download

Downloads Magento source code into a target directory. This is a download-only command - it does not check platform requirements, generate configuration files, or set up a database. It replaces the download step of the deprecated install command.

info

This command supports both an interactive wizard mode and a strict, unattended mode via --no-interaction.

Two download strategies are available:

composer (default) - runs composer create-project for one of the known Magento editions.
git - runs git clone, intended for Magento core contributors who need a working copy of magento/magento2 or a fork.

The interactive wizard guides you through the choices with short descriptions for each option, offers a preset picker for the git strategy (official magento/magento2 core repo, mage-os/mage-os, or a custom entry), and finishes with a summary and a confirmation prompt before anything is downloaded.

tip

In a real terminal, the strategy/edition/repository prompts and the final confirmation support arrow-key navigation. On Windows, or when the command isn't attached to an interactive terminal (CI, piped input), it automatically falls back to typing the number or key of your choice - the available options are identical either way.

Interactive wizard:

n98-magerun2.phar download

Non-interactive composer-based download:

n98-magerun2.phar download --edition=open-source --constraint=2.4.7 --dir=./my-magento-shop --no-interaction

Non-interactive git-based download (for Magento core contributors):

n98-magerun2.phar download --strategy=git --repo=git@github.com:my-fork/magento2.git --dir=./core-contribution --no-interaction

The --repo option also accepts a GitHub owner/repo shorthand, which is expanded to a full clone URL:

n98-magerun2.phar download --strategy=git --repo=magento/magento2 --dir=./core --no-interaction

Options:

Option	Description
`--strategy[=STRATEGY]`	Download strategy: `composer` or `git` [default: `"composer"`]
`--edition[=EDITION]`	Edition to download (composer strategy): `open-source`, `adobe-commerce`, `mage-os`
`--constraint[=CONSTRAINT]`	Version constraint to install, e.g. `2.4.7` (composer strategy). Defaults to the latest stable version
`--repository-url[=REPOSITORY-URL]`	Override the composer repository URL used for the selected edition (composer strategy)
`--repo[=REPO]`	Git repository to clone (git strategy). Accepts a full URL or a GitHub `owner/repo` shorthand
`--branch[=BRANCH]`	Branch, tag or ref to check out (git strategy). Defaults to the repository default branch
`--dir[=DIR]`	Target directory to download into

note

The option is named --constraint rather than --version because --version/-V is reserved by Symfony Console to display the application version.

Editions:

Edition	Composer package	Repository	Requires auth	Description
`open-source`	`magento/project-community-edition`	`https://repo.magento.com`	Yes	Community Edition — free, requires a Marketplace account
`adobe-commerce`	`magento/project-enterprise-edition`	`https://repo.magento.com`	Yes	Commerce Edition — commercial license, requires Marketplace credentials
`mage-os`	`mage-os/project-community-edition`	`https://repo.mage-os.org`	No	Mage-OS

tip

The list of editions is configurable. It is defined under the editions command config key for N98\Magento\Command\Project\DownloadCommand in config.yaml, and can be overridden or extended on project or user level (see the configuration documentation for details):

commands:
  N98\Magento\Command\Project\DownloadCommand:
    editions:
      - name: open-source
        package: magento/project-community-edition
        repository-url: https://repo.magento.com
        requires-auth: true
        default-dir: ./magento-open-source
        description: "Community Edition — free, requires a Marketplace account"

Git repositories:

Preset	Label	URL
`magento2`	Magento 2 (official core)	`https://github.com/magento/magento2.git`
`mage-os`	Mage-OS (community fork)	`https://github.com/mage-os/mage-os.git`
`custom`	Custom	enter a full git URL or GitHub `owner/repo` shorthand

tip

The list of preset git repositories is configurable via the git-repositories command config key, following the same pattern as editions:

commands:
  N98\Magento\Command\Project\DownloadCommand:
    git-repositories:
      - name: magento2
        label: "Magento 2 (official core)"
        url: https://github.com/magento/magento2.git

info

In interactive mode, before the actual download starts, the wizard shows a summary of the selected options and asks for confirmation. Running with --no-interaction always skips this confirmation (and every other prompt), as long as all required options are supplied.

info

open-source and adobe-commerce require a Marketplace security key (public/private key pair) from marketplace.magento.com. If run interactively and no credentials are found, you will be prompted for them and they will be stored via Composer's global auth.json. In non-interactive mode, missing credentials cause the command to fail immediately.

info

Before downloading, the command queries the target repository for the real list of versions available for the selected package. This serves two purposes:

Credential/entitlement check: if the repository rejects the request (invalid or expired Marketplace keys, or an account that isn't entitled to the selected edition), the command fails immediately with a clear, actionable error instead of the generic error composer create-project would otherwise produce deep into the install.
Version validation: an exact version passed via --constraint (e.g. 2.4.7) is checked against the fetched list, and an unknown version is rejected up front with a few available versions shown as suggestions. Range/expression constraints (e.g. ^2.4, ~2.4.7) are passed through to Composer unvalidated, since Composer itself is best placed to resolve those. In interactive mode, the version prompt also offers the real version list as autocomplete suggestions.

note

The composer strategy runs a full composer create-project - dependencies are resolved and installed into vendor/, not just composer.json.

tip

After a successful composer-based download, the command suggests the right next step to set up the application: bin/magento setup:install, except for Mage-OS 3.0 and newer, which ships a new interactive installer and gets pointed at bin/magento install instead. The version is detected automatically from the downloaded project - no extra configuration needed.

The target directory must not exist, or must be empty - the command never overwrites or merges into an existing non-empty directory.