---
title: "Using Composer to Build Drupal Sites Fast · Appnovation"
url: "https://www.appnovation.com/insights/using-composer-build-drupal-sites-fast"
description: "Podcast: Appnovation's Tim Millwood joins Modules Unraveled to explain how Composer speeds up building and managing Drupal sites."
---

Article

# Using Composer to Build Drupal Sites Fast

[![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/ey850001/production/b331e37f0be8705e6d59a737df9a4790888b2da6-68x68.jpg?w=68&auto=format) vburley vburley Senior Marketing Communications Specialist](/people/vburley-vburley.md) Jan 14, 2016  
 2 min read 

![Using Composer to Build Drupal Sites Fast](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/ey850001/production/071a4ccebd6fe2995d91874fbe63ebb393f728c3-1400x400.jpg?w=1400&auto=format) 

Appnovator Tim Millwood, Senior Drupal Developer, sat down with Brian Lewis of [ModulesUnraveled.com (opens in new window)](https://modulesunraveled.com/) to talk Drupal and Composer on *[Episode 151: Using Composer to Build Drupal Sites Fast - Modules Unraveled (opens in new window)](https://modulesunraveled.com/podcast/151-using-composer-build-drupal-sites-fast-modules-unraveled-podcast)*[ Podcast (opens in new window)](https://modulesunraveled.com/podcast/151-using-composer-build-drupal-sites-fast-modules-unraveled-podcast).

Tim and Brian discuss Composer, what you can you do with Composer on a Drupal site, and much, much more, including Use Cases.

In 2013, a key member of the Drupal community and a core contributor to the Drupal 8 project, Larry Garfield put forth a challenge to "get off the island", urging Drupal devotees to get involved in the wider PHP community to learn, grow and share new ideas. The community responded: Drupal 8 has more than 200 improvements that will bring new capabilities and efficiencies to virtually any type of implementation, large or small and includes the adoption of non-Drupal projects in Drupal 8 core.

Today, Composer is being used by hundreds and thousands of projects large and small, including Drupal.

Tim's no stranger to Drupal 8 & Composer, having written about both topics on [his own blog: (opens in new window)](http://tim.millwoodonline.co.uk/)

"Composer is here in Drupal 8 and it’s awesome. You can run, develop and deploy your whole Drupal 8 project with Composer. You can add and patch contrib and custom module, as well as themes, profiles and other PHP packages. The drupal/couchdb\_statistics module mentioned earlier requires a couchdb client, this will all get pulled in via composer with a single command."

Tim's experience with Drupal comes from approximately 7 years of working with the platform developing and consulting on some of the biggest Drupal sites in the world. He also takes an active role in the Drupal community, maintaining both core and contributed modules. Tim has attended several Drupalcons and he was even Co-Lead for Drupalcon 2011 based in London.

You can find Tim on [Twitter (opens in new window)](http://twitter.com/timmillwood) or[Drupal.org (opens in new window)](https://www.drupal.org/u/timmillwood).

As a leader in Drupal design and development, Appnovation’s experts can quickly and easily [migrate or upgrade your site to Drupal 8.](/services/drupal-development.md) We're your experts in Drupal 8 migrations, able to handle data, site and content migrations of any size and complexity. Have questions about migration? [Contact us today](/company/contact.md), we're here to help!

[![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/ey850001/production/b331e37f0be8705e6d59a737df9a4790888b2da6-68x68.jpg?w=68&auto=format) vburley vburley Senior Marketing Communications Specialist · Appnovation](/people/vburley-vburley.md) 

## Keep reading

[![What is Sovereign AI](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/ey850001/production/a5889abdd5e80376912546622e046e3fbef234b4-2496x1664.png?w=640&auto=format)](/insights/what-is-open-source-sovereign-ai.md)

 Article · 7 min AI 

### [What Is Open Source, Sovereign AI?](/insights/what-is-open-source-sovereign-ai.md)

Every company is encouraging more AI, and almost every AI bill is climbing. Sovereign AI is about two kinds of control: over your data and over your costs. Here's why open source sits at its foundation.

[Iain MacNeil](/people/iain-macneil.md) Article 

[![AI-first experience design](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/ey850001/production/8bbc2418e87924ef10f36115478a2e10d5bed95e-1584x624.jpg?w=640&auto=format)](/insights/how-build-ai-first-experience-without-throwing-out-everything-youve-already-built.md)

 Article · 6 min AI Sep 10, 2026 

### [How to Build an AI-First Experience Without Throwing Out Everything You've Already Built](/insights/how-build-ai-first-experience-without-throwing-out-everything-youve-already-built.md)

Users now expect a direct answer, not a list of links to click through. Here's how organizations can layer an AI-First experience onto their existing website or app, in weeks rather than years.

[Andrew Douglas](/people/andrew-douglas.md) Article 

[![What Becomes Possible When AI Can Read All the Data](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/ey850001/production/c28ab0bd26753421ee42937e13adc7a7f19b47f0-1296x510.jpg?w=640&auto=format)](/insights/what-becomes-possible-when-ai-can-read-all-data.md)

 Article · 4 min AI Sep 09, 2026 

### [What Becomes Possible When AI Can Read All the Data](/insights/what-becomes-possible-when-ai-can-read-all-data.md)

Most of the world's data has never been analyzed, only sampled. AI changes that. How AI-ready data platforms unlock questions no one could ask before.

[Appnovation](/people/appnovation.md) Article 

## Get the thinking,  
*before everyone else.*

One considered email a month. New essays, field notes from live engagements, and the occasional strong opinion. No noise.
