Capstone: JSON API

The spec

Turn the blog into a JSON API: the same posts, now served as data for mobile apps and JavaScript front ends. Endpoints list posts, show one post, and store a new one, all answering with JSON and proper status codes.

GET /api/posts - list all posts GET /api/posts/1 - show one post POST /api/posts - store a new post

API routes

API routes live in the api routes file, which adds the api prefix and stateless middleware automatically. Resource-style pairs keep the surface small: one line per action, one controller per model.

Route::get("/posts", [PostController::class, "index"]); Route::get("/posts/{post}", [PostController::class, "show"]); Route::post("/posts", [PostController::class, "store"]);

Shape with resources

API resources decide exactly which fields leave the server. Hide internal columns, keep the field names stable, and never leak timestamps or tokens that the client did not ask for - apps in the wild cannot be force-upgraded overnight.

public function toArray(Request $request): array { return [ "id" => $this->id, "title" => $this->title, "body" => $this->body, ]; }

Test the endpoints

Endpoint tests speak HTTP: send JSON, assert the status, assert the structure. One test per route catches renamed fields and broken validation long before a mobile release does.

$response = $this->getJson("/api/posts"); $response->assertOk(); $response->assertJsonStructure(["data"]); $created = $this->postJson("/api/posts", ["title" => "Hello", "body" => "World"]); $created->assertCreated();

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Article author: Arthur Isaev