How can I remove a package from Laravel using PHP Composer?

Question

What is the correct way to remove a package from Laravel using PHP Composer?

So far I've tried:

Remove declaration from file composer.json (in the "require" section)
Remove any class aliases from file app.php
Remove any references to the package from my code :-)
Run composer update
Run composer dump-autoload

None of these options are working! What am I missing?

steadweb · Accepted Answer · 2021-06-22T15:34:24.413

1052

Composer 1.x and 2.x

Running the following command will remove the package from vendor (or wherever you install packages), composer.json and composer.lock. Change vendor/package appropriately.

composer remove vendor/package

Obviously you'll need to remove references to that package within your app.

I'm currently running the following version of Composer:

Composer version 1.0-dev (7b13507dd4d3b93578af7d83fbf8be0ca686f4b5) 2014-12-11 21:52:29

Documentation

https://getcomposer.org/doc/03-cli.md#remove

Updates

26/10/2020 - Updated answer to assert command works for v1.x and v2.x of Composer

edited Jun 22 '21 at 15:34

answered Dec 12 '14 at 09:09

steadweb

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@ZeshanKhattak composer update will update all dependencies. It way leave the project in unstable state. Don't use composer update unless you want to update dependencies – zarax Apr 26 '17 at 14:05
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`composer remove packagename` , It updates removing package from composer.json and removes package folder from vendor... laravel - 5.4.24, composer - 1.4.2. – Jun 09 '17 at 11:18
It seems like composer is automatically installing missing packages after running `composer remove `. Anyway to avoid that? Using version 1.7.2. – Olle Härstedt Aug 31 '18 at 12:50
it should be: composer remove package_name instead: composer remove vendor/package there is no need of vendor as laravel automatically check in vendor directory for packages. – prashant Sep 13 '19 at 10:01
If you don't want your packages to be updated after removing a module you can run `composer install` instead of `composer update` – Gezzasa Jul 13 '20 at 10:15
@prashant `vendor` here is also a variable. For example, if you were removing Carbon, you would run `composer remove nesbot/carbon`. In this example, `nesbot` is the name of the vendor. – Charles Wood Mar 09 '21 at 19:17
composer2 tells me "xy in your composer is not required and thus not removed"... well, can't i force composer to purge it – clockw0rk Sep 13 '22 at 10:05

score 212 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 22 '21 at 13:24

212

I got it working... The steps to remove a package from Laravel are:

Remove the declaration from file composer.json (in the "require" section)
**Remove Service Provider from file config/app.php (reference in the "providers" array)
Remove any class aliases from file config/app.php
Remove any references to the package from your code :-)
Run composer update vendor/package-name. This will remove the package folder from the vendor folder and will rebuild the Composer autoloading map.
Manually delete the published files (read the comment by zwacky)

It will remove the package folder from the Vendor folder.

edited Jun 22 '21 at 13:24

Peter Mortensen

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answered Apr 17 '14 at 07:17

igaster

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although unpublishing assets/configs isn't really an automated thing. i usually delete manually the vendor/package folders in config/ or public/. – Simon Wicki Apr 17 '14 at 07:28
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now laravel should come up with something like "remove package " to make it easier. – Chandan Gupta Oct 08 '14 at 14:08
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A problem with this solution is that it will update all other packages, which may not be what you want. – tremby Nov 19 '15 at 21:53
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(1) and (5) can be replaced with running `composer remove vendor/package`, I think. – JCarlosR Sep 06 '17 at 19:31

Yevgeniy Afanasyev · Answer 3 · 2023-04-24T06:05:16.937

61

Normally composer remove used like this is enough:

composer remove vendor/package

But if a Composer package is removed and the "config" cache is not cleaned you cannot clean it. When you try like so

php artisan config:clear

you can get an error In ProviderRepository.php line 208:

Class 'Laracasts\Flash\FlashServiceProvider' not found

This is a dead end, unless you go deleting files:

Laravel 5.6

rm bootstrap/cache/config.php

Laravel 9

rm bootstrap/cache/packages.php

It happens usually on automated deployment, when you copy files of a new release on top of old cache. Even if you cleared the cache before copying. You end up with an old cache and a new composer.json file.

edited Apr 24 '23 at 06:05

answered Sep 16 '18 at 23:23

Yevgeniy Afanasyev

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With 5.6, my bootstrap/cache was empty. I forgot that I'd changed the cache path (config/cache.php)! Deleting the files in the new cache folder fixed the problem! – Aine Jan 29 '19 at 14:13
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@YevgeniyAfanasyev This is not fixed Even in 5.7 – Shreyansh Panchal Mar 02 '19 at 10:50
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I almost spent 3 hours pulling my hairs out over this. I thought `config:clear` would fix this. – Shreyansh Panchal Apr 02 '19 at 13:28

score 39 · Answer 4 · edited Jun 22 '21 at 13:30

39

You can remove any package just by typing the following command in the terminal, and just remove the providers and alias you provided at the time of installing the package, if any and update the composer,

composer remove vendor/your_package_name
composer update

edited Jun 22 '21 at 13:30

Peter Mortensen

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answered Mar 15 '18 at 11:02

Shahrukh Anwar

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Sometimes to update the new dependancies, you have to update the composer. I think there is no harm in running that. – Shahrukh Anwar Jul 16 '18 at 07:33

score 22 · Answer 5 · edited Jun 22 '21 at 13:29

22

Before removing a package from a composer.json declaration, please remove the cache:

php artisan cache:clear  
php artisan config:clear

If you forget to remove the cache and you get a "class not found error" then please reinstall the package, clear the cache and remove again.

edited Jun 22 '21 at 13:29

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jan 31 '18 at 14:24

Rayees Pk

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score 21 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 06 '18 at 09:41

You can do any one of the below two methods:

Running the below command (most recommended way to remove your package without updating your other packages)

$ composer remove vendor/package
Go to your composer.json file and then run command like below it will remove your package (but it will also update your other packages)

$ composer update

score 20 · Answer 7 · edited Jun 05 '23 at 18:58

20

Running

composer remove package/name
php artisan optimize:clear

e.g "Composer remove mckenziearts/laravel-notify" works for me while using Laravel 8.

edited Jun 05 '23 at 18:58

Douglas Vicentini

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answered Oct 04 '21 at 11:24

Vic Iyke

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score 17 · Answer 8 · edited Jun 22 '21 at 13:28

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If you are still getting the error after you are done with all the steps in the previous answers, go to your projects, Bootstrap → Cache → config.php. Remove the provider and aliases entries from the cached array manually.

edited Jun 22 '21 at 13:28

Peter Mortensen

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answered Oct 06 '17 at 07:40

Ramjith Ap

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This helped me. – Peter Griffin Jun 01 '18 at 07:57
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Some package vendor does not meet all requirements to create a package. For that reason, these vendors `composer remove vendor/package` unable to remove the cache entries properly. So, @Ramjith Ap is absolutely correct here. – Md. Khalakuzzaman Khan Nov 12 '18 at 19:18

score 15 · Answer 9 · edited Jun 22 '21 at 13:49

15

Use:

composer remove vendor/package

This is an example:

Install or add a package

composer require firebear/importexportfree

Uninstall / remove

composer remove firebear/importexportfree

Finally after removing:

php -f bin/magento setup:upgrade

php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy –f

php bin/magento indexer:reindex

php -f bin/magento cache:clean

edited Jun 22 '21 at 13:49

Peter Mortensen

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answered Feb 20 '19 at 06:47

SUNNETmedia

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score 14 · Answer 10 · edited Jun 22 '21 at 14:21

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To add the packages, the command is to be like:

composer require spatie/laravel-permission

To remove the packages, the command is to be like:

composer remove spatie/laravel-permission

edited Jun 22 '21 at 14:21

Peter Mortensen

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answered May 24 '21 at 19:12

Aman Mehra

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Omg, I was looking for composer remove command to remove exactly this package. – Alexandre Prazeres Sep 20 '22 at 16:23

score 9 · Answer 11 · answered Jun 10 '18 at 15:22

9

In case the given answers still don't help you remove that, try this:

Manually delete the line in require from composer.json
Run composer update

answered Jun 10 '18 at 15:22

DonJoe

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score 6 · Answer 12 · edited May 12 '22 at 01:22

6

If this doesn't work "composer remove package/name", you can still remove it manually.
Note : package/name is like spatie etc.

Go to composer.json and find the package name
Delete package name from composer.json
Find the vendor file in your Laravel project.
Delete the package file which is under vendor
run composer install on your terminal

Note : Package File mean is that package that you are looking for. For example, you want to remove Spatie. Then you need to find that with similar name in vendor file and you need to delete it manually.
Your package was removed successfully.

edited May 12 '22 at 01:22

Ryan M

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answered Aug 24 '21 at 11:55

Enver

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What is that "package file"? Do you mean `composer.lock`? You forgot to add the consequences that deleting the lock file cuases, like updating other dependencies – Nico Haase Oct 27 '21 at 14:11
For example, you have a package named as spatie. You will find it under vendor file. composer.json. All installed package will be starage under Vendor with package's name. – Enver Oct 28 '21 at 17:52
What do you mean by "remove Spatie"? That's not a package. Also, `composer remove` does all this automatically – Nico Haase Oct 30 '21 at 12:15
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Spatie is an example package name. It's a permission management package for Laravel. I just gave it as an example. @NicoHaase Sometimes composer remove doesn't work and we need to remove it manually. It's another solution to this problem. – Enver Dec 17 '21 at 07:01
Please add **all** clarification to your answer by editing it – Nico Haase Dec 17 '21 at 07:24

score 4 · Answer 13 · answered Feb 04 '23 at 07:38

You have two solution.

First

Use remove of composer.

composer remove *your_package_name*

Second

Delete the line in require from composer.json and then run update

composer update

After removed, recommend to run below two command.

php artisan cache:clear
php artisan config:clear

score 3 · Answer 14 · edited Jun 22 '21 at 13:54

We have come with a great solution. This solution is practically done in Laravel 6. If you want to remove any package from your Laravel Project then you can easily remove the package by following below steps:

Step 1: You must know the package name which you want to remove. If you don't know the complete package name then you can open your project folder and go to the composer.json file and check the name in the require array:

"require": {
        "php": "^7.2",
        "fideloper/proxy": "^4.0",
        "laravel/framework": "^6.2",
        "laravel/passport": "^8.3",
        "laravel/tinker": "^2.0"
    },

Suppose, here I am going to remove the "fideloper/proxy" package.

Step 2: Open a command prompt with your project root folder directory

Step 3: First of all, clear all cache by the following commands. Run the commands one by one.

php artisan cache:clear  
php artisan config:clear

Step 4: Now write the following command to remove the package. Here you need to change your package name instead of my example package.

composer remove fideloper/proxy

Now, wait for a few seconds while your package is removed.

or `composer remove laravel/telescope --dev` if it is dev package — vinsa, Mar 23 '20 at 14:03

score 3 · Answer 15 · edited Jun 22 '21 at 13:59

3

On Laravel 8.*, the following steps work for me:

Run command composer remove package-name on the terminal
Remove Provider and aliases from file Config/app.php
Remove the related file from the Config folder.

Remove it from your code where you used it.

edited Jun 22 '21 at 13:59

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jan 24 '21 at 22:20

infomasud

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I have been trying this but i continuously get an error : ` In ProviderRepository.php line 208: class xxxxxx not found` – Brian Highforce Thomas Jun 21 '21 at 09:29

score 2 · Answer 16 · edited Jun 22 '21 at 14:06

2

Remove the package folder from the vendor folder (manual delete)
Remove it from file composer.json and 'composer.lock' files (use Ctrl + F5 to search)
Remove it from file config/app.php and file bootstrap/cache/config.php files

Run these commands:

composer remove **your-package-name**
php artisan cache:clear
php artisan config:clear

edited Jun 22 '21 at 14:06

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jan 27 '21 at 13:14

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Please never recommend that anybody should edit the `composer.lock` manually. Calling `composer remove` is enough, as this removes the package from the vendor folder, and from both composer files – Nico Haase Oct 27 '21 at 14:11

score 0 · Answer 17 · edited Jun 22 '21 at 13:58

0

There are quite a few steps here:

Go to file composer.json and look for the package and how it is written over there.

for example

{ "require": { "twig/twig": "^3.0" } }

I wish to remove twig 3.0

Now open cmd and run composer remove vendor/your_package_name as composer remove twig/twig will remove the package.
As a final step, run composer update. This will surely give you a massage of nothing to install or update, but this is important in case your packages have inter-dependencies.

edited Jun 22 '21 at 13:58

Peter Mortensen

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answered Aug 20 '20 at 18:52

Chandraarnav

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When adding an answer to six year old question with an accepted answer and fifteen existing answers it is important to point out what new aspect of the question your answer addresses. – Jason Aller Aug 20 '20 at 23:24
The most important thing I faced is point No.3, which we often ignore as we usually get "nothing to install or update", I was unfortunate while uninstalling certain illuminate component as I had sentinel which uses illuminate capsule. however thankfully update composer command helped here. the answers above misses on the inter-dependencies part, in case you feel its not important juss reply back I will remove my answer. – Chandraarnav Aug 21 '20 at 05:19
Calling `composer update` is not needed if you just want to remove a package – Nico Haase Oct 27 '21 at 14:12

How can I remove a package from Laravel using PHP Composer?

17 Answers17

Composer 1.x and 2.x

Documentation

Updates

Install or add a package

Uninstall / remove

Linked