Requirements

Laravel Restify has a few minimum requirements you should be aware of before installing:

• Composer ^2.0
• PHP ^8.2
• Laravel Framework 11.x or 12.x

Installation

composer require binaryk/laravel-restify

Older Laravel Versions

For older versions of Laravel, check the appropriate branch and documentation in the GitHub repository.

Setup

After installation, run the setup command to scaffold your API:

php artisan restify:setup

This command will:

• Publish the config/restify.php configuration file and action_logs migration
• Create the providers/RestifyServiceProvider and register it automatically
• Create a new app/Restify directory for your repositories
• Generate an abstract app/Restify/Repository.php base class
• Scaffold a app/Restify/UserRepository for immediate use
• Create the routes/ai.php file (if it doesn't exist) with commented MCP server configuration

Run Migrations

Complete the setup by running migrations:

php artisan migrate

First API Request

With setup complete, you can immediately test your API. Laravel Restify automatically creates endpoints for your User model:

# Standard pagination
GET /api/restify/users?perPage=10&page=1

# JSON:API format
GET /api/restify/users?page[size]=10&page[number]=1

Example Response

{
  "data": [
    {
      "type": "users",
      "id": "1",
      "attributes": {
        "name": "John Doe",
        "email": "john@example.com",
        "created_at": "2023-01-01T00:00:00.000000Z"
      }
    }
  ],
  "links": {
    "first": "/api/restify/users?page=1",
    "last": "/api/restify/users?page=1",
    "prev": null,
    "next": null
  },
  "meta": {
    "current_page": 1,
    "per_page": 15,
    "total": 1
  }
}

All responses follow the JSON:API specification.

Basic Configuration

API Prefix

By default, all endpoints are prefixed with /api/restify. You can customize this in config/restify.php:

'base' => '/api/v1', // Custom prefix

Authentication Setup

For production use, enable authentication by uncommenting the Sanctum middleware:

// config/restify.php
'middleware' => [
    'api',
    'auth:sanctum', // Uncomment this line
    Binaryk\LaravelRestify\Http\Middleware\DispatchRestifyStartingEvent::class,
    Binaryk\LaravelRestify\Http\Middleware\AuthorizeRestify::class,
]

MCP Server Setup

Laravel Restify can automatically generate MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers for AI agents.

1. Add the MCP server to your config/ai.php file:

use Binaryk\LaravelRestify\MCP\RestifyServer;
use Laravel\Mcp\Facades\Mcp;

// Web-based MCP server with authentication
Mcp::web('restify', RestifyServer::class)
    ->middleware(['auth:sanctum'])
    ->name('mcp.restify');

2. Enable MCP tools in your repositories:

Add the HasMcpTools trait to any repository you want to expose to AI agents:

use Binaryk\LaravelRestify\MCP\Concerns\HasMcpTools;

#[Model(Post::class)]
class PostRepository extends Repository
{
    use HasMcpTools; // Enables MCP tools for AI agents
    
    public function fields(RestifyRequest $request): array
    {
        return [
            field('title')->required()->matchable(),
            field('content'),
        ];
    }
}

This creates an MCP endpoint at /mcp/restify that AI agents can use to discover and interact with your enabled repositories automatically.

Creating Your First Repository

Let's create a Post repository to manage blog posts:

# Generate repository only
php artisan restify:repository PostRepository

# Generate everything: repository, model, migration, and policy
php artisan restify:repository PostRepository --all

The --all flag creates:

• app/Restify/PostRepository.php - API repository
• app/Models/Post.php - Eloquent model
• database/migrations/xxx_create_posts_table.php - Database migration
• app/Policies/PostPolicy.php - Authorization policy

Example Repository

// app/Restify/PostRepository.php
use Binaryk\LaravelRestify\Http\Requests\RestifyRequest;
use Binaryk\LaravelRestify\Repositories\Repository;
use Binaryk\LaravelRestify\Attributes\Model;

#[Model(Post::class)]
class PostRepository extends Repository
{
    public function fields(RestifyRequest $request): array
    {
        return [
            field('title')->rules('required', 'string', 'max:255'),
            textarea('content')->rules('required'),
            field('author')->readonly(),
            datetime('published_at')->nullable(),
        ];
    }
}

After creating the migration and running php artisan migrate, your Post API is ready at /api/restify/posts.

Bulk Repository Generation

For existing Laravel projects, generate repositories for all models at once:

php artisan restify:generate:repositories

This intelligent command:

1. Discovers all models in your application
2. Analyzes database schema to map field types
3. Shows a preview of generated repositories
4. Asks for confirmation before creating files
5. Generates repositories with proper field definitions

Useful Options

# Generate for specific models only
php artisan restify:generate:repositories --only=User,Post

# Skip preview and generate immediately  
php artisan restify:generate:repositories --skip-preview

# Use domain-based structure
php artisan restify:generate:repositories --structure=domains

Smart Field Mapping

The generator automatically maps database columns to Restify fields:

Special Cases:

• Email columns → email() (wrapper for field())
• Password fields → password() (wrapper for field())

Next Steps

Now that you have Restify running, explore these key features:

• Authentication - Secure your API with Sanctum
• Repositories - Learn about fields, validation, and relationships
• Search & Filtering - Add powerful query capabilities
• Authorization - Control access with Laravel policies
• MCP Server - Enable AI agents to interact with your API

Generate Authorization Policies

Create policies for fine-grained access control:

php artisan restify:policy PostPolicy

Test Your API

Use these endpoints to test your setup:

# List all users
GET /api/restify/users

# Get specific user
GET /api/restify/users/1

# Create new user (if authentication disabled)
POST /api/restify/users

# Update user
PATCH /api/restify/users/1

# Delete user  
DELETE /api/restify/users/1