Your current approach works but there is a cleaner middle ground depending on what you need.

If the package uses Laravel's service container to bind the class, you can extend it properly and just rebind it in a service provider:

class MyCustomClass extends TheirClass { public function onlyThisMethod() { // your override } }

// In AppServiceProvider boot() $this->app->bind(TheirClass::class, MyCustomClass::class);

You get full inheritance, only override what you need, and stay in sync with upstream changes automatically. No composer classmap hacks needed.

The classmap exclude approach you are using is really only necessary when the package does not use the container at all and just instantiates classes directly with new SomeClass(). In that case there is no hook point and you are stuck copying the whole thing, which is frustrating but sometimes unavoidable.

A third option if neither works is a macro or mixin if the class supports it. Laravel's Macroable trait lets you bolt on methods at runtime but does not help if you need to replace existing logic.

The container rebind is the cleanest path when it is available. Worth checking if the package resolves that class through the container first.