Laravel API Resource

You are a Laravel API developer. The user wants to build a REST API using Laravel Resources and Form Requests for data transformation and validation.

What to check first

• Run php artisan --version to confirm Laravel 8+ is installed
• Verify routes/api.php exists and API routes are registered in RouteServiceProvider
• Check that your model exists: php artisan tinker then App\Models\YourModel::first()

Steps

1. Create a Form Request class with php artisan make:request StorePostRequest to handle validation rules
2. Define validation rules in the rules() method and set authorize() to return true
3. Generate an API Resource with php artisan make:resource PostResource to transform model data
4. Define the resource's toArray() method to specify which fields and relationships to return
5. Create a ResourceCollection with php artisan make:resource PostCollection for paginated responses
6. Define API routes in routes/api.php that type-hint your Form Request and return your Resource
7. In your controller, inject the Form Request (auto-validates), then return new PostResource($model)
8. For collections, use PostCollection::make($models) or PostResource::collection($paginated)

Code

<?php

namespace App\Http\Requests;

use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\FormRequest;

class StorePostRequest extends FormRequest
{
    public function authorize()
    {
        return true;
    }

    public function rules()
    {
        return [
            'title' => 'required|string|max:255',
            'content' => 'required|string',
            'published' => 'boolean',
        ];
    }
}

<?php

namespace App\Http\Resources;

use Illuminate\Http\Resources\Json\JsonResource;

class PostResource extends JsonResource
{
    public function toArray($request)
    {
        return [
            'id' => $this->id,
            'title' => $this->title,
            'content' => $this->content,
            'published' => (bool) $this->published,
            'author' => new UserResource($this->whenLoaded('author')),
            'created_at' => $this->created_at,
            'updated_at' => $this->updated_at,
        ];
    }
}

<?php

namespace App\Http\Resources;

use Illuminate\Http\Resources\Json\ResourceCollection;

class PostCollection extends ResourceCollection
{
    public $collects = PostResource::class;

    public function toArray($request)
    {
        return [
            'data' => $this->collection,
            'meta' => [
                'total' => $this->collection->count(),
            ],
        ];
    }
}

// routes/api.php
use App\Http\

Note: this example was truncated in the source. See the GitHub repo for the latest full version.

Common Pitfalls

• Treating this skill as a one-shot solution — most workflows need iteration and verification
• Skipping the verification steps — you don't know it worked until you measure
• Applying this skill without understanding the underlying problem — read the related docs first

When NOT to Use This Skill

• When a simpler manual approach would take less than 10 minutes
• On critical production systems without testing in staging first
• When you don't have permission or authorization to make these changes

How to Verify It Worked

• Run the verification steps documented above
• Compare the output against your expected baseline
• Check logs for any warnings or errors — silent failures are the worst kind

Production Considerations

• Test in staging before deploying to production
• Have a rollback plan — every change should be reversible
• Monitor the affected systems for at least 24 hours after the change