Resources

When to Apply

• Apply when API endpoints return Eloquent models or model collections as JSON.
• Apply when response fields must be explicitly whitelisted and conditionally included.
• Do not use for internal CLI output, file downloads, binary responses, or non-JSON rendering.

Preconditions

• Resource classes can be created in app/Http/Resources/.
• Models and required relationships are loaded before resource transformation.
• Controller/service owns query execution; resource owns serialization only.

Process

1. Create the Appropriate Resource Type

• Use ModelResource (for example UserResource) for single entities.
• Use UserResource::collection(...) for simple lists.
• Create a dedicated ResourceCollection only when custom top-level meta is required.

2. Build a Safe toArray() Contract

• Expose only fields needed by API consumers.
• Use whenLoaded() for relationships.
• Use when(), whenHas(), whenNotNull(), and mergeWhen() for conditional fields.

3. Keep Loading and Queries Outside Resources

• Eager-load in controllers/services before passing models to resources.
• Never trigger additional queries inside toArray().

4. Verify Response Shape

• Check pagination and links by returning paginator instances directly.
• Confirm role/permission-based fields are hidden for unauthorized users.

Examples

class UserResource extends JsonResource
{
    public function toArray(Request $request): array
    {
        return [
            'id'         => $this->id,
            'name'       => $this->name,
            'email'      => $this->email,
            'posts'      => PostResource::collection($this->whenLoaded('posts')),
            'secret'     => $this->when($request->user()->isAdmin(), $this->secret),
            'bio'        => $this->whenNotNull($this->bio),
            'created_at' => DateHelper::format($this->created_at),
        ];
    }
}

// Critical: eager-load in controller before passing to resource.
return UserResource::collection(User::with('posts')->paginate());

// Dedicated collection — only when custom meta is needed
class UserCollection extends ResourceCollection
{
    public function toArray(Request $request): array
    {
        return [
            'data'  => $this->collection,
            'links' => ['self' => route('users.index')],
        ];
    }
}

Checklists

• Resource exposes only required public API fields.
• Relationships are eager-loaded before resource transformation.
• toArray() has no DB queries or lazy-load triggers.
• Conditional fields use when* helpers.
• Pagination meta is framework-provided, not manually duplicated.

Anti-Patterns

• Exposing all model attributes without whitelisting
• Eager/lazy loading relationships inside toArray() (causes N+1 query issues)
• Using if statements inside the response array instead of when(), whenLoaded(), whenNotNull()
• Creating a dedicated collection class just for a simple list (use UserResource::collection())
• Putting business logic or database queries in a resource
• Manually adding pagination meta that Laravel already provides automatically

References

• Laravel API Resources
• resources/boost/skills/controllers/SKILL.md (query/loading responsibilities)
• resources/boost/skills/helpers/SKILL.md (formatting helpers used in resources)