How to Install Composer in MacBook (Step-by-Step Guide)

If you are getting the error:

zsh: command not found: php

while installing Composer on your MacBook, don’t worry. This happens because PHP is not installed by default in newer macOS versions.

In this guide, I will show you exactly how I installed Composer on my Mac using Homebrew.

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Step 1: Check if Homebrew is Installed

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Open Terminal and run:

brew --version

If you see something like:

Homebrew 5.0.15

Then Homebrew is already installed ✅

If not, install Homebrew first from:

https://brew.sh

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Step 2: Install PHP

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Since Composer requires PHP, install PHP first:

brew install php

After installation, verify:

php -v

You should see output like:

PHP 8.5.3 (cli)

Built by Homebrew

Now PHP is successfully installed ✅

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Step 3: Install Composer

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Now install Composer using Homebrew:

brew install composer

After installation, verify:

composer --version

You should see something like:

Composer version 2.9.5

PHP version 8.5.3

That’s it 🎉 Composer is now successfully installed on your MacBook.

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Alternative (Manual Method - Not Recommended)

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Before installing PHP, if you try:

curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer -o composer-setup.php

php composer-setup.php

You may get this error:

zsh: command not found: php

This means PHP is not installed.

So always install PHP first using Homebrew.

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Final Commands Summary

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brew install php

php -v

brew install composer

composer --version

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Now you can create a Laravel project like this:

composer create-project laravel/laravel myproject

Happy Coding 🚀