How to Create a Laravel API Gateway for Microservices

An **API Gateway** is essential for managing **microservices**, acting as a single entry point to handle authentication, request routing, and load balancing. In this tutorial, we will create a **Laravel API Gateway** to efficiently manage microservices.

Step 1: Install Laravel

First, create a new Laravel project for the API Gateway:

composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel ApiGateway

Step 2: Setup API Routes

Modify `routes/api.php` to define routes that forward requests to respective microservices:

use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Http;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;

Route::middleware('auth:sanctum')->group(function () {
    Route::get('/users', function (Request $request) {
        return Http::withToken($request->bearerToken())->get(env('USER_SERVICE_URL').'/users');
    });
});

Step 3: Secure API Gateway with Authentication

Install Laravel Sanctum for API authentication:

composer require laravel/sanctum

Publish the Sanctum configuration:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Laravel\Sanctum\SanctumServiceProvider"

Step 4: Create Middleware for API Requests

Generate a middleware for validating API requests:

php artisan make:middleware ApiGatewayMiddleware

Modify `app/Http/Middleware/ApiGatewayMiddleware.php`:

namespace App\Http\Middleware;
use Closure;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class ApiGatewayMiddleware {
    public function handle(Request $request, Closure $next) {
        if (!$request->hasHeader('Authorization')) {
            return response()->json(['error' => 'Unauthorized'], 401);
        }
        return $next($request);
    }
}

Step 5: Register Middleware

Add the middleware to `app/Http/Kernel.php`:

protected $routeMiddleware = [
    'api.gateway' => \App\Http\Middleware\ApiGatewayMiddleware::class,
];

Step 6: Implement Rate Limiting

Modify `app/Providers/RouteServiceProvider.php`:

RateLimiter::for('api', function (Request $request) {
    return Limit::perMinute(60)->by(optional($request->user())->id ?: $request->ip());
});

Step 7: Deploy API Gateway

Run the Laravel application:

php artisan serve

Conclusion

You have successfully built an **API Gateway in Laravel** to manage microservices securely. 🚀 Now, all microservices requests pass through the **centralized Laravel API Gateway**.