Before starting the task manager, let's set up the tools we need: PHP, Composer, and the Symfony CLI.

PHP version

Current Symfony versions (7.x) require at least PHP 8.2. Check your installed version:

php --version

Installing Composer

Composer is Symfony's package manager – EVERY Symfony component and EVERY bundle is managed via Composer. Install it from getcomposer.org, then verify:

composer --version

Installing the Symfony CLI

The Symfony CLI is a separate command-line tool (NOT to be confused with bin/console, the project-internal tool we'll get to know in chapter 3) – it provides a local development server with automatic HTTPS, project creation, and diagnostic tools:

# macOS (Homebrew):
brew install symfony-cli/tap/symfony-cli

# Linux:
curl -sS https://get.symfony.com/cli/installer | bash

# Verify:
symfony check:requirements

symfony check:requirements checks whether your system has all the PHP extensions Symfony recommends (including ctype, iconv, intl) and the right settings.

Database

For the Doctrine ORM chapters (block 4), we need a running database – PostgreSQL or MySQL/MariaDB both work, this course uses PostgreSQL throughout as its example. Easiest via Docker, with NO local install needed:

services:
  database:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: aufgaben_manager
      POSTGRES_USER: symfony
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: symfony
    ports:
      - '5432:5432'
    volumes:
      - database_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

volumes:
  database_data:

docker compose up -d

We're placing this compose.yaml in a central spot already – in chapter 3, it moves into our actual project directory.

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