Developer Tools

PHM has a built-in tool manager. You install developer tools the same way you install PHP packages — with phm install.

Available Tools

Tool	Description	Install command
composer	Dependency Manager for PHP	`phm install composer`
symfony	Symfony CLI — build, run, and manage PHP applications from terminal	`phm install symfony`
phpstan	PHP Static Analysis Tool	`phm install phpstan`
php-cs-fixer	PHP Coding Standards Fixer	`phm install php-cs-fixer`
psalm	Static Analysis Tool by Vimeo	`phm install psalm`
laravel	Laravel Installer	`phm install laravel`
deployer	Deployment tool for PHP	`phm install deployer`
castor	DX-oriented task runner	`phm install castor`

Installing Tools

Tools are installed to /opt/phm/bin and managed separately from PHP packages:

# Install Composer and Symfony CLI
phm install composer symfony

# Install PHP and tools together
phm install php8.5-cli composer phpstan

# Force reinstall (upgrade)
phm install composer --force

# List installed packages and tools
phm list

Tools are installed globally and available immediately in your terminal (if /opt/phm/bin is in your PATH).

Composer

phm install composer

PHM downloads composer.phar from getcomposer.org and creates a wrapper script that uses PHM’s PHP automatically. No manual curl or mv needed.

composer --version
composer install
composer require some/package

Symfony CLI

phm install symfony

The Symfony CLI is a developer tool to help you build, run, and manage your PHP applications directly from your terminal. PHM downloads the binary for your platform from GitHub releases.

While designed for Symfony, it works great with any PHP project — Laravel, WordPress, or plain PHP. Key features:

Local web server with automatic HTTPS and HTTP/2
Per-project PHP version via .php-version file — symfony php automatically uses the right version
Proxy for accessing projects via local .wip domains
Integration with Docker, SymfonyCloud, and platform.sh

# Start local server
symfony server:start -d

# Use project-specific PHP version (reads .php-version)
symfony php -v
symfony composer install

# Works with any PHP project, not just Symfony
cd my-laravel-app
echo "8.4" > .php-version
symfony php artisan serve

See Version Switching for details on per-project PHP version management.

PHPStan / Psalm / PHP CS Fixer

These tools are installed as Phars via Composer, managed by PHM:

phm install phpstan
phm install psalm
phm install php-cs-fixer

PHM handles the entire process — downloads the tool via Composer in an isolated directory, extracts the phar, and creates a wrapper script pointing to PHM’s PHP. No need to configure ~/.composer/vendor/bin.

phpstan analyse src/
php-cs-fixer fix src/
psalm

Laravel / Deployer / Castor

phm install laravel
phm install deployer
phm install castor

laravel new my-app
dep deploy
castor task:run

Managing Tools

# List all installed tools
phm list

# Show available tools
phm list -a

# Remove a tool
phm remove phpstan

# Show tool info
phm info composer

PEAR / PECL

PEAR/PECL is available as a PHP package:

phm install php8.5-pear