Include External Library

You can set your stripe key in the register method of a service provider:

public function register()
{
  Stripe::setApiKey('your-key'); // best to store key in .env file
}

Controller might look something like:

use Stripe\Charge;

class BillingController extends Controller 
{
  public function charge()
  {
    $myCard = array('number' => '4242424242424242', 'exp_month' => 8, 'exp_year' => 2018);
    $charge = Charge::create(array('card' => $myCard, 'amount' => 2000, 'currency' => 'usd'));
    echo $charge;
  }
}

So by simply instilling in composer, it'll be available in all files providing I use use Stripe\Charge; ?

Yep, use Stripe\Charge imports that class into the the file it is defined in.

Check out the Stripe PHP api too.

Thank you. My main question was whether installing it via composer was enough for it to be accessible.

Thank you for all your help.

Coming back to what we've done. I've created a service called 'StripeServiceProvider' using the php artisan command. I've then done this as the code http://pastebin.com/wejF9s5h

When I run very similar code to what you mentioned in my controller, I get that the API key isnt set. What would cause this? (aside from it not being set)

Make sure you register the service provider in the providers array in config/app.php:

'providers' => [
  // ...
  App\Providers\StripeServiceProvider::class,
];