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Building Scalable APIs with Laravel 11
Learn architectural patterns and best practices for creating maintainable, high-performance REST APIs using Laravel's latest features.
Sarah Chen
January 5, 2026
12 min read
Building Scalable APIs with Laravel 11
Laravel 11 introduces powerful features that make building scalable, maintainable APIs easier than ever.
Project Structure
php
1app/
2├── Http/
3│ ├── Controllers/Api/V1/
4│ ├── Requests/
5│ ├── Resources/
6│ └── Middleware/
7├── Services/
8├── Repositories/
9└── Models/API Versioning
php
1Route::prefix('v1')->group(function () {
2 Route::apiResource('users', UserController::class);
3 Route::apiResource('posts', PostController::class);
4});Request Validation
php
1class StoreUserRequest extends FormRequest
2{
3 public function rules(): array
4 {
5 return [
6 'name' => ['required', 'string', 'max:255'],
7 'email' => ['required', 'email', 'unique:users'],
8 'password' => ['required', 'min:8', 'confirmed'],
9 ];
10 }
11}API Resources
php
1class UserResource extends JsonResource
2{
3 public function toArray($request): array
4 {
5 return [
6 'id' => $this->id,
7 'name' => $this->name,
8 'email' => $this->email,
9 'created_at' => $this->created_at->toISOString(),
10 ];
11 }
12}Repository Pattern
php
1interface UserRepositoryInterface
2{
3 public function find(int $id): ?User;
4 public function create(array $data): User;
5}
6
7class UserRepository implements UserRepositoryInterface
8{
9 public function find(int $id): ?User
10 {
11 return User::with(['posts', 'profile'])->find($id);
12 }
13}Rate Limiting
php
1RateLimiter::for('api', function (Request $request) {
2 return Limit::perMinute(60)->by($request->user()?->id ?: $request->ip());
3});Caching
php
1public function getPopularPosts(): Collection
2{
3 return Cache::remember('popular_posts', 3600, function () {
4 return Post::where('views', '>', 1000)
5 ->orderBy('views', 'desc')
6 ->limit(10)
7 ->get();
8 });
9}Conclusion
Building scalable APIs with Laravel 11 requires thoughtful architecture and adherence to best practices.
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