Tooling

Yerd can install the developer tools a typical PHP/Laravel project reaches for - Composer, Node.js (with npm/npx), Bun, and the Laravel installer - the same way it installs PHP versions: self-contained binaries fetched on demand (the Laravel installer is built via Composer) and dropped onto your PATH. No system package manager, no global install, nothing to uninstall by hand. Already have one installed elsewhere? Yerd detects it and uses it instead.

Tool	id	Provides	Source
Composer	composer	composer	getcomposer.org (phar)
Node.js	node	node, npm, npx	nodejs.org (latest LTS)
Bun	bun	bun, bunx	github.com/oven-sh/bun
Laravel installer	laravel	laravel	Composer (laravel/installer)

Why bundle these?

A fresh machine that has Yerd shouldn't also need Homebrew, nvm, or a global Composer just to run a Laravel app with a Vite front-end. Yerd keeps these tools in its own data directory, isolated from anything else on your system, and removes them cleanly on uninstall.

In the desktop app

Open the Tooling page from the sidebar (under the Developer group). It lists the developer tools Yerd manages and their install status:

• Composer, Node, Bun, and the Laravel installer, each showing the commands it provides.
• Click Install to fetch the latest release; once installed you get Update (re-fetch the current latest) and Uninstall.
• A tool you've installed yourself shows an External badge with no actions - see External tools below.
• The Laravel installer is built with Composer, so its Install button stays disabled until Yerd's own Composer is installed.
• Each tool is placed on your PATH alongside PHP and managed entirely by Yerd, so it won't collide with a system install.

From the command line

yerd tools                      # list the tools and their install status
yerd install tool node          # download + install the latest Node LTS
yerd install tool bun
yerd install tool composer
yerd install tool laravel       # build the Laravel installer (needs Composer)
yerd uninstall tool bun         # remove a tool and its PATH commands

yerd install tool <id> is idempotent - run it again to update to the current latest. See the Tooling CLI reference for the exact command surface.

External tools

You don't have to let Yerd manage these tools. If you already have composer, node, bun, or the laravel installer available on your PATH - via Homebrew, nvm/fnm, a global composer require, etc. - Yerd detects it and treats it as already available:

• On the Tooling page the tool shows an External badge (instead of a version) with no Install / Update / Uninstall actions - it's yours to manage, not Yerd's.
• The Laravel site wizard and site scaffolding accept external Composer / Node / Bun / Laravel as satisfying their prerequisites, so you won't be asked to install a second copy. Externally installed Composer and the Laravel installer still run under the Yerd PHP version you select, so versions stay consistent.

A couple of things to know:

• Managed tools win. If a tool is both Yerd-installed and on your PATH, the Yerd-managed one takes precedence (its {data}/bin shim is earlier on PATH).
• Building the managed Laravel installer needs Yerd's own Composer. An external Composer is fine for scaffolding, but it can't build Yerd's managed laravel tool - so that Install stays disabled until you install Yerd's Composer (or you can just keep using your external laravel).

How detection works

Because the daemon runs with a minimal environment, Yerd reads your login shell's PATH to find tools your terminal can see (Homebrew, fnm, a global Composer bin, …). It only looks outside its own {data}/bin, so a Yerd shim is never mistaken for an external install.

How it works

The model mirrors PHP versions and services:

• Self-contained binaries. Each tool is a relocatable build - Node's tarball bundles node + npm + npx, Bun is a single binary, Composer is a phar run by Yerd's managed PHP. Nothing is compiled and nothing touches system paths.
• Verified downloads. Every artifact is checked against the publisher's SHASUMS256.txt (Node, Bun) or composer.phar.sha256sum (Composer) before it is installed.
• Installed under Yerd's data dir. Tools live in {data}/tools/<id>/ (e.g. ~/Library/Application Support/io.yerd.Yerd/tools on macOS), a sibling of your PHP installs - so a PHP update never disturbs them.
• Exposed on PATH. Their commands are symlinked into {data}/bin, the same directory that holds the php/php<ver> shims. Put that directory on your PATH once (see below) and composer, node, npm, bun, … just work.
• Rootless. Everything runs as your user, no elevation.

Latest only

Yerd installs the latest stable release of each tool (the latest LTS for Node). There is no per-project version picker - Update simply re-fetches the current latest and replaces it in place. If you need to pin a specific Node version per project, a system version manager like nvm/fnm is still the right tool; Yerd's goal here is a good default that's always there.

Put Yerd's bin directory on your PATH

The tool commands live in Yerd's {data}/bin directory. Installing your first tool from the CLI adds it to your shell automatically - so usually there's nothing to do. If you installed via the desktop app, or want to manage the entry yourself, run it once:

yerd path install     # adds {data}/bin to your shell startup file

Open a new terminal afterwards (or source your shell file). Then:

which composer        # → …/io.yerd.Yerd/bin/composer
node --version
npm --version
bun --version

yerd path install writes a small, guarded block to your shell's startup file (.zshrc, .bashrc/.bash_profile, or config.fish). yerd path uninstall removes it; yerd path print shows the snippet without touching any file.

Coexisting with Herd, Homebrew, or nvm

Yerd's bin directory is prepended to PATH, so its node/composer take precedence over other copies on your machine. If you'd rather your existing tools win, put their directories earlier in your shell file. Nothing Yerd installs ever shadows a tool you didn't ask it to manage.

Composer needs PHP

Composer is a phar, so it runs under Yerd's managed PHP - composer resolves to your default PHP version. Install at least one PHP version first (yerd install php 8.4); otherwise composer reports that no PHP is available. Node and Bun are standalone and have no such dependency.

ext-intl and friends

Yerd's PHP builds ship the bulk extension set, including intl, sodium, mysqli, and more - so Composer packages that require them install without extra steps. See PHP Versions for the bundled extension list.

Where things live

Path	Contents
{data}/tools/composer/composer.phar	The Composer phar.
{data}/tools/node/node-<ver>-<os>-<arch>/	The unpacked Node distribution.
{data}/tools/bun/bun-<os>-<arch>/bun	The Bun binary.
{data}/tools/laravel/bin/laravel	The Laravel installer (built via Composer).
{data}/bin/{composer,node,npm,npx,bun,bunx,laravel}	The PATH shims.

{data} is Yerd's per-user data directory (yerd status and yerd path print both show the exact path for your platform).

See also

• Tooling CLI reference - every command and flag.
• PHP Versions - the version model these tools follow.
• Services & Databases - the same install-on-demand approach for databases and caches.