Laravel REST API Boilerplate with Service Layer, DTOs, and Clean Architecture

This boilerplate provides a clean and scalable foundation for applications built with Laravel 12, incorporating best practices in architecture, separation of responsibilities, and the use of DTOs (Data Transfer Objects).

🚀 Key Features

• Laravel 12 — the latest version of the framework.
• Service Layer — isolation of business logic from controllers.
• Repository Pattern — abstraction of persistence, facilitating testing and maintenance.
• Rate Limiter — protection against abuse and brute-force attacks.
• DTOs (Data Transfer Objects) — validation and standardization of data transferred between layers.
• Clean Architecture Principles — ensures long-term scalability and maintainability.
• Laravel Sanctum with JWT — ready-to-use REST API authentication.
• Laravel Pint — automatic code formatting.
• PHPStan (Level 8) — static analysis for type safety and error prevention.

📂 Project Structure

app/
 ├── Dto/                 # Data Transfer Objects
 ├── Http/
 │    ├── Controllers/    # Controllers for requests and responses
 ├── Repositories/        # Repository interfaces and implementations
 ├── Services/            # Business logic layer
 └── Models/              # Eloquent Models

🛠 How It Works

The flow follows the pattern Request → Controller → DTO → Service → Repository → Database:

1. Controller: receives the request and transforms the data into DTOs.
2. DTO: validates and structures the data.
3. Service: applies business rules.
4. Repository: interacts with the database.

This keeps controllers lean and the system modular.

🔑 Authentication

The boilerplate includes authentication via Laravel Sanctum + JWT for REST APIs.

Example of a successful login:

{
    "token": "jwt_token_here",
    "user": {
        "id": 1,
        "name": "Test"
    }
}

🧪 Testing

• Services and Repositories can be tested in isolation.
• DTOs ensure data consistency in tests.

Run tests:

php artisan test

🖌 Code Quality

• Laravel Pint: apply code style formatting.
• PHPStan Level 8: advanced static analysis to detect issues early.

composer pint
composer stan

📦 Installation

git clone https://github.com/WilsonRU/laravel-rest-boilerplate.git
cd laravel-rest-boilerplate
composer install
cp .env.example .env
php artisan key:generate
php artisan migrate

🎯 Conclusion

The Laravel REST API Boilerplate is a solid foundation for developing modern APIs, ensuring security, scalability, and code quality. Ideal for those looking to start projects with best practices already implemented.