saimain/laravel-mock-api

File-backed mock API responses with a zero-config management panel, for frontend development before the real backend exists.

v1.1.0 2026-07-29 05:27 UTC

Requires

• php: ^8.2
• illuminate/routing: ^10.0|^11.0|^12.0|^13.0
• illuminate/support: ^10.0|^11.0|^12.0|^13.0
• illuminate/validation: ^10.0|^11.0|^12.0|^13.0

MIT

Published on Packagist.org on 2026-07-29 05:27 UTC

README

File-backed mock API responses with a zero-config management panel — for building frontend features against endpoints your backend hasn't built yet.

No database, no migrations. Every mock endpoint (method, path, status code, response body) is stored in a single JSON file and served by a catch-all route. A built-in panel lets you create, edit, and delete mocks through the browser, with a syntax-highlighted JSON editor — no dependency on your host app's frontend stack (works the same whether your app uses Blade, Inertia+React, Vue, or nothing at all).

Requirements

• PHP 8.2+
• Laravel 10, 11, 12, or 13

Installation

composer require saimain/laravel-mock-api

That's it. The service provider is auto-discovered — no manual registration, no .env changes required. Out of the box:

• Mock endpoints are served under /api/{path}
• The management panel is available at /mock-panel
• Mocks are stored in storage/app/mock-api/responses.json

Usage

1. Visit /mock-panel in your browser.
2. Click + New endpoint.
3. Fill in:
   • Method — GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, or DELETE
   • Path — relative to your API prefix, e.g. xpress/trips → served at /api/xpress/trips
   • Status code — the HTTP status to respond with
   • Response body — any valid JSON, edited in a syntax-highlighted editor with a Format button
4. Save. The endpoint is live immediately at the path you configured.

curl http://your-app.test/api/xpress/trips

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "",
  "data": {
    "locations": [
      { "id": 1, "name": "Yangon" },
      { "id": 2, "name": "Mandalay" }
    ]
  }
}

Requesting a method/path combination that hasn't been defined returns a 404:

{ "success": false, "message": "Mock endpoint not found." }

Because mocks are served from whatever path you choose, frontend code can call the real, future API path from day one — no find-and-replace needed once the backend actually implements it.

Request validation

Any mock endpoint can also validate the incoming request before returning its response — useful for testing how your frontend handles a real 422, not just the happy path.

In the panel form, fill in Validation rules as a JSON object of field → Laravel validation rule string:

{
  "location_id": "required|integer",
  "date": "required|date"
}

Leave it as {} to skip validation entirely (the default). When rules are set:

• A request that fails validation gets a 422 generated by the package itself — the same shape Laravel's own validator produces:

  {
    "message": "The location id field is required.",
    "errors": {
      "location_id": ["The location id field is required."],
      "date": ["The date field is required."]
    }
  }

• A request that passes validation gets the configured Response body and Status code, exactly as if no rules were set.

The 422 is built directly in the package's controller rather than thrown as an exception, so it's returned consistently regardless of how the host application customizes its own exception handling.

Configuration

No configuration is required to get started. To customize prefixes, middleware, or storage location, publish the config file:

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

This creates config/mock-api.php:

Key	Env variable	Default	Description
enabled	MOCK_API_ENABLED	true	Set to false to disable the package entirely (e.g. in production) without uninstalling it.
api_prefix	MOCK_API_PREFIX	api	Prefix mock endpoints are served under.
panel_prefix	MOCK_API_PANEL_PREFIX	mock-panel	Prefix the management panel is served under.
api_middleware	—	['api']	Middleware applied to the mock endpoint route group.
panel_middleware	—	['web']	Middleware applied to the panel route group. The panel ships with no authentication — add your own via this array if it needs protecting.
storage_path	—	storage_path('app/mock-api/responses.json')	Where the JSON manifest of mock responses is stored.

Most of the time, setting the two env variables is enough — publishing the config file is only needed if you want to change middleware or storage location.

How it avoids colliding with your real routes

The catch-all mock route (ANY /api/{path}) registers itself after every other service provider has booted, so any route your application defines explicitly — /api/user, /api/xpress/ping, etc. — always takes priority. The mock route only ever handles requests that don't match anything else in your app.

Disabling in production

Set in your .env:

MOCK_API_ENABLED=false

This skips route registration entirely — no mock endpoints and no panel.

License

MIT.