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Building a Robust API with Laravel, Clean Architecture, and SOLID Principles

Building a Robust API with Laravel, Clean Architecture, and SOLID Principles

posted 1 min read

Excited to share a recent back-end project I architected and developed: the Favorite Products API. This isn't just another CRUD API; it's a practical case study on implementing Clean Architecture and SOLID principles with Laravel to build a secure, high-performance, and scalable solution.

The project is a RESTful API designed to manage user's favorite product lists, integrating with an external e-commerce service.

✨ Key Highlights & Challenges Overcome

  • Performance Optimization (N+1 Problem): I refactored the service layer to transform N+1 external API calls into a single, efficient bulk request (findProductsByIds), dramatically reducing latency.
  • Security First (IDOR Vulnerability): We patched a critical Insecure Direct Object Reference vulnerability by implementing strict, ownership-based authorization rules in the Form Requests. This is reinforced with feature tests covering 200, 401, and 403 status codes.
  • Decoupled & Testable Architecture: By using Dependency Inversion (Contracts/Interfaces), we fully decoupled our business logic from the external API client. This makes unit testing a breeze (just mock the interface!) and swapping data sources trivial.
  • Resilient Error Handling: Instead of letting external service failures fail silently (returning an empty 200 OK), the system now throws custom exceptions, which are caught by a global handler to return a meaningful 503 Service Unavailable response.

The entire stack runs on PHP 8.3/Laravel 12, PostgreSQL, and is containerized with Docker. We also have a comprehensive test suite using Pest and auto-generated, interactive documentation with OpenAPI (Swagger).

Open Source

The project is fully open-source. Feel free to explore the code, learn from the architectural decisions, or even contribute!

I hope this can be a useful resource for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of modern back-end architecture.

Tags: #laravel #php #backend #webdev #architecture

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3 Comments

•

Nice writeup the ownership-based auth fix for the IDOR stood out to me since that kind of hole slips into a lot of CRUD work. What if more teams enforced those rules at the form request layer by default instead of patching after a breach?

2 votes
•

That's a fantastic point, Andrew. I couldn't agree more.

Treating authorization in the Form Request as the default practice is a game-changer. It shifts security from an afterthought to a "secure by design" approach.

It's a perfect example of the Single Responsibility Principle: the Form Request handles authorization (ideally calling a Policy), letting the controller focus purely on business logic. This makes the code cleaner, more centralized, and prevents entire classes of vulnerabilities.

Thanks for the great insight!

1
•

Impressive work! I really like how you’ve gone beyond basic CRUD and focused on real architectural principles performance optimization, security hardening, and testability.

If I may suggest one more thing to highlight, it’d be the “why it matters” aspect how this architecture translates to better scalability or user experience.

2 votes
•

@[Spyros]Thanks for the feedback, Spyros! Excellent point about 'why this matters'.

The architecture I implemented directly impacts Scalability and UX:

  1. Better UX: Refactoring N+1 to a bulk request is the main UX benefit, as it drastically reduces latency in loading lists, ensuring a smooth navigation experience. Furthermore, error handling with 503 Service Unavailable gives the user clear and honest feedback about the unavailability of an external service.

  2. Better Scalability: Clean Architecture and DIP (Dependency Inversion) ensure that domain logic is isolated. This means we can evolve the application, add features, or change the database/framework (easy maintenance and safe expansion) without the dreaded "breaking everything," which is crucial to supporting future growth.

2
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@[Fernando Richter]

Very nice work! I checked out the API and starred the repo . it’s really solid.
Keep coding, you’re doing great! I have to admit, ASP.NET Core still has some extra magic under the hood you don’t often see code that clean, especially in something like a login controller.

2
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This is an excellent example of applying Clean Architecture and SOLID principles in a real-world Laravel project. The way you handled the N+1 issue and IDOR vulnerability shows solid engineering discipline. I especially like the use of interfaces for decoupling and testability—it keeps the core logic clean and future-proof.
Definitely bookmarking the repo for reference. Great work, Fernando!

2 votes
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@[Gift Balogun] Thank you! I'm glad the architectural goals came across clearly, especially the focus on testability and security. I really appreciate you taking the time to check it out. Hope the repo is a useful reference!

1

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