Minimal code to load a Laravel application

laravel-script.php

<?php

require_once __DIR__.'/vendor/autoload.php';

function bootstrapApplication()
{
    $app = require __DIR__.'/vendor/laravel/laravel/bootstrap/app.php';

    $app->make('Illuminate\Contracts\Console\Kernel')->bootstrap();

    $app['config']['database.default'] = 'mysql';
    $app['config']['database.connections.mysql.database'] = 'test_db';
    $app['config']['database.connections.mysql.username'] = 'test_app';
    $app['config']['database.connections.mysql.password'] = 'secret';

    return $app;
}

$app = bootstrapApplication();

// load service providers
$app->register('App\Providers\CustomServiceProvider');

// edit the app's settings
$app['config']['app.debug'] = true;

// obtain a class from the Service Container
$service = $app['App\Services\CustomService'];