README

Auto-generated, interactive API documentation for Laravel.

Zero config. Real-time testing. Modern Vue 3 UI. OpenAPI export.

Features

Zero Configuration — Drop in, visit /api-lens, done
Auto Route Scanning — Discovers all API routes, controllers, validation rules
Smart Rule Extraction — Parses FormRequest, inline $request->validate(), and controller rules
Response Schema Detection — Analyzes JsonResource / ResourceCollection classes automatically
Path Parameter Analysis — Detects route model binding types and constraints
PHPDoc Integration — Reads @api-lens-group, @api-lens-auth, @deprecated annotations
Live API Testing — Send requests directly from the browser, see response + SQL queries + memory
Code Snippets — Auto-generated cURL, JavaScript (fetch/axios), Python, PHP (Guzzle/HTTP) snippets
Human-Readable Rules — Transforms required|string|max:255 into plain English
Example Generation — Smart request body examples based on field names and rules
Rate Limit Info — Extracts throttle middleware configuration
OpenAPI 3.1.0 Export — Full spec export for Swagger UI, Postman, etc.
Postman Collection Export — Direct Postman v2.1 collection generation
API Version Diff — Compare endpoints between versions, generate changelogs
Dark Mode — Beautiful dark/light theme with system preference detection
Keyboard Shortcuts — Ctrl+K search, arrow navigation, Enter to select
Debug Metrics — SQL query count/time, memory usage, execution time per request

Screenshots

Requirements

PHP 8.1+
Laravel 10, 11, or 12

Installation

composer require evrenonur/api-lens --dev

Publish the config (optional):

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=api-lens-config

Visit your app at:

http://your-app.test/api-lens

That's it!

Configuration

// config/api-lens.php

return [
    'enabled' => env('API_LENS_ENABLED', true),

    'path' => 'api-lens',

    'middleware' => ['web'],

    'include_patterns' => ['api/*'],

    'exclude_patterns' => [
        'sanctum/*',
        '_ignition/*',
        'telescope/*',
        'horizon/*',
        'api-lens/*',
    ],

    'auth' => [
        'enabled' => false,
        'middleware' => [],
    ],

    'features' => [
        'live_testing' => true,
        'code_snippets' => true,
        'openapi_export' => true,
        'debug_metrics' => true,
        'example_generation' => true,
    ],

    'code_snippets' => [
        'languages' => ['curl', 'javascript', 'python', 'php', 'axios', 'fetch', 'guzzle', 'http'],
    ],

    'cache' => [
        'enabled' => false,
        'ttl' => 3600,
    ],
];

PHPDoc Annotations

Add annotations to your controller methods for richer documentation:

/**
 * @api-lens-group Users
 */
class UserController extends Controller
{
    /**
     * List all users.
     *
     * Returns a paginated list of users with optional filtering.
     *
     * @api-lens-auth bearer
     * @api-lens-tag admin
     * @api-lens-response 200 {"data": [{"id": 1, "name": "John"}], "meta": {"total": 50}}
     */
    public function index(Request $request)
    {
        // ...
    }

    /**
     * Create a new user.
     *
     * @api-lens-response 201 {"data": {"id": 1, "name": "John"}, "message": "User created"}
     */
    public function store(StoreUserRequest $request)
    {
        // ...
    }

    /**
     * Delete user.
     *
     * @api-lens-deprecated 2025-06-01 Use PATCH /users/{user}/deactivate instead
     */
    public function destroy(User $user)
    {
        // ...
    }
}

Available Annotations

Annotation	Level	Description
`@api-lens-group Name`	Class	Group endpoints under a section
`@api-lens-auth bearer\|basic\|api-key`	Class/Method	Authentication type
`@api-lens-tag name`	Method	Custom tag
`@api-lens-response {code} {json?}`	Method	Response code with optional JSON example
`@api-lens-deprecated {date} {message}`	Method	Mark as deprecated with migration info

OpenAPI Export

Via Artisan

# Export as OpenAPI 3.1.0 JSON
php artisan api-lens:export docs/openapi.json --format=openapi

# Export as Postman Collection
php artisan api-lens:export docs/postman.json --format=postman

# Default export (api.json in project root)
php artisan api-lens:export

# Overwrite without confirmation
php artisan api-lens:export docs/openapi.json --format=openapi --force

Via API

GET /api-lens/export/openapi
GET /api-lens/export/postman

Live Testing

The built-in API tester lets you:

Set custom headers (Authorization, Content-Type, etc.)
Edit JSON request body with smart defaults
See response status, headers, and formatted body
View debug metrics: SQL queries, memory usage, execution time

Enable the debug middleware in your config to capture metrics:

'features' => [
    'debug_metrics' => true,
],

Building the Frontend

The Vue 3 frontend is pre-built. To develop or customize:

cd ui
npm install
npm run dev    # Development with HMR
npm run build  # Production build

Built assets are served from the package automatically.

Security

API Lens is intended for development environments only. To protect in production:

// config/api-lens.php
'enabled' => env('API_LENS_ENABLED', false),

// Or add auth middleware
'auth' => [
    'enabled' => true,
    'middleware' => ['auth:sanctum', 'can:view-api-docs'],
],

License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

evrenonur / api-lens

Maintainers

Details