Runner Selection (Symfony)

Use when

• The session-start hook output is unavailable (manual claude invocation, fresh repo).
• You need to verify which runner the hook picked.
• A command works locally but fails because the host environment differs from Docker.
• The project uses a Makefile-driven workflow (make console, make tests) and you need to know which target to call.

Default workflow

1. From composer.json (the active app), walk up to the orchestration root — the first parent dir with a Makefile, Makefile-solution, compose.yaml, compose.yml, docker-compose.yml, docker-compose.yaml, or .ddev/. Stop at .git/.
2. At that root, detect in this priority order:
   • .ddev/ → DDEV
   • Makefile with console / tests / ci targets → Make (most common in agency boilerplates)
   • compose.yaml mentioning frankenphp / dunglas/symfony-docker / caddy → Symfony Docker
   • Any other compose file → generic Compose
   • Otherwise → host
3. Build the prefix from the prefix table in reference.md.
4. For Make projects, prefer make <target> over the raw Docker invocation — the target already wraps the right docker compose run --rm or exec call with the right COMPOSE_FILE and env files.

Guardrails

• Always detect before running; never assume host.
• A compose.yaml present but no service running ≠ host. Suggest make up (if Make), ddev start (if DDEV), or docker compose up -d (otherwise).
• For multi-service compose (php + database + redis), the relevant service is usually php or app. Inspect docker compose config --services.
• For Make projects with a Makefile-solution file, never add new targets to Makefile (framework file, regenerated from the boilerplate). Add to Makefile-solution instead — see skill gerard:makefile-discipline.

Progressive disclosure

• This file covers the detection logic.
• reference.md covers the full prefix table per runner, Make convention, monorepo walking, and edge cases.

Output contract

• A working bin/console / composer / phpunit invocation.
• A note in the dev report saying which runner was used (so the reviewer can verify).

References

• reference.md
• docs/complexity-tiers.md
• hooks/session-start.sh — the canonical detection (host mode duplicates this logic for manual cases)
• gerard:makefile-discipline — sister skill for projects driven by make