How To Use Composer To Create A Laravel Package?

Laravel is one of the most popular PHP frameworks, and its modular structure makes it easy to extend
functionality through packages. This guide walks you through creating a Laravel package using Composer.

1. What is Composer?

Composer is a dependency manager for PHP that allows you to manage libraries and packages in your projects.
It simplifies the process of adding, updating, and managing dependencies.

2. Steps to Create a Laravel Package

Step 1: Set Up Your Environment

Ensure you have Composer and Laravel installed on your system. You can install Composer from
here, and set up Laravel using Composer:

composer create-project laravel/laravel example-app

Step 2: Create a Package Folder

Inside your Laravel project, create a directory for your package. For example:

mkdir packages/YourName/YourPackage

Step 3: Initialize Composer in the Package

Navigate to your package folder and run the following command:

composer init

Follow the prompts to set up your package’s metadata (name, description, license, etc.).

Step 4: Write the Package Code

Create a src folder inside your package directory and add the core functionality of your
package. For example:

packages/YourName/YourPackage
├── composer.json
└── src
    └── ExampleClass.php
        

Example ExampleClass.php:

namespace YourName\YourPackage;

class ExampleClass {
    public function sayHello() {
        return "Hello from YourPackage!";
    }
}

Step 5: Autoloading

Update your package’s composer.json to include autoloading:

{
    "autoload": {
        "psr-4": {
            "YourName\\YourPackage\\": "src/"
        }
    }
}

Run composer dump-autoload to regenerate the autoload files.

Step 6: Register the Package in Laravel

Add your package’s service provider in the config/app.php file if required. Alternatively, use
auto-discovery by defining the provider in the package’s composer.json:

{
    "extra": {
        "laravel": {
            "providers": [
                "YourName\\YourPackage\\YourServiceProvider"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Step 7: Publish Your Package

To share your package, push it to a public Git repository (e.g., GitHub) and submit it to
Packagist by linking your repository.

Conclusion

Creating Laravel packages with Composer is a powerful way to modularize and reuse your code. With this
guide, you can develop your package and share it with the community.