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This guide will walk you through setting up the Laravel Blog API and making your first authenticated API call.

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Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed:
  • PHP 7.1.3 or higher
  • Composer
  • MySQL or another supported database
  • Git

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Setup steps

1

Clone the repository

Clone the Laravel Blog API repository to your local machine:
git clone <repository-url> laravel-blog-api
cd laravel-blog-api
2

Install dependencies

Install the required PHP packages using Composer:
composer install
This will install all dependencies including:
  • Laravel Framework 5.7
  • Firebase PHP-JWT 3.0.0
  • Laravel Tinker
3

Configure environment

Copy the example environment file and generate an application key:
cp .env.example .env
php artisan key:generate
Open the .env file and configure your database connection:
DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=your_database_name
DB_USERNAME=your_database_user
DB_PASSWORD=your_database_password
Make sure to create the database before running migrations.
4

Run database migrations

Create the necessary database tables:
php artisan migrate
This will create the users table and other required tables.
5

Start the development server

Launch the Laravel development server:
php artisan serve
The API will be available at http://localhost:8000.

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Make your first API call

Now that your API is running, let’s make some authenticated requests.

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Register a new user

Create your first user account by sending a POST request to the register endpoint: 
curl -X POST http://localhost:8000/api/register \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "json": "{\"name\":\"John\",\"surname\":\"Doe\",\"email\":\"[email protected]\",\"password\":\"secret123\"}"
  }'
The API expects user data to be sent as a JSON string within a json parameter. The password is hashed using SHA-256.

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Login and get JWT token

Authenticate with your credentials to receive a JWT token: 
curl -X POST http://localhost:8000/api/login \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "json": "{\"email\":\"[email protected]\",\"password\":\"secret123\"}"
  }'
The response is a JWT token string. Save this token for making authenticated requests.
The JWT token expires after 7 days. You’ll need to login again to get a new token after expiration.

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Make an authenticated request

Use the JWT token to make authenticated API calls. Here’s an example updating user information: 
curl -X PUT http://localhost:8000/api/user/update \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9..." \
  -d '{
    "json": "{\"name\":\"Jane\",\"surname\":\"Doe\",\"email\":\"[email protected]\"}"
  }'
All authenticated endpoints require the JWT token in the Authorization header. Replace the token value with your actual token from the login response.

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Next steps

Now that you’ve made your first authenticated API call, you can:
  • Explore the available endpoints in the API Reference
  • Learn about category and post management
  • Implement image upload functionality
  • Integrate the API into your application
The JWT token is validated using the secret key defined in app/Helpers/JwtAuth.php:13. In production, make sure to use a secure secret key.

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