Getting Started

Confirm your app is on Laravel 5.5 or newer before installing. v1.0.0 explicitly drops compatibility with earlier Laravel versions, so treat 5.5 as the hard floor.
Install with composer require vendor/package. On 5.5+ the package should be picked up by package auto-discovery; if it is not, register the service provider manually in config/app.php.
Look first at composer.json (PHP and illuminate/* constraints), the service provider, and any published config file. The release notes only confirm framework support, so the provider and README are the source of truth for actual behaviour.
First use case: publish any package assets with php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Vendor\Package\PackageServiceProvider", then run the smallest documented example from the README in a scratch route or Tinker session before wiring it into application code.

Implementation Patterns

Prefer constructor injection of the package's contract/class over facades or app() lookups. This keeps your code testable and makes future breaking changes easier to isolate.
Wrap package calls behind a thin application-level service or adapter. Given the v1.0.0 breaking change, an adapter boundary lets you absorb API shifts without touching call sites.
Publish the config file and override values through .env rather than editing vendor files. Keep environment-specific values in config, not in package internals.
If the package exposes events, macros, or custom binds, hook into those extension points from your own service provider instead of subclassing vendor classes.
In tests, use the package's fake/swap helpers if provided; otherwise mock the injected contract. Avoid hitting real external services in unit tests.
For queued jobs, verify whether the package holds request-scoped state. Resolve dependencies inside handle() rather than serialising package objects into job payloads.

The v1.0.0 breaking change is about supported Laravel versions. Pin both the package version and your laravel/framework constraint, and add 5.5 (plus your current version) to your CI matrix.
After any Composer change, run php artisan package:discover and clear caches (config:clear, cache:clear). Auto-discovery results are cached in bootstrap/cache/packages.php; a stale cache looks like a "provider not found" bug.
Config caching will fail or behave oddly if the package config uses closures or runtime env() calls outside the config file. Test with php artisan config:cache enabled.
If Composer refuses the install, use composer why-not vendor/package to find the conflicting constraint rather than forcing with --ignore-platform-reqs.
Treat a v1.0.0 with a declared breaking change as an unstable API surface. Lock the version in composer.json and read the changelog before every minor bump.
Debugging: inspect bootstrap/cache/packages.php to confirm discovery, use php artisan tinker to exercise the API directly, and check the provider's register()/boot() order if bindings are missing.
Extension points to check first: provider bindings, publishable config, events, and macros. These are usually safer than overriding vendor classes.