PHP API Response

Standardized API response builder for consistent JSON APIs. Framework-agnostic with optional Laravel integration.

Requirements

• PHP ^8.2

Installation

composer require philiprehberger/php-api-response

Usage

Success Responses

use PhilipRehberger\ApiResponse\ApiResponse;

// Basic success
$response = ApiResponse::success();
// {"success": true, "message": "OK", "data": null}

// Success with data
$response = ApiResponse::success(['id' => 1, 'name' => 'John']);
// {"success": true, "message": "OK", "data": {"id": 1, "name": "John"}}

// Created
$response = ApiResponse::created(['id' => 42]);
// {"success": true, "message": "Created", "data": {"id": 42}}

// No content
$response = ApiResponse::noContent();
// {"success": true, "message": "No Content", "data": null}

Error Responses

// Generic error
$response = ApiResponse::error('Something went wrong', 500);
// {"success": false, "message": "Something went wrong", "data": null}

// Not found
$response = ApiResponse::notFound('User not found');
// {"success": false, "message": "User not found", "data": null}

// Validation error
$response = ApiResponse::validationError([
    'email' => ['The email field is required.'],
    'name' => ['The name must be at least 2 characters.'],
]);
// {"success": false, "message": "Validation failed", "data": null, "errors": {"email": [...], "name": [...]}}

Paginated Responses

$response = ApiResponse::paginated(
    items: $users,
    total: 150,
    page: 2,
    perPage: 25,
);
// {"success": true, "message": "OK", "data": [...], "meta": {"pagination": {"total": 150, "page": 2, "per_page": 25, "last_page": 6}}}

Serialization

ResponsePayload implements JsonSerializable and Stringable:

$response = ApiResponse::success(['key' => 'value']);

// Convert to array
$array = $response->toArray();

// Convert to JSON string
$json = $response->toJson();
$json = $response->toJson(JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);

// Use with json_encode directly
$json = json_encode($response);

// Cast to string
$string = (string) $response;

Using with Laravel

Return responses directly from controllers by accessing the payload properties:

public function index(): JsonResponse
{
    $users = User::paginate(25);

    $payload = ApiResponse::paginated(
        items: $users->items(),
        total: $users->total(),
        page: $users->currentPage(),
        perPage: $users->perPage(),
    );

    return response()->json($payload->toArray(), $payload->statusCode);
}

Response Shape

All responses follow a consistent structure:

{
    "success": true,
    "message": "OK",
    "data": null,
    "errors": {},
    "meta": {}
}

• success (bool) - Always present
• message (string) - Always present
• data (mixed) - Always present
• errors (object) - Only present when there are errors
• meta (object) - Only present when metadata is provided (e.g., pagination)

API

Method	Status Code	Description
ApiResponse::success($data, $message)	200	Successful response with optional data
ApiResponse::created($data, $message)	201	Resource created successfully
ApiResponse::noContent($message)	204	Success with no response body
ApiResponse::error($message, $statusCode, $errors)	400	Generic error response
ApiResponse::validationError($errors, $message)	422	Validation failure with field errors
ApiResponse::notFound($message)	404	Resource not found
ApiResponse::paginated($items, $total, $page, $perPage)	200	Paginated list with metadata

Development

composer install
vendor/bin/phpunit
vendor/bin/pint --test
vendor/bin/phpstan analyse

License

MIT