how do I use Symfony console with dependency injection, without the Symfony framework bundle?

Symfony 3/4/5 Way

Since 2018 and Symfony 3.4+ DI features, you can make use of commands as services.

You can find working demo here, thanks to @TravisCarden

In short:

1. App Kernel

<?php

# app/Kernel.php

namespace App;

use Symfony\Component\Config\Loader\LoaderInterface;
use Symfony\Component\Console\Application;
use Symfony\Component\Console\Command\Command;
use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\Compiler\CompilerPassInterface;
use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\Reference;
use Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\Kernel;
use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\ContainerBuilder;

final class AppKernel extends Kernel
{
    public function registerBundles(): array
    {
        return [];
    }

    public function registerContainerConfiguration(LoaderInterface $loader): void
    {
        $loader->load(__DIR__.'/../config/services.yml');
    }

    protected function build(ContainerBuilder $containerBuilder): void
    {
        $containerBuilder->addCompilerPass($this->createCollectingCompilerPass());
    }

    private function createCollectingCompilerPass(): CompilerPassInterface
    {
        return new class implements CompilerPassInterface
        {
            public function process(ContainerBuilder $containerBuilder)
            {
                $applicationDefinition = $containerBuilder->findDefinition(Application::class);

                foreach ($containerBuilder->getDefinitions() as $definition) {
                    if (! is_a($definition->getClass(), Command::class, true)) {
                        continue;
                    }

                    $applicationDefinition->addMethodCall('add', [new Reference($definition->getClass())]);
                }
            }
        };
    }
}

2. Services

# config/services.yml

services:
    _defaults:
        autowire: true

    App\:
        resource: '../app'

    Symfony\Component\Console\Application:
        public: true

3. Bin File

# index.php

require_once __DIR__ . '/vendor/autoload.php';

use Symfony\Component\Console\Application;

$kernel = new AppKernel;
$kernel->boot();

$container = $kernel->getContainer();
$application = $container->get(Application::class)
$application->run();

Run it

php index.php

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If you're interested in a more detailed explanation, I wrote a post Why You Should Combine Symfony Console and Dependency Injection.