Laravel Sanctum – Simple API authentication

Laravel Sanctum is a simple and lightweight authentication system designed specifically for API authentication in Laravel applications. It provides a straightforward way to authenticate users via tokens while being easy to implement and manage. Sanctum is ideal for SPAs (Single Page Applications) or simple mobile applications, where you want to authenticate users using a traditional session or API tokens.

Key Features of Laravel Sanctum:

  1. API Token Authentication: Allows users to generate API tokens that can be used to authenticate against your application.
  2. SPA Authentication: Supports traditional session-based authentication for SPAs using cookies.
  3. Token Scopes: You can define scopes to limit access for different tokens, providing granular control over what users can do with their tokens.
  4. Lightweight: Unlike OAuth2 solutions like Passport, Sanctum is much simpler and designed for basic authentication needs.
  5. Multiple Token Types: Supports both personal access tokens and simple token authentication for API requests.

Installation

To install and set up Laravel Sanctum, follow these steps:

  1. Install Laravel Sanctum: Use Composer to install Sanctum:
  2. Run Migrations: Publish the Sanctum migration files and migrate them to create the necessary database tables:
  3. Add Sanctum Middleware: Add the Sanctum middleware to your api middleware group in the app/Http/Kernel.php file:
  4. Use HasApiTokens Trait: In your User model (app/Models/User.php), include the HasApiTokens trait:
  5. Configure Authentication Guards: In your config/auth.php, you should set the api guard to use sanctum:

Authentication Process with Sanctum

1. API Token Authentication:

Users can generate tokens for accessing APIs. Here’s how to create and use tokens:

  • Creating Tokens: Users can create personal access tokens like this:
  • Using Tokens: Use the generated token to authenticate API requests. Simply include it in the Authorization header:
  • Example API Request: Here’s how to set up a route and controller method to protect with Sanctum:

2. Session-Based Authentication:

Sanctum also allows session-based authentication for SPAs. Here’s how to set it up:

  • Login: When a user logs in, you can create a session:
  • Logout: Users can log out by invalidating the session:

Token Scopes

You can define scopes to provide different permissions for different tokens. Here’s how to implement scopes in Sanctum:

  • Defining Scopes: When creating a token, you can define scopes:
  • Protecting Routes: You can protect your routes based on scopes:

Summary of Use Cases:

  • Single Page Applications (SPAs): Use Sanctum for session-based authentication to maintain a seamless user experience.
  • Mobile Applications: Use personal access tokens for API authentication when users access the API via mobile apps.
  • API Development: Ideal for simple APIs where you don’t need the complexity of OAuth2.

Conclusion

Laravel Sanctum is a powerful and flexible authentication system that strikes a balance between simplicity and functionality, making it an excellent choice for developers looking to secure their APIs without the overhead of a full OAuth2 server like Passport.

 

  1. Laravel Breeze – Simple authentication starter kit
  2. Laravel Jetstream – Scaffolding for Laravel apps
  3. Laravel Passport – API authentication via OAuth2
  4. Laravel Sanctum – Simple API authentication
  5. Spatie Laravel Permission – Role and permission management
  6. Laravel Cashier – Subscription billing with Stripe
  7. Laravel Scout – Full-text search using Algolia
  8. Laravel Socialite – OAuth authentication (Google, Facebook, etc.)
  9. Laravel Excel – Excel import and export for Laravel
  10. Laravel Horizon – Redis queues monitoring
  11. Laravel Nova – Admin panel for Laravel
  12. Laravel Fortify – Backend authentication for Laravel
  13. Laravel Vapor – Serverless deployment on AWS
  14. Laravel Telescope – Debugging assistant for Laravel
  15. Laravel Dusk – Browser testing
  16. Laravel Mix – API for compiling assets
  17. Spatie Laravel Backup – Backup management
  18. Laravel Livewire – Building dynamic UIs
  19. Spatie Laravel Media Library – Manage media uploads
  20. Laravel Excel – Excel spreadsheet handling
  21. Laravel Debugbar – Debug tool for Laravel
  22. Laravel WebSockets – Real-time communication
  23. Spatie Laravel Sitemap – Generate sitemaps
  24. Laravel Spark – SaaS scaffolding
  25. Laravel Envoy – Task runner for deployment
  26. Spatie Laravel Translatable – Multilingual model support
  27. Laravel Backpack – Admin panel
  28. Laravel AdminLTE – Admin interface template
  29. Laravel Collective Forms & HTML – Simplified form and HTML generation
  30. Spatie Laravel Analytics – Google Analytics integration
  31. Laravel Eloquent Sluggable – Automatically create slugs
  32. Laravel Charts – Chart integration
  33. Laravel Auditing – Track changes in models
  34. Laravel JWT Auth – JSON Web Token authentication
  35. Laravel Queue Monitor – Monitor job queues
  36. Spatie Laravel Query Builder – Filter, sort, and include relationships in Eloquent queries
  37. Laravel Datatables – jQuery Datatables API
  38. Laravel Localization – Multilingual support for views and routes
  39. Laravel Acl Manager – Access control list manager
  40. Laravel Activity Log – Record activity in your app
  41. Laravel Roles – Role-based access control
  42. Spatie Laravel Tags – Tagging models
  43. Laravel Installer – CLI installer for Laravel
  44. Laravel Breadcrumbs – Generate breadcrumbs in Laravel
  45. Laravel Mailgun – Mailgun integration for Laravel
  46. Laravel Trustup Model History – Store model change history
  47. Laravel Deployer – Deployment automation tool
  48. Laravel Auth – Custom authentication guards
  49. Laravel CORS – Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) support
  50. Laravel Notifications – Send notifications through multiple channels
  51. Spatie Laravel Http Logger – Log HTTP requests
  52. Laravel Permission Manager – Manage permissions easily
  53. Laravel Stubs – Customize default stubs in Laravel
  54. Laravel Fast Excel – Speed up Excel exports
  55. Laravel Image – Image processing
  56. Spatie Laravel Backup Server – Centralize backups for Laravel apps
  57. Laravel Forge API – Manage servers through the Forge API
  58. Laravel Blade SVG – Use SVGs in Blade templates
  59. Laravel Ban – Ban/unban users from your application
  60. Laravel API Response – Standardize API responses
  61. Laravel SEO – Manage SEO meta tags
  62. Laravel Settings – Store and retrieve settings
  63. Laravel DOMPDF – Generate PDFs
  64. Laravel Turbo – Full-stack framework for building modern web apps
  65. Spatie Laravel Event Sourcing – Event sourcing implementation
  66. Laravel Jetstream Inertia – Jetstream’s Inertia.js integration
  67. Laravel Envoy Tasks – Task automation
  68. Laravel Likeable – Like/dislike functionality
  69. Laravel GeoIP – Determine visitor’s geographic location
  70. Laravel Country State City – Dropdowns for country, state, and city
  71. Laravel Hashids – Generate short unique hashes
  72. Laravel Repository – Repository pattern for Laravel
  73. Laravel UUID – UUID generation for models
  74. Spatie Laravel Medialibrary Pro – Enhanced media management
  75. Laravel Queue Monitor – Monitor Laravel job queues
  76. Laravel User Activity – Monitor user activity
  77. Laravel DB Snapshots – Create database snapshots
  78. Laravel Twilio – Twilio integration
  79. Laravel Roles – Role-based permission handling
  80. Laravel Translatable – Add translations to Eloquent models
  81. Laravel Teamwork – Manage teams in multi-tenant apps
  82. Laravel Full Text Search – Add full-text search to Laravel models
  83. Laravel File Manager – File and media management
  84. Laravel User Timezones – Automatically detect user time zones
  85. Laravel ChartsJS – Render charts with ChartsJS
  86. Laravel Stripe – Stripe API integration
  87. Laravel PDF Generator – PDF generation
  88. Laravel Elasticsearch – Elasticsearch integration
  89. Laravel Simple Qrcode – Generate QR codes
  90. Laravel Timezone – Manage timezones and conversions
  91. Laravel Collective API – API management for Laravel
  92. Laravel Rest API Boilerplate – REST API starter kit
  93. Laravel Multi Auth – Multi-authentication functionality
  94. Laravel Voyager – Admin panel for Laravel
  95. Laravel Voyager Database – Database manager for Voyager
  96. Laravel Categories – Handle categories for models
  97. Laravel Multitenancy – Multi-tenancy implementation
  98. Laravel Access Control – Advanced access control for users
  99. Laravel Menus – Menu management
  100. Laravel Translatable Routes – Multilingual route handling

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top