<p>Going to mark this as off-topic (Craft issues should be posted to <a href="https://github.com/craftcms/cms/issues" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://github.com/craftcms/cms/issues</a>, which I realize is a bit ironic to tell you considering you said you don’t want to use Git, but you don’t <em>need</em> to use Git to open a GitHub account).</p>

<p>That said, the issue is that Craft 3 uses Composer behind the scenes to install plugins and update itself right now. So even though you don’t need to directly interface with Composer now that the zip option is available, the system you are running on must at least be able to run Composer. And Git is a requirement of Composer.</p>

<p>For this and other reasons, we are planning on making Craft 3 less reliant on Composer in a future update.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>After installing on my local Mamp setup it's not obvious which files I need to upload to the live server as there isn't a plugin folder.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>You need to upload the entire <code>vendor/</code> folder.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Does this mean that I won't be able to use Craft now unless I become a command line expert?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>As long as your system is capable of running Composer (which it sounds like you’ve taken care of), no you shouldn’t need to run any commands from the terminal yourself.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Even the Mijingo video tutorials which have been really easy to follow in the past have started to be full of complicated command line stuff.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Up until the Craft 3 GA launch on April 4, the only way to install Craft 3 was via the terminal. Now that a zip download is available from <a href="https://craftcms.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://craftcms.com</a>, that’s not the case anymore.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-16T19:47:23.043Z
I installed a test site from the zip file running under MAMP 4.4.1. I don't think I have installed Composer but I may have it somewhere when I tried it a while back and gave up. My point is that I don't know if it's working correctly. But when I upload the files to the live server there won't be any Composer running there that I am aware of. I don't see this as an issue/bug to report which is why I posted here. It's more a question of I don't know what's going on and I feel lost as to how to upgrade all my existing v2 sites. All the help assumes I'm using command line and Composer.
Paul Frost
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-16T21:02:08.163Z
@PaulFrost "and I feel lost as to how to upgrade all my existing v2 sites" - just don't do that... Seriously I totally agree to upgrade new sites but there is absolutely no reason to upgrade existing sites. I know many people might disagree with that since Craft 3 is awesome and I would rather work with Craft 3 too but you have to consider the plugin compability. Every single plugin breaks in Craft 3 unless the developers migrated them properly if you can't do it.. Well.. One last note about the composer.. There are not many commands. You only have to type "composer update" that's basically it
Robin Schambach
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-17T10:34:40.117Z
@PaulFrost If you were able to install a plugin locally, then at the least Craft’s built-in copy of Composer is working properly. Most hosts are already set up to run Composer on their end as well; if that ends up not being  the case, then worst case you can update locally and upload the new `vendor/` folder to production.
Brandon Kelly
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-17T10:41:59.667Z
@RobinSchambach You're right that _for now_ there’s no urgency; we will continue supporting & maintaining Craft 2 until April 2020. As that gets closer, more plugins will be ported (most already are), so it should be a more practical option. Wouldn't recommend that you plan on leaving Craft 2 sites in the dust forever though; there are already plenty of performance, security, and UX benefits to updating, and those will keep increasing as time goes on :)
Brandon Kelly
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-17T14:11:40.090Z
I left my ExpressionEngine sites too long to upgrade and then it was impossible. That's why I thought I'd upgrade asap. The plugin bit is the main problem every time. The upgrade docs don't make any mention of how to handle plugins during the upgrade process.
Paul Frost
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-16T17:43:23.230Z
2018-04-16T17:43:23.230Z
Brandon Kelly
<p>When installing a plugin from the plugin store I get a popup telling me:
"The git command requires the command line developer tools. Would you like to install the tools now?"
"Choose Install to continue. Chose Get Xcode to install Xcode and the command line developer tools from the app store."
Options are "Get Xcode", "Not now" and "Install"
I tried just clicking Install, and it seems to have worked but I got another prompt like above at the end. So I don't know if something will fail sometime down the line or not.
After installing on my local Mamp setup it's not obvious which files I need to upload to the live server as there isn't a plugin folder. I only installed 2 plugins and 12 folders in the Vendor folder showed updated files in them.</p>

<p>I don't use git, I don't use the command line and I didn't install Composer and I don't really want to in the future either. I just want to keep things simple. Does this mean that I won't be able to use Craft now unless I become a command line expert?
Even the Mijingo video tutorials which have been really easy to follow in the past have started to be full of complicated command line stuff.
I have a rubbish memory and only use a few keyboard shortcuts as I can't remember more than 3 or 4, so remembering all those command line options isn't going to happen.</p>

<plugins><composer>
Query when installing plugins
# Query when installing plugins

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-04-16)

When installing a plugin from the plugin store I get a popup telling me:
"The git command requires the command line developer tools. Would you like to install the tools now?"
"Choose Install to continue. Chose Get Xcode to install Xcode and the command line developer tools from the app store."
Options are "Get Xcode", "Not now" and "Install"
I tried just clicking Install, and it seems to have worked but I got another prompt like above at the end. So I don't know if something will fail sometime down the line or not.
After installing on my local Mamp setup it's not obvious which files I need to upload to the live server as there isn't a plugin folder. I only installed 2 plugins and 12 folders in the Vendor folder showed updated files in them.

I don't use git, I don't use the command line and I didn't install Composer and I don't really want to in the future either. I just want to keep things simple. Does this mean that I won't be able to use Craft now unless I become a command line expert?
Even the Mijingo video tutorials which have been really easy to follow in the past have started to be full of complicated command line stuff.
I have a rubbish memory and only use a few keyboard shortcuts as I can't remember more than 3 or 4, so remembering all those command line options isn't going to happen.

**Tags:** plugins, composer

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-04-16. Score: 1

Going to mark this as off-topic (Craft issues should be posted to <https://github.com/craftcms/cms/issues>, which I realize is a bit ironic to tell you considering you said you don’t want to use Git, but you don’t *need* to use Git to open a GitHub account).

That said, the issue is that Craft 3 uses Composer behind the scenes to install plugins and update itself right now. So even though you don’t need to directly interface with Composer now that the zip option is available, the system you are running on must at least be able to run Composer. And Git is a requirement of Composer.

For this and other reasons, we are planning on making Craft 3 less reliant on Composer in a future update.

> After installing on my local Mamp setup it's not obvious which files I need to upload to the live server as there isn't a plugin folder.

You need to upload the entire `vendor/` folder.

> Does this mean that I won't be able to use Craft now unless I become a command line expert?

As long as your system is capable of running Composer (which it sounds like you’ve taken care of), no you shouldn’t need to run any commands from the terminal yourself.

> Even the Mijingo video tutorials which have been really easy to follow in the past have started to be full of complicated command line stuff.

Up until the Craft 3 GA launch on April 4, the only way to install Craft 3 was via the terminal. Now that a zip download is available from <https://craftcms.com>, that’s not the case anymore.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I installed a test site from the zip file running under MAMP 4.4.1. I don't think I have installed Composer but I may have it somewhere when I tried it a while back and gave up. My point is that I don't know if it's working correctly. But when I upload the files to the live server there won't be any Composer running there that I am aware of. I don't see this as an issue/bug to report which is why I posted here. It's more a question of I don't know what's going on and I feel lost as to how to upgrade all my existing v2 sites. All the help assumes I'm using command line and Composer.  
> **username_2**: @PaulFrost "and I feel lost as to how to upgrade all my existing v2 sites" - just don't do that... Seriously I totally agree to upgrade new sites but there is absolutely no reason to upgrade existing sites. I know many people might disagree with that since Craft 3 is awesome and I would rather work with Craft 3 too but you have to consider the plugin compability. Every single plugin breaks in Craft 3 unless the developers migrated them properly if you can't do it.. Well.. One last note about the composer.. There are not many commands. You only have to type "composer update" that's basically it  
> **username_1**: @PaulFrost If you were able to install a plugin locally, then at the least Craft’s built-in copy of Composer is working properly. Most hosts are already set up to run Composer on their end as well; if that ends up not being  the case, then worst case you can update locally and upload the new `vendor/` folder to production.  
> **username_1**: @RobinSchambach You're right that _for now_ there’s no urgency; we will continue supporting & maintaining Craft 2 until April 2020. As that gets closer, more plugins will be ported (most already are), so it should be a more practical option. Wouldn't recommend that you plan on leaving Craft 2 sites in the dust forever though; there are already plenty of performance, security, and UX benefits to updating, and those will keep increasing as time goes on :)  
> **username_0**: I left my ExpressionEngine sites too long to upgrade and then it was impossible. That's why I thought I'd upgrade asap. The plugin bit is the main problem every time. The upgrade docs don't make any mention of how to handle plugins during the upgrade process.  

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