Feature	Description	Guide
Models	Eloquent ORM, relationships, scopes	MODELS.md
Controllers	Resource controllers, form requests	CONTROLLERS.md
API Resources	Response transformation	RESOURCES.md
Auth	Sanctum, policies, gates	AUTH.md
Queues	Jobs, events, listeners	QUEUES.md
Testing	Feature, unit tests	TESTING.md

Common Patterns

Model with Relationships

class User extends Authenticatable
{
    use HasApiTokens, HasFactory, SoftDeletes;

    protected $fillable = ['name', 'email', 'password', 'role'];
    protected $hidden = ['password', 'remember_token'];
    protected $casts = ['email_verified_at' => 'datetime', 'password' => 'hashed'];

    public function organizations(): BelongsToMany
    {
        return $this->belongsToMany(Organization::class, 'memberships')
            ->withPivot('role')
            ->withTimestamps();
    }

    public function scopeActive($query)
    {
        return $query->where('is_active', true);
    }

    public function scopeSearch($query, ?string $search)
    {
        return $search
            ? $query->where('name', 'like', "%{$search}%")
                    ->orWhere('email', 'like', "%{$search}%")
            : $query;
    }
}

Controller with Service

class UserController extends Controller
{
    public function __construct(private UserService $userService) {}

    public function index(Request $request): PaginatedCollection
    {
        $users = $this->userService->list(
            search: $request->input('search'),
            perPage: $request->input('per_page', 20)
        );
        return new PaginatedCollection($users, UserResource::class);
    }

    public function store(CreateUserRequest $request): JsonResponse
    {
        $user = $this->userService->create($request->validated());
        return (new UserResource($user))
            ->response()
            ->setStatusCode(201);
    }

    public function show(User $user): UserResource
    {
        return new UserResource($user->load('organizations'));
    }
}

Form Request Validation

class CreateUserRequest extends FormRequest
{
    public function authorize(): bool
    {
        return $this->user()->isAdmin();
    }

    public function rules(): array
    {
        return [
            'name' => ['required', 'string', 'min:2', 'max:100'],
            'email' => ['required', 'email', 'unique:users,email'],
            'password' => ['required', 'confirmed', Password::min(8)->mixedCase()->numbers()],
            'role' => ['sometimes', 'in:admin,user,guest'],
        ];
    }
}

Workflows

API Development

Create model and migration
Create controller with php artisan make:controller --api
Add Form Request for validation
Create API Resource for responses
Write feature tests

Resource Response

class UserResource extends JsonResource
{
    public function toArray(Request $request): array
    {
        return [
            'id' => $this->id,
            'name' => $this->name,
            'email' => $this->email,
            'organizations' => OrganizationResource::collection($this->whenLoaded('organizations')),
            'created_at' => $this->created_at->toIso8601String(),
        ];
    }
}

Best Practices

Do	Avoid
Use Form Requests for validation	Validating in controllers
Use API Resources for responses	Returning models directly
Use service classes for logic	Fat controllers
Use eager loading	N+1 queries
Use soft deletes	Hard deletes for important data

Project Structure

app/
├── Http/
│   ├── Controllers/Api/
│   ├── Requests/
│   ├── Resources/
│   └── Middleware/
├── Models/
├── Services/
├── Policies/
├── Jobs/
└── Events/
routes/
├── api.php
└── web.php
tests/
├── Feature/
└── Unit/

For detailed examples and patterns, see reference files above.

building-laravel-apis

Laravel

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