API versioning patterns in Laravel - Mini Project: Build & Apply

API Versioning Patterns in Laravel

📖 Scenario: You are building a Laravel API for a book store. You want to support multiple versions of the API so that old clients can still use version 1 while new clients use version 2 with improved features.

🎯 Goal: Create a simple Laravel API with two versions: v1 and v2. Each version should have a route that returns a list of books. Version 1 returns a basic list, and version 2 returns an enhanced list with extra details.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a route group for API version 1 with prefix api/v1

Create a route group for API version 2 with prefix api/v2

Define a controller method for each version that returns a JSON list of books

Use Laravel routing and controller conventions for versioning

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

APIs often need to support multiple versions so that old apps keep working while new features are added. This project shows how to do that in Laravel.

💼 Career

Understanding API versioning is important for backend developers working with Laravel to build maintainable and scalable APIs.

1

Set up initial book data

Create a controller called BookController with a public method getBooksV1 that returns a JSON array with these exact books: ["The Hobbit", "1984", "Pride and Prejudice"].

Laravel

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class BookController extends Controller
{
    // Create public function getBooksV1 that returns JSON array of books
    // Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Define a public method getBooksV1 inside BookController that returns the JSON array using response()->json().

2

Add API version 1 route group

In routes/api.php, add a route group with prefix v1. Inside it, define a GET route /books that uses BookController@getBooksV1.

Laravel

<?php

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;

// Add route group with prefix 'v1' and GET route '/books' using BookController@getBooksV1
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use Route::prefix('v1')->group(function () { ... }); and inside define the GET route for /books.

3

Add version 2 controller method with enhanced data

In BookController, add a public method getBooksV2 that returns a JSON array of books with details. Use this exact array: [["title" => "The Hobbit", "author" => "J.R.R. Tolkien"], ["title" => "1984", "author" => "George Orwell"], ["title" => "Pride and Prejudice", "author" => "Jane Austen"]].

Laravel

group(function () {
    Route::get('/books', [App\Http\Controllers\BookController::class, 'getBooksV1']);
});

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class BookController extends Controller
{
    public function getBooksV1()
    {
        return response()->json(["The Hobbit", "1984", "Pride and Prejudice"]);
    }

    // Add public function getBooksV2 that returns JSON array with book title and author
    // Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Define getBooksV2 method returning the detailed books array using response()->json().

4

Add API version 2 route group

In routes/api.php, add a route group with prefix v2. Inside it, define a GET route /books that uses BookController@getBooksV2.

Laravel

group(function () {
    Route::get('/books', [App\Http\Controllers\BookController::class, 'getBooksV1']);
});

// Add route group with prefix 'v2' and GET route '/books' using BookController@getBooksV2
// Your code here

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class BookController extends Controller
{
    public function getBooksV1()
    {
        return response()->json(["The Hobbit", "1984", "Pride and Prejudice"]);
    }

    public function getBooksV2()
    {
        return response()->json([
            ["title" => "The Hobbit", "author" => "J.R.R. Tolkien"],
            ["title" => "1984", "author" => "George Orwell"],
            ["title" => "Pride and Prejudice", "author" => "Jane Austen"]
        ]);
    }
}

Need a hint?

Use Route::prefix('v2')->group(function () { ... }); and inside define the GET route for /books using getBooksV2.