Composer setup · 5 min read

Installation

Install the Laravel adapter and connect it to the API key from your BladePDF dashboard. Plain PHP and server-side Node.js applications can install their framework-agnostic SDK directly.

Requirements

Requirement	Version	Why
PHP	`8.2+`	The package uses modern typed PHP.
Laravel components	`11.x` through `13.x`	Container integration, configuration, responses, and Blade view rendering.
Node.js SDK	`Node.js 22+`	Server-side ESM or CommonJS with native fetch, filesystem, and stream APIs.
BladePDF account	Active account	Provides API keys, cloud templates, assets, analytics, and webhooks.

Install the package

Terminal

bash

 1composer require bladepdf/laravel:^2.0

Laravel package auto-discovery registers the service provider and the BladePDF facade alias automatically.

Plain PHP or another framework

Install the shared core instead. It has no Illuminate dependency and does not read environment variables automatically.

Terminal

bash

 1composer require bladepdf/php:^1.0

Continue with the PHP SDK quickstart.

Server-side Node.js

Install the official TypeScript-first SDK. It has no runtime dependencies and does not read environment variables automatically.

Terminal

bash

 1npm install @bladepdf/node

Continue with the Node.js SDK quickstart.

Add your API key

Create an API key in the dashboard and place it in your environment file.

.env

env

 1BLADEPDF_API_KEY=blpdf_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Optional configuration

Configuration is auto-discovered. Publish the config only when you need custom timeouts, retries, SSL settings, or asset resolution. See Configuration for the publish command and available options.

Keep API keys server-side

Only call BladePDF from trusted backend code. Do not expose your API key in JavaScript, mobile apps, public repositories, or browser requests.

Verify the installation

Add a temporary route and request it from your browser or an HTTP test.

routes/web.php

php

 1use BladePDF\Laravel\Facades\BladePDF;
 2
 3Route::get('/bladepdf-check', function () {
 4    return BladePDF::fromHtml('<h1>BladePDF is installed</h1>')
 5        ->format('A4')
 6        ->render()
 7        ->response('check.pdf');
 8});

Importing the facade

Use the package facade directly:

PHP

php

 1use BladePDF\Laravel\Facades\BladePDF;

If you prefer a shorter alias in your own application, create one in your app code, but the official docs use BladePDF::.