Migrate from Zip Installation to Composer Project Template

INFO

This guide only applies to legacy Shopware installations created before version 6.5 using the deprecated zip distribution. For new projects, use the recommended CLI installation with Docker setup.

Background

Before Shopware 6.5, Shopware was distributed for installation as a zip archive containing all required dependencies. This approach has been replaced by a Composer-based project template using Symfony Flex.

The modern setup provides:

• Proper dependency management
• Cleaner configuration handling
• Symfony Flex integration
• Easier CI/CD workflows
• Better extension management

Automatic migration (Recommended)

With Shopware CLI, automatic migration is possible:

shopware-cli project autofix flex

This converts the installation to a Symfony Flex-based project structure.

Manual migration

If automatic migration is not possible, follow these steps.

1. Create a Backup

Before making any changes:

• Ensure a clean Git state
• Either stash everything, or create a full backup of files and database

2. Adjust Root composer.json

Add the Symfony Flex configuration:

First, adjust your root composer.json. Add the following lines to your composer.json:

"extra": {
    "symfony": {
        "allow-contrib": true,
        "endpoint": [
            "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/shopware/recipes/flex/main/index.json",
            "flex://defaults"
        ]
    }
}

Next, replace all the existing scripts:

"scripts": {
    "auto-scripts": [],
    "post-install-cmd": [
        "@auto-scripts"
    ],
    "post-update-cmd": [
        "@auto-scripts"
    ]
}

Finally, remove any fixed PHP platform configuration as it will now be determined by the required packages:

"config": {
    "optimize-autoloader": true,
-    "platform": {
-        "php": "7.4.3"
-    },
    "sort-packages": true,
    "allow-plugins": {
        "composer/package-versions-deprecated": true
    }
},

3. Clean up legacy template files

After installing the new Composer packages, remove obsolete files:

rm -r .dockerignore \
    .editorconfig \
    .env.dist \
    .github \
    .gitlab-ci \
    .gitlab-ci.yml \
    Dockerfile \
    docker-compose.yml \
    easy-coding-standard.php \
    PLATFORM_COMMIT_SHA \
    artifacts \
    bin/deleted_files_vendor.sh \
    bin/entrypoint.sh \
    bin/package.sh \
    config/etc \
    src \
    config/secrets \
    config/services \
    config/services.xml \
    config/services_test.xml \
    license.txt \
    phpstan.neon \
    phpunit.xml.dist \
    psalm.xml

Create a fresh environment file:

touch .env

4. Install required Composer packages

Ensure Composer is installed before proceeding. Follow the official documentation for instructions.

To install Symfony Flex, run the following commands and allow both new Composer plugins:

composer require "symfony/flex:*" "symfony/runtime:*"

composer recipe:install --force --reset

5. Update environment variables

Adjusting environment variables may be necessary as the names have changed:

Old name	New name
MAILER_URL	MAILER_DSN
SHOPWARE_ES_HOSTS	OPENSEARCH_URL

After reviewing the changes, commit them to the Git repository. All upcoming config changes can be applied with composer recipes:update.