resolved via the GitHub Releases API of the official php/php-src repository.
4. PHP binary (precompiled static executable) is downloaded from GitHub releases — no build step required:
   • Windows x64: shivammathur/php-builder-windows — official prebuilt NTS ZIPs
   • Linux / macOS: crazywhalecc/static-php-cli — static builds compiled from php/php-src
5. Composer (composer.phar) is downloaded from composer/composer GitHub releases — the official Composer repository.
6. Both are placed in dist/.
7. bin/php.js and bin/composer.js are thin wrappers that delegate all CLI arguments via child_process.spawnSync.

Updating PHP / Composer

To force a fresh download (e.g. after a new PHP or Composer release), delete dist/ and reinstall. Locally:

rm -rf node_modules/php-composer-cli/dist
npm install
node node_modules/php-composer-cli/install.js   # npm v11+ skips postinstall by default

Globally:

npm i -g --allow-scripts=php-composer-cli php-composer-cli@latest

Versions are always resolved dynamically from GitHub — no manual edits needed.

License

MIT