php 32 lines · 7 steps

Shaping API JSON with a Laravel Resource

An API Resource transforms an Order model into a clean, computed JSON payload for clients.

Explained by highlit

Laravel Intermediate api serialization data transformation conditional attributes eager loading

1<?php
2 
3namespace App\Http\Resources;
4 
5use Illuminate\Http\Request;
6use Illuminate\Http\Resources\Json\JsonResource;
7 
8class OrderResource extends JsonResource
9{
10    public function toArray(Request $request): array
11    {
12        return [
13            'id' => $this->id,
14            'reference' => $this->reference,
15            'status' => $this->status,
16            'currency' => $this->currency,
17            'subtotal' => $this->subtotal,
18            'tax' => $this->tax,
19            'shipping' => $this->shipping,
20            'total' => $this->subtotal + $this->tax + $this->shipping,
21            'item_count' => $this->whenLoaded('items', fn () => $this->items->sum('quantity')),
22            'is_paid' => $this->paid_at !== null,
23            'paid_at' => $this->paid_at?->toIso8601String(),
24            'estimated_delivery' => $this->when(
25                $this->status === 'shipped' && $this->shipped_at,
26                fn () => $this->shipped_at->addDays(5)->toDateString(),
27            ),
28            'customer' => new CustomerResource($this->whenLoaded('customer')),
29            'created_at' => $this->created_at->toIso8601String(),
30        ];
31    }
32}

01 / 01

STEP 01

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Three takeaways

1API Resources decouple your database schema from the JSON shape clients actually receive.
2Conditional helpers like whenLoaded and when keep payloads lean and avoid triggering lazy queries.
3Deriving values in the transformer keeps computation out of controllers and consistent across endpoints.

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