Agent skill · software engineering · thebushidocollective
PHP Composer and Autoloading
Use when composer package management and PSR-4 autoloading including dependency management, autoload strategies, package creation, version constraints, and patterns for modern PHP project organization and distribution.
Why this skill is useful
Provides specific Composer commands and PSR-4 autoloading patterns that the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
Requires composer installed locally. About 7k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-07-19. 187 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
PHP Composer and Autoloading Introduction Composer is PHP's de facto dependency manager, handling package installation, autoloading, and version management. PSR-4 autoloading eliminates manual require statements by automatically loading classes based on namespace and file structure conventions. Composer revolutionized PHP development by providing standardized dependency management similar to npm, pip, or Maven. Combined with PSR-4 autoloading, Composer enables modern PHP projects to organize code cleanly, share packages easily, and manage dependencies reliably. This skill covers Composer basics, dependency management, autoloading strategies, package creation, semantic versioning, and best practices for maintainable PHP projects. Composer Basics Composer manages project dependencies through composer.json configuration and installs packages into the vendor directory. Composer creates composer.lock to lock exact dependency versions, ensuring consistent installations across environments. PSR-4 Autoloading PSR-4 autoloading maps namespaces to directories, automatically loading classes without manual require statements. PSR-4 eliminates require statements and enables consistent project structure across PHP projects. Version Constraints and Dependency Management Semantic versioning and version constraints control which package versions Composer installs and updates. Version constraint patterns: 1.2.3 - Exact version ^1.2.3 - Caret: >=1.2.3 <2.0.0 (compatible) ~1.2.3 - Tilde: >=1.2.3 <1.3.0 (similar) 1. - Wildcard: >=1.0.0 <2.0.0 =1.0 <2.0 - Range: explicit min/max dev-master - Development branch 1.0@beta - Specific stability Semantic versioning (MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH) communicates breaking changes, features, and fixes in version numbers. Creating Packages Creating reusable Composer packages enables code sharing across projects and with the community. Well-designed packages follow PSR standards, include tests, and provide clear documentation. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills thebushidocollective/php-composer-autoloading