Composer Dist Plugin Laravel Package

Getting Started

Install the package as a development dependency:

composer require --dev pixelfear/composer-dist-plugin

Add a dist section to your composer.json to define distributable sources:

{
  "extra": {
    "dist": {
      "path/to/target/file.js": "https://example.com/path/to/source/file.js"
    }
  }
}

Run composer update (or install) — the plugin will fetch the remote asset and place it at path/to/target/file.js. No need to commit third-party binaries; they’ll be auto-downloaded on deployment.

Implementation Patterns

Use for bundling static assets (e.g., JS/CSS, binaries, CLI tools) without including them in your repo. Ideal for internal package dependencies where release builds require pre-built assets but you want to avoid bloat in source control.
Common workflow:

• Define dist targets in composer.json of your package’s root.
• Hook into post-autoload-dump or post-install-cmd scripts if you need to regenerate assets (e.g., after a new release tag).
• Combine with asset-packagist or npm/yarn for hybrid frontends — use this plugin only for non-NPM-available binaries or locked-down releases.

Example: embedding a vendored CLI tool:

"extra": {
  "dist": {
    "bin/mytool": "https://github.com/org/mytool/releases/download/v1.2.3/mytool.phar"
  }
}

Gotchas and Tips

• The plugin does not verify checksums by default — use --with-verification if available, or enforce strict URLs/versions manually to prevent supply-chain issues.
• File paths are relative to the project root, not the package root — double-check paths if used across subpackages.
• Overwrites files without warning — avoid pointing to shared or manually edited assets.
• Only supports HTTP/HTTPS — no local filesystem or S3 (unless proxied via URL).
• Works best with immutable URLs (e.g., pinned release artifacts). Never use latest or mutable tags.
• For CI/CD, ensure composer install runs with -o (optimize autoloader) if needed — the plugin doesn’t interfere with autoloading but avoids unnecessary rebuilds.