The conference dedicated to API Platform and its ecosystem
Extending API Platform
Because it handles the complex, tedious and repetitive task of creating an API infrastructure for you, API Platform lets you focus on what matter the most for the end user: the business logic. To do so, API Platform provides a lot of extension points you can use to hook your own code. Those extensions points are taken into account both by the REST and GraphQL subsystems.
The following tables summarizes which extension point to use depending on what you want to do:
Extension Point | Usage |
---|---|
State Providers | adapters for custom persistence layers, virtual fields, custom hydration |
Denormalizers | post-process objects created from the payload sent in the HTTP request body |
Voters | custom authorization logic |
Validation constraints | custom validation logic |
State Processors | custom business logic and computations to trigger before or after persistence (ex: mail, call to an external API...) |
Normalizers | customize the resource sent to the client (add fields in JSON documents, encode codes, dates...) |
Filters | create filters for collections and automatically document them (OpenAPI, GraphQL, Hydra) |
Serializer Context Builders | change the Serialization context (e.g. groups) dynamically |
Messenger Handlers | create 100% custom, RPC, async, service-oriented endpoints (should be used in place of custom controllers because the messenger integration is compatible with both REST and GraphQL, while custom controllers only work with REST) |
DTOs | use a specific class to represent the input or output data structure related to an operation |
Kernel Events | customize the HTTP request or response (REST only, other extension points must be preferred when possible) |
Doctrine Specific Extension Points
Extension Point | Usage |
---|---|
Extensions | Access to the query builder to change the DQL query |
Filters | Add filters documentations (OpenAPI, GraphQL, Hydra) and automatically apply them to the DQL query |
Leveraging the Built-in Infrastructure Using Composition
While most API Platform classes are marked as final
, built-in services are straightforward to reuse and customize using composition.
For instance, if you want to send a mail after a resource has been persisted, but still want to benefit from the native Doctrine ORM state processor, use the decorator design pattern to wrap the native state processor in your own class sending the mail, as demonstrated in this example.
To replace existing API Platform services with your decorators, check out how to decorate services.
What' new?

Sep 21,22 2023: new edition of our conference dedicated to API Platform and its ecosystem!
The Distribution: Create Powerful APIs with Ease
Core
- General Design Considerations
- GraphQL Support
- Enabling GraphQL
- Changing Location of the GraphQL Endpoint
- GraphiQL
- GraphQL Playground
- Modifying or Disabling the Default IDE
- Request with application/graphql Content-Type
- Operations
- Queries
- Mutations
- Subscriptions
- Workflow of the Resolvers
- Events
- Filters
- Pagination
- Security
- Serialization Groups
- Exception and Error
- Name Conversion
- Custom Types
- Modify the Extracted Types
- Changing the Serialization Context Dynamically
- Export the Schema in SDL
- Handling File Upload
- Change Default Descriptions
- State Providers
- Filters
- Doctrine ORM and MongoDB ODM Filters
- Elasticsearch Filters
- Serializer Filters
- Creating Custom Filters
- ApiFilter Attribute
- The Serialization Process
- Overall Process
- Available Serializers
- The Serialization Context, Groups and Relations
- Using Serialization Groups
- Using Serialization Groups per Operation
- Embedding Relations
- Property Normalization Context
- Calculated Field
- Changing the Serialization Context Dynamically
- Changing the Serialization Context on a Per-item Basis
- Name Conversion
- Decorating a Serializer and Adding Extra Data
- Entity Identifier Case
- Embedding the JSON-LD Context
- Collection Relation
- Validation
- Validating Submitted Data
- Using Validation Groups
- Using Validation Groups on Operations
- Dynamic Validation Groups
- Sequential Validation Groups
- Validating Delete Operations
- Error Levels and Payload Serialization
- Validation on Collection Relations
- Open Vocabulary Generated from Validation Metadata
- Specification Property Restrictions
- Collecting Denormalization Errors
- Overriding Default Order
- OpenAPI Specification Support (formerly Swagger)
- Using the OpenAPI Command
- Overriding the OpenAPI Specification
- Using the OpenAPI and Swagger Contexts
- Disabling an Operation From OpenAPI Documentation
- Changing the Name of a Definition
- Changing Operations in the OpenAPI Documentation
- Disabling Swagger UI or ReDoc
- Changing the Location of Swagger UI
- Using a custom Asset Package in Swagger UI
- Overriding the UI Template
- Compatibility Layer with Amazon API Gateway
- OAuth
- Info Object
- Pushing Related Resources Using HTTP/2
- Using External Vocabularies
- URL Generation Strategy
- NelmioApiDocBundle Integration
- Bootstraping the core library
Schema Generator
- Configuration
- Customizing PHP Namespaces
- Forcing a Field Type (Range)
- Forcing a Field Cardinality
- Changing the Default Cardinality
- Adding a Custom Attribute or Modifying a Generated Attribute
- Forcing (or Enabling) a Class Parent
- Forcing a Class to be Abstract
- Define API Platform Operations
- Forcing a Nullable Property
- Forcing a Unique Property
- Making a Property Read-Only
- Making a Property Write-Only
- Forcing an Embeddable Class to be Embedded
- Skipping Accessor Method Generation
- Using Fluent Mutator Methods
- Disabling the id Generator
- Generating UUIDs
- User-submitted UUIDs
- Generating Custom IDs
- Disabling Usage of Doctrine Collections
- Changing the Field Visibility
- Generating Assert\Type Attributes
- Forcing Doctrine Inheritance Mapping Attribute
- Interfaces and Doctrine Resolve Target Entity Listener
- Custom Schemas
- All Types, Resolve Types and Exclude
- Checking GoodRelation Compatibility
- Author PHPDoc
- PHP File Header
- Disabling Generators and Creating Custom Ones
- Full Configuration Reference