Building Simple Todo REST API with PHP, Laravel, and PostgreSQL

Introduction

In this tutorial, we’ll walk through building a basic Todo REST API using Laravel and PostgreSQL. Whether you’re looking to enhance your understanding of Laravel, or you're interested in integrating a PostgreSQL database into your project, this guide will provide you with the necessary steps to get up and running quickly.

Prerequisites

• PHP
• Laravel
• Composer

In this article, we will be using PostgreSQL as our database. You can maintain your database in any database management system. For a convenient deployment option, consider cloud-based solutions like Rapidapp, which offers managed PostgreSQL databases, simplifying setup and maintenance.

tip

Create a free database in Rapidapp in seconds here

Step-by-Step Implementation

Setting Up Your Laravel Project

First, let's create a new Laravel project. You can do this using Composer:

composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel laravel-todo-api

Next, navigate to the project directory:

cd laravel-todo-api

Configuring PostgreSQL Database

Open the .env file in the root directory of your Laravel project and update the database configuration to use PostgreSQL:

DB_CONNECTION=pgsql
DB_HOST=<host>
DB_PORT=<port>
DB_DATABASE=<database>
DB_USERNAME=<user>
DB_PASSWORD=<password>

Creating the Task Model and Migration

Run the following command to generate a model and migration for your tasks:

php artisan make:model Task -m

This command creates a Task model and a migration file located in the database/migrations directory.

Defining the Database Schema

Open the generated migration file in database/migrations and define the schema for the tasks table:

public function up()
{
    Schema::create('tasks', function (Blueprint $table) {
        $table->id();
        $table->string('title');
        $table->text('description')->nullable();
        $table->boolean('completed')->default(false);
        $table->timestamps();
    });
}

Run the migration to create the table:

php artisan migrate

Implementing the Task Model

To allow mass assignment, update the Task model (app/Models/Task.php) by adding the title, description, and completed attributes to the fillable array:

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class Task extends Model
{
    use HasFactory;

    protected $fillable = [
        'title',
        'description',
        'completed',
    ];
}

Setting Up the API Routes

Define the routes for your API in the routes/web.php file. Laravel provides a convenient way to create RESTful routes using Route::apiResource:

use App\Http\Controllers\TaskController;

Route::apiResource('tasks', TaskController::class);

Creating the TaskController

Generate a controller for handling API requests:

php artisan make:controller TaskController --api

In the generated TaskController (app/Http/Controllers/TaskController.php), implement the methods to handle CRUD operations:

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use App\Models\Task;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class TaskController extends Controller
{
    public function index()
    {
        return Task::all();
    }

    public function store(Request $request)
    {
        $task = Task::create($request->all());
        return response()->json($task, 201);
    }

    public function show($id)
    {
        return Task::findOrFail($id);
    }

    public function update(Request $request, $id)
    {
        $task = Task::findOrFail($id);
        $task->update($request->all());
        return response()->json($task, 200);
    }

    public function destroy($id)
    {
        Task::findOrFail($id)->delete();
        return response()->json(null, 204);
    }
}

Running the Laravel Application

To start your Laravel application, use the built-in development server:

php artisan serve

Your API will be accessible at http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/tasks.

Disabling CSRF for API Routes

Since this is a REST API, you can disable CSRF protection for API routes. Laravel handles this by default in the api middleware group. To manually configure it, you can exclude the api/* routes from CSRF protection in bootstrap/app.php:

...
->withMiddleware(function (Middleware $middleware) {
        $middleware->validateCsrfTokens(
            except: ['api/*']
        );
    })
...

Testing the API

List All Tasks

curl -X GET http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/tasks

Create a New Task

curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/tasks \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
    "title": "Buy groceries",
    "description": "Milk, Bread, Cheese",
    "completed": false
}'

Get a Specific Task

curl -X GET http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/tasks/1

Update a Task

curl -X PUT http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/tasks/1 \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
    "title": "Buy groceries and snacks",
    "description": "Milk, Bread, Cheese, Chips",
    "completed": false
}'

Delete a Task

curl -X DELETE http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/tasks/1

Conclusion

Congratulations! You've successfully built a simple Todo List REST API using Laravel and PostgreSQL. This foundation can be expanded with additional features, authentication, and more to create a fully functional web application.

Whether you're learning Laravel or looking to integrate a PostgreSQL database with your projects, this guide serves as a practical starting point.

tip

You can find the complete source code for this project on GitHub.