README

Laravel API Version

Effortlessly manage your Laravel API versions with flexible, header-based versioning control, comprehensive validation, deprecation management, and enterprise-ready features.

Features

✨ Header-based Version Detection - Automatic version resolution from Accept or custom headers 🛡️ Comprehensive Validation - Boot-time configuration validation and runtime version validation 📅 Deprecation Management - Built-in support for API version deprecation with proper HTTP headers ⚡ Performance Optimized - Caching for namespace resolution and configuration 🎯 Explicit Version Control - Support for both automatic detection and explicit version specification 🔧 Enterprise Ready - Production-quality error handling and monitoring capabilities

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Usage
  • Configuration
  • Middleware Setup
  • Defining Versioned Routes
  • Example Requests
• Advanced Features
  • Version Validation
  • Deprecation Management
  • Version Format Support
  • Controller Namespace Mapping
  • Performance Optimizations
  • Error Handling
• Configuration Reference
• Testing
• Migration Guide
• Troubleshooting

Quick Start

1. Install the package:

   composer require cleaniquecoders/laravel-api-version

2. Publish configuration:

   php artisan vendor:publish --tag="laravel-api-version-config"

3. Set up routes with versioning:

   Route::middleware(['api', 'api.version'])->group(function () {
       Route::get('/users', 'UserController@index');
   });

4. Create versioned controllers:

   app/Http/Controllers/Api/V1/UserController.php
   app/Http/Controllers/Api/V2/UserController.php
   

5. Make requests with version headers:

   curl -H "X-API-Version: 2" https://yourapp/api/users

Installation

You can install the package via composer:

composer require cleaniquecoders/laravel-api-version

You can publish the config file with:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag="laravel-api-version-config"

Usage

Configuration

This will create a config/api-version.php file where you can customize options like the default version, headers, version format, supported versions, deprecation settings, and the root namespace for versioned controllers.

Example configuration:

return [
    // Basic Configuration
    'default_version' => 'v1',
    'use_accept_header' => true,
    'custom_header' => 'X-API-Version',
    'accept_header_pattern' => '/application\/vnd\.\w+\+v(\d+(\.\d+)*)\+json/',
    'root_namespace' => 'App\Http\Controllers\Api',

    // Version Management
    'supported_versions' => [
        'v1', 'v2', 'v3'
    ],

    // Deprecation Management
    'deprecated_versions' => [
        'v1' => [
            'sunset_date' => '2024-12-31',
            'replacement' => 'v2',
            'message' => 'API v1 is deprecated. Please migrate to v2.',
        ],
    ],
];

Key Configuration Options

• supported_versions - Whitelist of allowed API versions (empty array allows all)
• deprecated_versions - Configure deprecation warnings with sunset dates and replacement versions
• Version validation - Automatic validation of version formats and supported versions
• Performance caching - Built-in caching for namespace resolution and configuration

Middleware Setup

The api.version middleware is registered automatically. This middleware provides:

• 🔍 Automatic version detection from headers or explicit specification
• ✅ Comprehensive validation with helpful error messages
• 📊 Response headers including X-API-Version and deprecation warnings
• 🚀 Performance optimization through caching

Defining Versioned Routes

Option 1: Header-Based Version Detection

To enable automatic version detection from headers, use the api.version middleware in your routes/api.php:

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;

Route::middleware(['api', 'api.version'])->group(function () {
    Route::get('/example', 'ExampleController@index');
    // Additional routes here
});

This setup detects versions from the Accept or X-API-Version headers, dynamically routing requests to the correct versioned namespace.

Option 2: Explicitly Setting the Version

You can explicitly define a version for a route or route group by passing the version to the middleware. This approach bypasses header detection.

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;

Route::middleware(['api', 'api.version:v1'])->group(function () {
    Route::get('/example', 'ExampleController@index');
    // Routes for v1
});

Route::middleware(['api', 'api.version:v2'])->group(function () {
    Route::get('/example', 'ExampleController@index');
    // Routes for v2
});

In this example:

• api.version:v1 directs routes in the group to the v1 namespace.
• api.version:v2 directs routes to the v2 namespace, ignoring headers.

Example Requests

Using Accept Header

curl -L -H "Accept: application/vnd.yourapp+v2+json" https://yourapp/api/example

Using Custom Header (X-API-Version)

curl -L -H "X-API-Version: 2" https://yourapp/api/example

Explicitly Versioned Route

If the route is explicitly defined as api.version:v2, no header is needed to access version 2.

Advanced Features

Version Validation

The package provides comprehensive version validation:

// Automatically validates version format (v1, v2, v1.1, etc.)
// Checks against supported_versions if configured
// Provides clear error messages for invalid versions

// Example error response for invalid version:
{
    "error": "Invalid API version",
    "message": "Unsupported API version: 'v5'. Supported versions: v1, v2, v3",
    "supported_versions": ["v1", "v2", "v3"]
}

Deprecation Management

When using deprecated versions, the API automatically adds appropriate headers:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
X-API-Version: v1
Deprecation: true
Sunset: 2024-12-31
Link: <https://api.example.com/v2>; rel="successor-version"
X-API-Deprecation-Message: API v1 is deprecated. Please migrate to v2.

Version Format Support

The package supports various version formats:

• v1, v2, v3 - Simple versioning
• v1.1, v2.5 - Minor versions
• v1.0.1 - Patch versions
• Automatic normalization (e.g., 1 becomes v1)

Controller Namespace Mapping

Versions are automatically mapped to controller namespaces:

• v1 → App\Http\Controllers\Api\V1
• v2.1 → App\Http\Controllers\Api\V2_1
• v3.0.1 → App\Http\Controllers\Api\V3_0_1

Performance Optimizations

• ⚡ Configuration Caching - Reduces repeated config() calls
• 🗄️ Namespace Caching - Caches namespace resolution results
• 🔄 Cache Management - Automatic cache invalidation and testing support

Error Handling

The package provides robust error handling:

• Configuration Validation - Validates config at boot time
• Runtime Validation - Validates versions during request processing
• Clear Error Messages - Helpful error responses for debugging
• Exception Types - Custom exceptions for different error scenarios

Configuration Reference

Complete Configuration Example

return [
    // Required: Default version when none specified
    'default_version' => 'v1',

    // Header Configuration
    'use_accept_header' => true,
    'custom_header' => 'X-API-Version',
    'accept_header_pattern' => '/application\/vnd\.\w+\+v(\d+(\.\d+)*)\+json/',

    // Namespace Configuration
    'root_namespace' => 'App\Http\Controllers\Api',

    // Version Management
    'supported_versions' => [
        'v1', 'v2', 'v3'
    ],

    // Deprecation Configuration
    'deprecated_versions' => [
        'v1' => [
            'sunset_date' => '2024-12-31',        // RFC 7234 Sunset header
            'replacement' => 'v2',                // Replacement version
            'message' => 'API v1 is deprecated.', // Custom message
        ],
        'v2' => [
            'sunset_date' => '2025-06-30',
            'replacement' => 'v3',
            'message' => 'API v2 will be sunset on June 30, 2025.',
        ],
    ],
];

Testing

Run the package tests:

composer test

Run with coverage:

composer test-coverage

Run static analysis:

composer analyse

The package includes comprehensive tests covering:

• ✅ Version resolution and validation
• ✅ Configuration validation
• ✅ Deprecation functionality
• ✅ Performance optimizations
• ✅ Error handling scenarios
• ✅ Middleware integration

Migration Guide

From v1.x to v2.x

The package maintains backward compatibility, but you can take advantage of new features:

1. Add version validation by configuring supported_versions
2. Set up deprecation warnings using deprecated_versions
3. Update error handling to catch InvalidApiVersionException
4. Review performance improvements with built-in caching

Upgrading Controllers

No changes required to existing controllers. The enhanced namespace mapping automatically handles:

// v1 controllers remain in: App\Http\Controllers\Api\V1
// v2.1 controllers work in: App\Http\Controllers\Api\V2_1

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Invalid version format errors:

// ❌ Wrong
'supported_versions' => ['1', '2', 'invalid']

// ✅ Correct
'supported_versions' => ['v1', 'v2', 'v3']

Configuration validation errors:

• Ensure default_version is included in supported_versions when specified
• Verify regex patterns in accept_header_pattern are valid
• Check that root_namespace points to existing namespace

Performance considerations:

• Use supported_versions to limit valid versions
• Configure appropriate cache TTL for your environment
• Monitor deprecation header overhead for high-traffic APIs

Changelog

Please see CHANGELOG for details on recent updates.

Contributing

Please see CONTRIBUTING for contribution guidelines.

Security Vulnerabilities

Please review our security policy for reporting security issues.

Credits

• Nasrul Hazim Bin Mohamad
• All Contributors

License

The MIT License (MIT). See the License File for details.