Agent Skills: Laravel API Development

Laravel API Development

Agent Workflow (MANDATORY)

Before ANY implementation, spawn 3 agents in parallel, one Agent call each with a name:

1. fuse-ai-pilot:explore-codebase - Analyze existing API patterns
2. fuse-ai-pilot:research-expert - Verify Laravel API docs via Context7
3. mcp__context7__query-docs - Check API Resources and Sanctum patterns

After implementation, run fuse-ai-pilot:sniper for validation.

Overview

Build RESTful APIs with Laravel using API Resources for response transformation and Sanctum for authentication.

| Component | Purpose | |-----------|---------| | Controllers | Handle requests, delegate to services | | Form Requests | Validate input, authorize actions | | API Resources | Transform models to JSON | | Middleware | Auth, rate limiting, CORS | | Routes | Versioned endpoints with groups | | Pagination | Offset/cursor pagination | | HTTP Client | Consume external APIs |

Critical Rules

1. Always use API Resources - Never return Eloquent models directly
2. Versioned routes - Prefix with /v1/, /v2/
3. Validate all input - Use Form Requests, not inline validation
4. Rate limiting - Configure per-route limits
5. Consistent responses - Same structure, proper status codes
6. Use services - Keep controllers thin
7. Eager load - Prevent N+1 with with() before pagination

Reference Guide

Core Concepts

| Topic | Reference | When to consult | |-------|-----------|-----------------| | Routing | routing.md | Defining versioned API routes | | Controllers | controllers.md | Controller patterns, resource methods | | Middleware | middleware.md | Route protection, request filtering | | Validation | validation.md | Form Requests, validation rules |

Request/Response

| Topic | Reference | When to consult | |-------|-----------|-----------------| | Requests | requests.md | Accessing input, files, headers | | Responses | responses.md | API Resources, status codes | | Pagination | pagination.md | Offset/cursor pagination |

Advanced

| Topic | Reference | When to consult | |-------|-----------|-----------------| | Rate Limiting | rate-limiting.md | Throttle configuration | | HTTP Client | http-client.md | Consuming external APIs | | URLs | urls.md | URL generation, signed URLs | | Strings | strings.md | String helpers, UUIDs, slugs | | Redirects | redirects.md | Redirect responses |

Templates (Code Examples)

Controllers & Routes

| Template | Purpose | |----------|---------| | ApiController.php.md | Complete CRUD controller with service | | api-routes.md | Versioned routes with middleware | | routing-examples.md | Detailed routing patterns |

Validation & Resources

| Template | Purpose | |----------|---------| | FormRequest.php.md | Store/Update Form Requests | | validation-rules.md | All validation rules reference | | ApiResource.php.md | Resource with relationships |

External APIs

| Template | Purpose | |----------|---------| | HttpClientService.php.md | Reusable HTTP client service |

Quick Reference

Resource Response

return PostResource::collection($posts);
return PostResource::make($post);

Status Codes

return PostResource::make($post)->response()->setStatusCode(201);
return response()->json(null, 204);

Form Request

public function store(StorePostRequest $request): JsonResponse
{
    $post = $this->service->create($request->validated());
    return PostResource::make($post)->response()->setStatusCode(201);
}

Rate Limiting

Route::middleware('throttle:60,1')->group(fn () => ...);

Versioned Routes

Route::prefix('v1')->group(function () {
    Route::apiResource('posts', PostController::class);
});

Pagination

return PostResource::collection(Post::paginate(15));

Feature Matrix

| Feature | Status | Reference | |---------|--------|-----------| | RESTful Controllers | ✅ | controllers.md | | API Resources | ✅ | responses.md | | Form Request Validation | ✅ | validation.md | | Route Versioning | ✅ | routing.md | | Route Model Binding | ✅ | routing.md | | Middleware | ✅ | middleware.md | | Rate Limiting | ✅ | rate-limiting.md | | Pagination | ✅ | pagination.md | | Cursor Pagination | ✅ | pagination.md | | HTTP Client | ✅ | http-client.md | | Signed URLs | ✅ | urls.md | | JSON Responses | ✅ | responses.md |

Laravel 13 Notes

Attributes for API Resources

Laravel 13 introduces #[Collects] and #[PreserveKeys] to configure ResourceCollections via PHP attributes.

use Illuminate\Http\Resources\Json\ResourceCollection;
use Illuminate\Http\Resources\Attributes\Collects;
use Illuminate\Http\Resources\Attributes\PreserveKeys;

#[Collects(PostResource::class)]
#[PreserveKeys]
final class PostCollection extends ResourceCollection {}

JSON:API compliance

For JSON:API APIs (sparse fieldsets, includes, links), see [[laravel-jsonapi]], which covers ?include=, ?fields[type]=, and spec-compliant pagination.

Best Practices

DO

• Use API Resources (JsonResource) for every public JSON response
• Version via URL (/api/v1) rather than via header (readable, cacheable)
• Rate-limit per user AND per IP (throttle:60,1 + custom limiter)
• Document via OpenAPI/Scribe before coding the endpoint
• Prefer cursor() pagination for large lists (stable, performant)

DON'T

• Return an Eloquent Model directly (leaks sensitive columns)
• Mix up HTTP statuses (always 422 for validation, 401 vs 403)
• Skip Form Request validation (never validate in the controller)
• Expose auto-increment IDs publicly (prefer UUID/ULID)
• Forget the PreventRequestForgery exemption for external webhooks