PHP API Response

Standardized API response builder for consistent JSON APIs.

Requirements

• PHP 8.2+

Installation

composer require philiprehberger/php-api-response

Usage

Success Responses

use PhilipRehberger\ApiResponse\ApiResponse;

// Basic success
$response = ApiResponse::success();
// {"success": true, "message": "OK", "data": null}

// Success with data
$response = ApiResponse::success(['id' => 1, 'name' => 'John']);
// {"success": true, "message": "OK", "data": {"id": 1, "name": "John"}}

// Created
$response = ApiResponse::created(['id' => 42]);
// {"success": true, "message": "Created", "data": {"id": 42}}

// No content
$response = ApiResponse::noContent();

// Accepted (202) — request queued for async processing
$response = ApiResponse::accepted(['job_id' => 'abc-123']);
// {"success": true, "message": "Accepted", "data": {"job_id": "abc-123"}}
// {"success": true, "message": "No Content", "data": null}

Error Responses

// Generic error
$response = ApiResponse::error('Something went wrong', 500);
// {"success": false, "message": "Something went wrong", "data": null}

// Not found
$response = ApiResponse::notFound('User not found');
// {"success": false, "message": "User not found", "data": null}

// Unauthorized (401)
$response = ApiResponse::unauthorized('Token expired');

// Forbidden (403)
$response = ApiResponse::forbidden('Insufficient permissions');

// Internal server error (500)
$response = ApiResponse::internalServerError('Database unavailable');

// Validation error
$response = ApiResponse::validationError([
    'email' => ['The email field is required.'],
    'name' => ['The name must be at least 2 characters.'],
]);
// {"success": false, "message": "Validation failed", "data": null, "errors": {"email": [...], "name": [...]}}

Paginated Responses

$response = ApiResponse::paginated(
    items: $users,
    total: 150,
    page: 2,
    perPage: 25,
);
// {"success": true, "message": "OK", "data": [...], "meta": {"pagination": {"total": 150, "page": 2, "per_page": 25, "last_page": 6}}}

Serialization

ResponsePayload implements JsonSerializable and Stringable:

$response = ApiResponse::success(['key' => 'value']);

// Convert to array
$array = $response->toArray();

// Convert to JSON string
$json = $response->toJson();
$json = $response->toJson(JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);

// Use with json_encode directly
$json = json_encode($response);

// Cast to string
$string = (string) $response;

Using with Laravel

Return responses directly from controllers by accessing the payload properties:

public function index(): JsonResponse
{
    $users = User::paginate(25);

    $payload = ApiResponse::paginated(
        items: $users->items(),
        total: $users->total(),
        page: $users->currentPage(),
        perPage: $users->perPage(),
    );

    return response()->json($payload->toArray(), $payload->statusCode);
}

Fluent Chaining

All with* methods return a new ResponsePayload instance, keeping the original unchanged:

$response = ApiResponse::success(['id' => 1, 'name' => 'John'])
    ->withMeta(['request_id' => 'abc-123', 'version' => '2.0'])
    ->withHeaders(['X-Request-Id' => 'abc-123'])
    ->withStatusCode(202);

// Merge additional metadata onto a paginated response
$response = ApiResponse::paginated($users, total: 150, page: 2, perPage: 25)
    ->withMeta(['cache' => 'hit']);

// Attach pagination to any success response after the fact
$response = ApiResponse::success($users)
    ->withPagination(total: 150, page: 2, perPage: 25);

// Attach headers for use in your framework's response
$payload = ApiResponse::created(['id' => 42])
    ->withHeaders(['Location' => '/users/42']);

return response()->json($payload->toArray(), $payload->statusCode)
    ->withHeaders($payload->headers);

Response Shape

All responses follow a consistent structure:

{
    "success": true,
    "message": "OK",
    "data": null,
    "errors": {},
    "meta": {}
}

• success (bool) - Always present
• message (string) - Always present
• data (mixed) - Always present
• errors (object) - Only present when there are errors
• meta (object) - Only present when metadata is provided (e.g., pagination)

API

Method	Status Code	Description
ApiResponse::success($data, $message)	200	Successful response with optional data
ApiResponse::created($data, $message)	201	Resource created successfully
ApiResponse::noContent($message)	204	Success with no response body
ApiResponse::error($message, $statusCode, $errors)	400	Generic error response
ApiResponse::validationError($errors, $message)	422	Validation failure with field errors
ApiResponse::notFound($message)	404	Resource not found
ApiResponse::unauthorized($message, $errors)	401	Authentication required or failed
ApiResponse::forbidden($message, $errors)	403	Authenticated but not permitted
ApiResponse::accepted($data, $message)	202	Request accepted for asynchronous processing
ApiResponse::internalServerError($message, $errors)	500	Unexpected server-side failure
ApiResponse::paginated($items, $total, $page, $perPage)	200	Paginated list with metadata

Fluent Methods on ResponsePayload

Method	Description
withMeta(array $meta)	Returns a new instance with merged metadata
withHeaders(array $headers)	Returns a new instance with custom response headers
withStatusCode(int $code)	Returns a new instance with overridden HTTP status code
withPagination(int $total, int $page, int $perPage)	Returns a new instance with a pagination block merged into meta

Development

composer install
vendor/bin/phpunit
vendor/bin/pint --test
vendor/bin/phpstan analyse

Support

If you find this project useful:

⭐ Star the repo

🐛 Report issues

💡 Suggest features

❤️ Sponsor development

🌐 All Open Source Projects

💻 GitHub Profile

🔗 LinkedIn Profile

License

MIT