Pillar
API Design
How APIs outgrow the design they shipped with, and what to fix first.
- 45Articles
- 8 hrsOf reading
- 39Videos
- 7Guides
- 19Packages
Most APIs are not badly built. They were built once, correctly, for a product that then changed underneath them. The endpoint everyone complains about is rarely slow because of the code inside it. It is slow because it is still answering a question nobody asks any more, and three clients now depend on the shape of that answer.
Which is why I do not open with a rewrite. I find the call that is actually costing you, which is almost never the one the dashboard is shouting about, and stabilise that one first. Contracts before code. Get the shape wrong and faster only means wrong sooner.
What is here: versioning that does not need a v2, validating data you did not design and cannot trust, rate limiting that survives a real client, and what to do when CRUD runs out of room. Written from APIs in production, including the ones that broke.
Start here
A route through it, in order.
- 1
Accepting Data You Don't Control
Webhooks and callbacks you did not design. An ingest server in Laravel 13 that owns the envelope, stores the payload whole, and validates where failure means a retry, not data loss.14 min read - 2
When CRUD Isn't Enough: How Real APIs Outgrow Their Design
Most Laravel APIs start as clean CRUD systems. This article walks through why that breaks down, and how an action-based design fixes the mess.10 min read - 3
Building Bulletproof Laravel APIs using Schema-First Contract Validation
Stop letting undocumented fields into your Laravel API. Write the JSON Schema first, then enforce it in middleware, DTOs, and your Pest test suite.10 min read - 4
The Tips Behind API Artisan: Building Laravel APIs Developers Actually Want to Use
Practical tips for building Laravel APIs developers trust: contract-first design, versioning, RFC 9457 errors, idempotency and more. Free book inside.13 min read
Same subject
API Design, in every other format.
Videos · 39
All 39 videos →
Archive
Everything in API Design, newest first.
Most of Your API Has Already Been Designed
Error formats, retries, lost updates, webhook signing: the IETF has already answered them. api-toolbox brings those answers to Laravel, one RFC per feature.
Your endpoint, as an agent sees it
An agent never reads your API. It reads a flattened projection of it, and the flattening loses things you did not know were losable. Here is how to look at yours.
Accepting Data You Don't Control
Webhooks and callbacks you did not design. An ingest server in Laravel 13 that owns the envelope, stores the payload whole, and validates where failure means a retry, not data loss.
Building Bulletproof Laravel APIs using Schema-First Contract Validation
Stop letting undocumented fields into your Laravel API. Write the JSON Schema first, then enforce it in middleware, DTOs, and your Pest test suite.
The Tips Behind API Artisan: Building Laravel APIs Developers Actually Want to Use
Practical tips for building Laravel APIs developers trust: contract-first design, versioning, RFC 9457 errors, idempotency and more. Free book inside.
Server-Side Rate Limiting in Laravel with Fingerprint.dev
Learn how to build device-based rate limiting in Laravel with Fingerprint.dev, Redis caching, and custom middleware to avoid the limits of IP-based throttling.
The Reason I Love Tempest for APIs
Tempest makes API development feel lightweight by combining typed request objects, attribute-based validation, discovery-driven routing, and built-in mapping with minimal ceremony.
When CRUD Isn't Enough: How Real APIs Outgrow Their Design
Most Laravel APIs start as clean CRUD systems. This article walks through why that breaks down, and how an action-based design fixes the mess.
Building Modern Laravel APIs: Lead Scoring and Prioritisation
Building a configurable lead scoring engine in Laravel 13 - config-driven weights, query objects for prioritised retrieval, rescoring commands, and a top leads endpoint.
Building Modern Laravel APIs: The Action Pattern
Building a lead enrichment and scoring pipeline in Laravel 13 using the AI SDK, structured agents, composable Action classes, and PHP enums for type-safe status management.
Building Modern Laravel APIs: Authentication with JWT
Add JWT auth to a Laravel API with register, login, refresh, and logout flows using Form Request DTOs, Action classes, and auth:api middleware.
Building Modern Laravel APIs: Foundations and Project Structure
Start the Modern Laravel APIs series by structuring Pulse-Link for production with clear layers, ULIDs, action classes, DTO requests, and versioning.