1. Install Laravel:

Before creating an API in Laravel, you need to have Laravel installed on your system. You can install Laravel by following the instructions on the Laravel website.

2. Create a New Laravel Project:

To create a new Laravel project, open the terminal and run the following command:


 laravel new myproject

Replace “myproject” with the name of your project.

3. Create a New Controller:

To create a new controller, run the following command:


 php artisan make:controller ApiController

This will create a new controller called “ApiController” in the “app/Http/Controllers” directory.

4. Define Routes:

To define routes for your API, open the “routes/api.php” file and define your routes like this:


Route::get('/users', 'ApiController@getUsers');
Route::post('/users', 'ApiController@createUser');
Route::put('/users/{id}', 'ApiController@updateUser');
Route::delete('/users/{id}', 'ApiController@deleteUser');

Replace “getUsers”, “createUser”, “updateUser”, and “deleteUser” with the names of the methods in your ApiController that will handle these requests.

5. Define Controller Methods:

In your ApiController, define methods to handle the requests defined in your routes. For example:


 public function getUsers()
{
    $users = User::all();
    return response()->json($users);
}

public function createUser(Request $request)
{
    $user = new User;
    $user->name = $request->name;
    $user->email = $request->email;
    $user->password = $request->password;
    $user->save();
    return response()->json($user);
}

public function updateUser(Request $request, $id)
{
    $user = User::find($id);
    $user->name = $request->name;
    $user->email = $request->email;
    $user->password = $request->password;
    $user->save();
    return response()->json($user);
}

public function deleteUser($id)
{
    $user = User::find($id);
    $user->delete();
    return response()->json('User deleted successfully.');

These methods handle the GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE requests defined in your routes.

6. Test your API:

You can test your API using tools like Postman or curl. For example, to get all users, send a GET request to “/api/users”. To create a new user, send a POST request to “/api/users” with a JSON body containing the user’s name, email, and password.

That’s it! You have now created a basic API in Laravel.