- How do I install danestves/laravel-polar in a Laravel app?
- Install the package with Composer using composer require danestves/laravel-polar. Laravel auto-discovers the service provider, and you can publish the package configuration to set your Polar API credentials. After configuring credentials, use the Polar facade and provided checkout helpers in your application.
- Which Laravel and PHP versions does laravel-polar support?
- The package is intended for standard Laravel 10 and 11 applications running on PHP 8.x. Always verify the exact Laravel and PHP constraints in the package composer.json before upgrading. The 3.2.1 release notes do not indicate any version constraint changes from 3.2.0.
- How does laravel-polar handle Polar webhooks?
- The package includes webhook handling and Laravel events for Polar notifications, so you can react to subscription and customer lifecycle changes. You should configure your Polar webhook endpoint and run a queue worker, since queued webhook listeners are recommended. This keeps webhook processing reliable and avoids blocking incoming requests.
- Do I need to build my own billing infrastructure with laravel-polar?
- No. Polar acts as merchant of record, which offloads tax, VAT, and payment compliance so you do not need to build those systems yourself. The package provides a clean API client, checkout helpers, webhook handling, and subscription and customer management. This lets you sell digital products and recurring plans with less custom payment infrastructure.
- How is laravel-polar different from Laravel Cashier?
- laravel-polar is conceptually similar to Cashier for Stripe or Paddle, but it targets Polar.sh as the billing platform. Teams already familiar with Laravel billing patterns will recognize the service provider, facade, configuration publishing, events, and webhook flow. The main difference is that Polar handles merchant-of-record responsibilities for subscriptions and one-time purchases.
- Should I upgrade to laravel-polar 3.2.1 from 3.2.0?
- Yes, 3.2.1 is a narrow bugfix release that corrects hydration of nested filter clauses on the Filter query object. There are no announced breaking changes, deprecations, config changes, or signature changes, so it should be a drop-in upgrade from 3.2.0. Run your test suite and a staging smoke test of checkout and webhook flows after updating.
- What changed in laravel-polar 3.2.1?
- Version 3.2.1 fixes hydration of nested filter clauses in the Filter query object. This is a correctness fix in an internal query-builder helper rather than an API-shape change. The release also includes a first-time contributor fix and a version bump pull request.
- Is laravel-polar safe for production use?
- The 3.2.1 release itself has low technical risk because it is backward compatible with 3.2.0 and introduces no breaking changes. The broader consideration is package maturity: it is a young v3.x project with a small contributor base and single-maintainer leadership. It also tracks the third-party Polar API, so teams should pin versions and validate critical billing flows in staging.
- How should I test Polar checkout and subscription flows in Laravel?
- Treat the upgrade as a routine patch: update the lockfile in a feature branch, run unit and feature tests, and pay special attention to any Filter usage. Deploy to staging and replay a representative set of Polar webhook payloads to verify checkout and subscription behavior. Add a regression test for any nested-filter case your application depends on.
- Can laravel-polar handle both one-time purchases and recurring subscriptions?
- Yes. The package supports Polar checkout helpers, subscription and customer management, and webhook handling for billing lifecycle events. It is designed for selling digital products and recurring plans while Polar acts as merchant of record. This makes it suitable for both one-time purchases and subscription-based offerings.