The Db file for easy use of the Database package from L4 outside of L4.

Db.php

<?php
use Illuminate\Database\Connectors\ConnectionFactory;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Illuminate\Database\ConnectionResolver;
use Illuminate\Database\DatabaseManager;

class Db {

    private static $resolver = null;

    private static $factory = null;

    private static $modelInitialized = false;

    public static function makeConnection($name, array $config, $default = false) {
        self::setupResolverAndFactory();

        self::$resolver->addConnection($name, self::$factory->make($config));

        if ($default) {
            self::$resolver->setDefaultConnection($name);
        }

        if ( ! self::$modelInitialized) {
            Model::setConnectionResolver(self::$resolver);
            self::$modelInitialized = true;
        }
    }

    public static function __callStatic($method, $parameters) {
        return call_user_func_array(array(self::$resolver->connection(), $method), $parameters);
    }

    private static function setupResolverAndFactory() {
        if (is_null(self::$resolver)) {
            self::$resolver = new ConnectionResolver;
        }
        if (is_null(self::$factory)) {
            self::$factory = new ConnectionFactory;
        }
    }
}

index.php

<pre><?php

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

Db::makeConnection('main', [
    'driver'    => 'mysql',
    'host'      => 'localhost',
    'database'  => 'test',
    'username'  => 'root',
    'password'  => 'root',
    'collation' => 'utf8_general_ci',
    'prefix'    => '',
], true);

var_dump(Db::table('foo')->select('*')->get());

/*
Result:
array(2) {
  [0]=>
  array(2) {
    ["id"]=>
    string(1) "1"
    ["name"]=>
    string(3) "Dan"
  }
  [1]=>
  array(2) {
    ["id"]=>
    string(1) "2"
    ["name"]=>
    string(3) "Joe"
  }
}
*/