What is the --dev option when installing Laravel Breeze (or any other package)?

Question

I haven't found any description about what the --dev option does when running this command:

composer require laravel/breeze --dev

Does anybody know? Or where to look? Is it package specific, or Breeze-specific?

Tried the documentation, googling, also StackOverflow search, but nothing.

Answer 1

It is a way to add dependencies only to your development build. You should use it when you need the dependency for development but not for production.

Answer 2

Adding the flag --dev to the composer require will add this package to the require-dev section. It's commonly used for packages used for development such as laravel/pint.