diff --git a/lib/manager/composer/index.ts b/lib/manager/composer/index.ts
index 99deda1f4531c6cc0aff363c96dcbcd6db957983..5ef43c317858e847c441041d9fb961a95c1e267f 100644
--- a/lib/manager/composer/index.ts
+++ b/lib/manager/composer/index.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import { extractPackageFile } from './extract';
-import { updateDependency } from '../npm/update';
 import { updateArtifacts } from './artifacts';
 import { getRangeStrategy } from './range';
 import { LANGUAGE_PHP } from '../../constants/languages';
@@ -7,14 +6,9 @@ import * as composerVersioning from '../../versioning/composer';
 
 const language = LANGUAGE_PHP;
 export const supportsLockFileMaintenance = true;
+export const autoReplace = true;
 
-export {
-  extractPackageFile,
-  updateArtifacts,
-  language,
-  updateDependency,
-  getRangeStrategy,
-};
+export { extractPackageFile, updateArtifacts, language, getRangeStrategy };
 
 export const defaultConfig = {
   fileMatch: ['(^|/)([\\w-]*)composer.json$'],
diff --git a/lib/workers/branch/__snapshots__/get-updated.spec.ts.snap b/lib/workers/branch/__snapshots__/get-updated.spec.ts.snap
index 3be2660a5983ca2365aeeaea825a6cecf6c35751..135fa33f2bce4f39d987c73af6a41db2bc7f20cf 100644
--- a/lib/workers/branch/__snapshots__/get-updated.spec.ts.snap
+++ b/lib/workers/branch/__snapshots__/get-updated.spec.ts.snap
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ Object {
       "stderr": "some error",
     },
   ],
-  "parentBranch": undefined,
+  "parentBranch": "some-branch",
   "updatedArtifacts": Array [],
   "updatedPackageFiles": Array [
     Object {
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ Object {
 exports[`workers/branch/get-updated getUpdatedPackageFiles() handles lock files 1`] = `
 Object {
   "artifactErrors": Array [],
-  "parentBranch": undefined,
+  "parentBranch": "some-branch",
   "updatedArtifacts": Array [
     Object {
       "contents": "some contents",
diff --git a/lib/workers/branch/get-updated.spec.ts b/lib/workers/branch/get-updated.spec.ts
index e5b365bb8bbd26b7accb3f43b363157e335562c0..931a8f33a5db4c9245a4eff58583c66d0ca4c675 100644
--- a/lib/workers/branch/get-updated.spec.ts
+++ b/lib/workers/branch/get-updated.spec.ts
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ describe('workers/branch/get-updated', () => {
       config.upgrades.push({
         manager: 'composer',
       });
-      composer.updateDependency.mockReturnValue('some new content');
+      autoReplace.doAutoReplace.mockResolvedValueOnce('some new content');
       composer.updateArtifacts.mockResolvedValueOnce([
         {
           file: {
@@ -86,6 +86,9 @@ describe('workers/branch/get-updated', () => {
           },
         },
       ]);
+      config.upgrades.forEach(upgrade => {
+        upgrade.autoReplace = true; // eslint-disable-line no-param-reassign
+      });
       const res = await getUpdatedPackageFiles(config);
       expect(res).toMatchSnapshot();
     });
@@ -128,7 +131,7 @@ describe('workers/branch/get-updated', () => {
       config.upgrades.push({
         manager: 'composer',
       });
-      composer.updateDependency.mockReturnValue('some new content');
+      autoReplace.doAutoReplace.mockResolvedValueOnce('some new content');
       composer.updateArtifacts.mockResolvedValueOnce([
         {
           artifactError: {
@@ -137,6 +140,9 @@ describe('workers/branch/get-updated', () => {
           },
         },
       ]);
+      config.upgrades.forEach(upgrade => {
+        upgrade.autoReplace = true; // eslint-disable-line no-param-reassign
+      });
       const res = await getUpdatedPackageFiles(config);
       expect(res).toMatchSnapshot();
     });