Terminal, Composer and Node.js

The most common problem on the command line is the wrong version: the terminal finds an old PHP on the system, or Composer reads a different php.ini. Coduva's terminal removes this problem: the project's versions open ready at the start of PATH.

Project terminal

Click the Terminal button on the project page. The same button is also in the project list on the Developer tools screen.

A command prompt window opens in the project folder, with the title Coduva - <project name>. In this window:

Command	Which version
php	The project's PHP version
composer	Coduva's Composer, with the project's PHP
wp	Coduva's WP-CLI, with the project's PHP
node, npm	The project's Node.js version (if installed)

PHP uses the php.ini file that Coduva generates for that version; the PHPRC environment variable points to it. Changes you make in the interface, such as memory_limit or extension changes, also apply on the command line.

A quick check:

php -v
composer --version
wp --info
node -v

Coduva terminal

For a terminal that is not tied to a specific project, click Open terminal on the Coduva terminal card on the Developer tools screen.

This terminal opens in the C:\Coduva\www folder and uses the default PHP version. It is suitable for setting up a new project by hand or running general Composer commands.

Composer

Composer comes with Coduva; you do not need to install it separately.

composer install
composer require guzzlehttp/guzzle
composer dump-autoload

You can also run these without opening a terminal: open the Commands tab on the project page, select composer as the tool, and type the command. composer install and composer dump-autoload are ready as quick command buttons.

Composer's cache is not in your user profile; it is in Coduva's data folder:

C:\Coduva\data\composer

The WP-CLI cache is kept in the same way, under C:\Coduva\data\wp-cli\cache.

Node.js

Laravel projects are built with Vite, and modern WordPress themes and blocks are built with @wordpress/scripts. These need Node.js.

Installing Node.js

1. Open the PHP & Node screen.
2. In the Node.js versions table, click Install on the row of the version you want.

Coduva's Node is used in the project terminal and in npm commands. If Coduva's Node is not installed, the system's Node (the npm found on PATH) is used.

The project's Node version

On the project page, in the General tab, you can choose a version from the Node.js version list. The default option is Automatic (.nvmrc / latest). With automatic selection, Coduva checks the following in order:

1. The .nvmrc file in the project root (for example 22)
2. The engines.node field in package.json (for example ">=22")
3. If neither exists, or no matching version is installed, Coduva's installed Node version

Coduva only looks at the major version number: if .nvmrc contains 22.11.0, any installed Node 22 version is used.

npm commands

In the project terminal:

npm install
npm run build
npm run dev

In the Commands tab, npm install and npm run build are ready as quick command buttons.

For a long-running command such as npm run dev, it is better to start it from the Processes tab as the Vite development server, rather than in the terminal. This way the process appears on the project page, its output can be followed in the Logs tab, and it stops automatically when you quit Coduva.

Open in editor

The Editor button on the project page opens the project folder in a code editor. The same action is available in the card menu on the Projects screen and in the project list on the Developer tools screen. Coduva looks for an editor in this order:

1. CodVS: the codvs command on PATH; if it is not there, CodVS's default install location (%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\CodVS\bin\codvs.cmd). This is how a CodVS you installed while Coduva was open is found.
2. Visual Studio Code: the code command on PATH.
3. If neither is found, the folder opens in File Explorer.

CodVS is the editor prepared for Coduva projects and is not yet distributed; see CodVS editor. For this reason, on most computers the button currently opens the project in Visual Studio Code.

VS Code not found?

When you install VS Code, the "Add to PATH" option must be checked. If you installed it but the code command does not work, reinstall VS Code and check this option.

Tools on this system

The Tools on this system section of the Developer tools screen shows whether these tools are present on this computer: Git, Node.js, npm, Composer, WP-CLI, CodVS and Visual Studio Code. For a tool that is found, its path is shown next to it; for one that is not found, Not found is shown. The number in the heading shows how many were found.

Git does not come with Coduva. To use it, you need to install it separately.

Next step: if something is not working, see Troubleshooting.