README

A smarter Laravel-to-Postman exporter focused on generating clean, organized, and documentation-ready Postman collections with minimal manual cleanup.

Built as an enhanced fork of the original:

• Original Package: andreaselia/laravel-api-to-postman
• Original Author: Andreas Elia

This project expands the original idea into a more production-ready API documentation generator for modern Laravel applications.

Why Use This?

The common problems with generated Postman collections:

• Endpoints export with raw route paths as names
• Collections become difficult to navigate as APIs grow
• JSON bodies are flat and not representative of actual payloads
• Teams spend time manually renaming requests and organizing folders
• Large APIs require exporting everything repeatedly

This package solves those issues by generating:

• cleaner request names
• grouped request folders
• smarter JSON payloads
• scalable exports
• documentation-ready collections

Installation

composer require samody/laravel-smart-postman-generator

Publish Configuration

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=postman-config

Quick Start

Export entire API:

php artisan export:postman

Export only a specific API section:

php artisan export:postman --path=api/user

Export with JSON request bodies:

php artisan export:postman --body-mode=json

Export with bearer authentication:

php artisan export:postman --bearer="your-token"

Features

Core Export Features

• ✅ Automatic Laravel route discovery
• ✅ Postman Collection v2.1 export
• ✅ Bearer authentication support
• ✅ Basic authentication support
• ✅ Configurable headers
• ✅ Structured route export
• ✅ CRUD folder generation
• ✅ Docblock descriptions support

Smart Export Features

Route Path Filtering

Export only a section of your API instead of regenerating the entire collection.

php artisan export:postman --path=api/admin

Useful for:

• modular APIs
• large projects
• incremental documentation updates
• team-based API exports

JSON Body Support

Export request bodies as:

• json
• form-data
• urlencoded

Example:

'body_format' => 'json',

Body Mode Detection

Control how request bodies are generated.

'body_mode' => 'auto',

Supported modes:

FormRequest Validation Export

Automatically parse Laravel FormRequest validation rules and export them into Postman request bodies.

Supports:

• validation descriptions
• required field detection
• nullable fields
• arrays
• nested request fields

Smart Naming System (Planned)

Automatically convert technical route paths into readable Postman request names.

Example:

This removes the need for manually renaming hundreds of requests after export.

Automatic Folder Grouping (Planned)

Automatically organize requests into folders.

Group By Controller

UserController
 ├── Get User Profile
 ├── Update User Profile
 └── Logout User

Group By Path

User
 ├── Profile
 ├── Orders
 └── Notifications

Config example:

'group_by' => 'controller',

Supported options:

'controller'
'path'
'none'

Structured JSON Generation (Planned)

Generate real nested JSON payloads from FormRequest validation rules.

Current Flat Output

{
  "items.*.product_id": "",
  "items.*.quantity": ""
}

Planned Structured Output

{
  "items": [
    {
      "product_id": 1,
      "quantity": 1
    }
  ]
}

Example Value Generation (Planned)

Automatically generate intelligent example values.

Example:

{
  "email": "john@example.com",
  "name": "John Doe",
  "quantity": 1,
  "is_active": true
}

Potential support:

• Faker integration
• enum value detection
• date examples
• UUID generation
• file placeholders

Configuration

Configuration file:

config/api-postman.php

Example Configuration

return [

    'base_url' => env('APP_URL'),

    'structured' => true,

    'crud_folders' => true,

    'body_mode' => 'auto',

    'body_format' => 'json',

    'enable_formdata' => true,

    'smart_naming' => true,

    'group_by' => 'controller',

];

Usage

Export Entire API

php artisan export:postman

Export Specific API Section

php artisan export:postman --path=api/user

Export Using JSON Bodies

php artisan export:postman --body-mode=json

Export With Bearer Token

php artisan export:postman --bearer="your-token"

Export With Basic Auth

php artisan export:postman --basic="username:password"

Output Location

Generated collections are stored in:

storage/app/postman

Example Generated Improvements

Before

api/user/orders/{id}/cancel

After

Cancel User Order

Before

{
  "items.*.product_id": ""
}

After

{
  "items": [
    {
      "product_id": 1
    }
  ]
}

Roadmap

Phase 1

• JSON body support
• Body mode support
• Route path filtering

Phase 2

• Smart request naming
• Automatic folder grouping
• Nested path grouping

Phase 3

• Structured JSON generation
• Example value generation
• Faker integration

Phase 4

• Response example generation
• OpenAPI support
• Environment export support
• Swagger compatibility

Testing

composer test

Real-World Benefits

Development

✅ Faster API testing
✅ Cleaner Postman collections
✅ Less manual cleanup
✅ Better onboarding for teams
✅ Easier frontend/backend collaboration

Documentation

✅ Documentation-ready exports
✅ Human-readable request names
✅ Organized request grouping
✅ Better payload representation

Team Collaboration

✅ Consistent Postman structures
✅ Easier API navigation
✅ Faster endpoint discovery
✅ Cleaner API handoffs

Contributing

Contributions are welcome.

You can:

• open issues
• suggest improvements
• submit pull requests

Credits

Original Package

Andreas Elia
andreaselia/laravel-api-to-postman

Smart Fork & Enhancements

Maintained as an enhanced developer-experience focused fork.

License

MIT