- How do I install andrey-helldar/laravel-json-response?
- Install it with Composer using composer require andrey-helldar/laravel-json-response. It uses conventional Laravel package auto-discovery, so no service provider registration, migrations, or config publishing are implied. Because the repository is archived, pin an explicit version constraint rather than relying on an open-ended range.
- Which Laravel and PHP versions does laravel-json-response support?
- Version 3.2.0 added Laravel 13 compatibility, and the project was archived immediately afterward. There is no Laravel 14 support, no PHP 9 support, and no further compatibility work expected. Treat roughly one framework major, about 12 months from 3.2.0, as the practical functional horizon.
- Is andrey-helldar/laravel-json-response still maintained?
- No. The GitHub repository is archived, the project has a single author and around 12 stars, and there is no community large enough to absorb maintenance. No bug fixes, security patches, or framework updates should be expected. The upside is that the package does no input parsing, deserialization, auth, or persistence, so its attack surface and security exposure are close to nil.
- What does laravel-json-response do that response()->json() does not?
- It is a thin ergonomics layer over Laravel's native response()->json() and JsonResponse that standardises the response envelope and HTTP status codes. That gives you uniform API payloads and slightly cleaner controllers, but no new capability. The equivalent behaviour is roughly 30 to 50 lines in a base controller trait or a set of Laravel API Resources.
- How do I return a standard success or error JSON payload in Laravel with this package?
- The package exposes a fluent helper that produces standard success and error payloads with a consistent shape and matching HTTP status codes. You call it from your controller instead of hand-rolling a { data, message } array in every action. Keep those call sites confined to controllers and never let the helper leak into services, jobs, or console commands.
- Can I set custom HTTP status codes and headers with laravel-json-response?
- Yes, the package supports HTTP status codes and headers alongside its standard payloads. That is useful for returning 201 on create, 204-style semantics, or custom cache and content headers. Be careful, though: if the envelope is part of your published API contract, changing it is a breaking change for mobile clients and partner integrations.
- Should I adopt laravel-json-response in a new Laravel project in 2026?
- No. An archived, single-maintainer, low-star package is not a dependency to introduce when Laravel's native API Resources or a small base controller trait deliver the same consistency. The buy case was always marginal because the benefit is uniformity, not capability. If you already depend on it, plan the exit rather than treating the archive as an incident.
- How hard is it to migrate away from laravel-json-response later?
- Exit cost is the real number to price, and it depends on how many call sites you have and whether the envelope shape is baked into your public API contract. Both are measurable in an afternoon. If the package is confined to controllers and covered by contract tests that pin the payload shape, replacement is a refactor; if the envelope is published in an OpenAPI spec or consumed by clients, it is a breaking change.
- Does laravel-json-response work with Laravel API Resources?
- The package includes resource support and is designed to wrap responses consistently, so it can sit alongside Eloquent API Resources at the controller boundary. It should still never appear in domain services, jobs, or console commands, because that scope creep is the usual failure mode of a convenience helper. Also confirm whether it is a direct dependency or pulled in transitively by another package.
- How do I test JSON responses built with laravel-json-response?
- Use Laravel's assertJson and assertJsonStructure assertions to pin the envelope, message keys, and status codes in feature tests. Those contract tests are what let you prove parity on replacement later. Without them, a migration away from an archived dependency becomes a manual audit of every endpoint.