Manage Astra Pro With Composer

Composer is a dependency manager for PHP, which you can use for your WordPress websites. This document will show you how to manage Astra Pro on your projects using Composer.

With Composer, you can add all of your standard themes and plugins to a new WordPress site from one place. Also, you can keep your websites updated the same way.

Using Astra Pro With Composer

You can use Composer to upgrade or downgrade Astra Pro. Before using Composer, you’ll need to have the Astra Pro plugin installed and your license activated. Thus, you’ll need to do this manually on any new website.

Follow these steps to prepare your new website before using Composer:

Step 1 – Install and activate the Astra Pro plugin. If you’re not sure how to do this, you can check out this document;

Step 2 – Next, copy your Astra Pro license from the Store, and activate the license on your website. Further, you can find more details about activating the license in this document.

Activating the plugin license on your new website will register the website URL with our Store. Now you can configure your Composer.json file and manage Astra Pro with Composer further on.

Configure The Composer.json File

The composer.json file is necessary for Composer to work on your website. To manage the Astra Pro with Composer, you’ll need to configure the composer.json file and add Astra Pro-related code. 

Here, we assume that you already have the file in your website’s root directory. Also, we are assuming that you have set your project. Check this article if you need help installing Composer, adding composer.json file, or setting up the project.

Let’s get started.

Code Example

You can check the example of the entire code:

{
    "name": "example/example",
    "type": "project",
    "description": "Project description",
    "require": {
        "brainstormforce/astra-addon": "^3.0"
    },
    "extra": {
        "installer-paths": {
            "wp-content/plugins/{$name}/": ["type:wordpress-plugin"]
        }
    },
    "repositories": [
        {
            "type": "package",
            "package": {
                "name": "brainstormforce/astra-addon",
                "version": "3.6.3",
                "type": "wordpress-plugin",
                "dist": {
                    "type": "zip",
                    "url": "https://support.brainstormforce.com/wp-json/bsf-products/v1/download/astra-addon/?purchase_key={PURCHASE_KEY}&site_url={SITE_URL}"
                },
                "require": {
                    "composer/installers": "^1.11"
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

Further below, we’ll show you how to make this work.

Add Astra Pro Package And Version Constraints

"require": {
        "brainstormforce/astra-addon": "^3.0"
    },

You need to add the following line to your composer.json file under the “require” key. This will tell Composer to add the Astra Pro package to the list of packages your project depends on. 

Also, this will set the Astra Pro plugin version constraints to any stable version above 3.0.0.

Repositories Arrey

"repositories": [
        {
            "type": "package",
            "package": {
                …
                }
            }
        }
    ]

Next, you need to register Astra Pro Package Repository in your composer.json file. To do this, you must first edit the Astra Pro Package object. 

repositories: Repository Arrey containing Astra Pro Package object

Element	Description	Type
package	Package description for Astra Pro version which is requested	package element

Astra Pro Package Object

The “package” object contains data on the Astra Pro package you are requesting. Here, you need to modify the version string for each update. Thus, to upgrade Astra Pro with Composer, add a version number higher than the one you have currently installed. Similarly, to downgrade Astra Pro, add an earlier plugin version number.

"package": {
  "name": "brainstormforce/astra-addon",
  "version": "3.6.3",
  "type": "wordpress-plugin",
  "dist": {
    "type": "zip",
    "url": "https://support.brainstormforce.com/wp-json/bsf-products/v1/download/astra-addon/?purchase_key={PURCHASE_KEY}&site_url={SITE_URL}"
   },
  "require": {
     "composer/installers": "^1.11"
   }
}

package: Astra Pro Package Description Object

Element	Description	Type	Notes
version	The Astra Pro version which is requested	string	You need to specify the exact version in format “X.X.X” (e.g. “3.6.3”) for each update.
dist	The packaged version of Astra Pro stable version files	Package data object
url	Download link with authentication parameters	string	url element

Also, you need to update the url parameters by adding your Astra Pro license key and a domain of the website on which you’re updating the plugin.

url: URL parameters

Parameter	Description	Type	Required	Notes
PURCHASE_KEY	The Astra Pro key	string	Required	The key can be acquired from our Store at Account > Licenses
SITE_URL	The domain of your website (without HTTPS)	string	Required	Valid format is: “example.com”  (not “https://example.com”)

URL example:

https://support.brainstormforce.com/wp-json/bsf-products/v1/download/astra-addon/?purchase_key=fdsi3h3iu4n22l344n4l2&site_url=example.com

Install or Update Astra Pro With Composer

Now that your composer.json is configured, you are ready to update or install Astra Pro on your website. You can install or update Astra Pro by running the following command in Composer:

composer update