# 1. Getting Started
# Introduction
Laravel JSON:API is a library for creating JSON:API server implementations (backends) using the Laravel application framework.
To try it out, let's create a simple blog application. This will comprise of blog posts that are created by an author (the signed-in user). The author will be allowed to tag posts, while other users can comment on a blog post.
By following this tutorial, you'll learn how the JSON:API specification works, and how to implement a JSON:API compliant server in a Laravel application.
In this chapter, we'll setup our Laravel application so we're ready to develop our blog application.
# Requirements
This tutorial assumes you are using Laravel Herd (opens new window) to run your application.
There are other ways of running Laravel - e.g. Laravel Sail (opens new window). If you want to use an alternative method then make sure you follow the relevant Laravel documentation on how to setup an application.
You'll also need a method of submitting AJAX requests to your application. For example, Postman, PHPStorm HTTP requests, or cURL. The tutorial shows the HTTP requests you'll need to submit, but how to do that will depend on the HTTP client you are using.
# Example Application
You will learn more if you follow this tutorial and incrementally build the application. Learning by doing is always the best way to learn!
However, if you want to see the complete application, you can find it on Github in the laravel-json-api/tutorial-app (opens new window) repository.
# Installation
To get started, we'll need to create our new Laravel application. To do this, we'll follow the Local Installation Using Laravel Herd (opens new window) instructions. This contains information on creating your first project and running it using Herd - there's instructions for MacOS and Windows.
TIP
If you're using Linux, we suggest you follow the Laravel Sail (opens new window) instructions.
Run the following commands to set up your new Laravel application. When prompted, select:
- No starter kit
- PHPUnit as your testing framework (to match the examples in this tutorial)
- SQLite as your database
- Run the default migrations
cd ~/Herd
laravel new jsonapi-tutorial
cd jsonapi-tutorial
herd open
Once this has finished running:
cd jsonapi-tutorial
herd open
This will open jsonapi-tutorial.test (opens new window) in your browser, and you should see the default Laravel welcome page.
TIP
As this tutorial is about JSON:API, we haven't included extensive information on starting the project for the first time. Refer to the Laravel installation documentation for more details.
For this tutorial, you'll also need to run Artisan commands. Check that Artisan is working by running:
herd php artisan -V
That command should output the Laravel version, for example:
Laravel Framework 11.25.0
# API Routing
As our application is going to be an API, we need to install the Laravel API starter kit. (opens new window)
Run the following command:
herd php artisan install:api
This will install Sanctum, which we'll use for API authentication, and an API routes file.
# In Summary
You've created a new Laravel application, are running it locally, and have set it up for API routing.
In the next chapter we'll add the database tables and models required for our blog application.