JWT Authentication with Laravel

ℹ️ Note
While solutions like tymondesigns/jwt-auth (Laravel) or LexikJWTAuthenticationBundle (Symfony) are popular, we recommend adopting open standards such as OpenID Connect (OIDC) for robust, scalable, and interoperable authentication.

For comprehensive details on authentication, refer to our Laravel Authentication documentation.

# Setup Instructions

Install
Follow the official installation guide of Laravel Passport to implement OpenID Connect (OIDC) standards in your Laravel application. Alternatively, if you prefer an ad-hoc solution, you can use tymondesigns/jwt-auth to set up JWT authentication in your Laravel project.
Configure Authentication
Refer to the Authentication section of our documentation to properly configure and secure your API with JWT tokens.

💡 Tip
Use Laravel middlewares with API Platform such as auth:api to restrict access to certain endpoints, ensuring only authenticated users can access them.

By following these steps, you can set up a secure and scalable JWT-based authentication system in your Laravel application.

# Testing

To verify your authentication setup using ApiTestCase, you can write a test method tailored to your preferred testing framework. Here’s how you can approach it for both Pest and PHPUnit:

ℹ️ Note
Ensure your routes (/api/auth) and authentication mechanisms are configured to match your application’s implementation.

# Test with Pest

<?php

use App\Models\User;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\RefreshDatabase;

uses(RefreshDatabase::class);

it('authenticates a user and tests protected endpoints', function () {
    // Create a user
    $user = User::factory()->create([
        'email' => '[email protected]',
        'password' => bcrypt('$3CR3T'), // Hash the password
    ]);

    // Retrieve a token
    $response = $this->postJson('/api/auth', [
        'email' => '[email protected]',
        'password' => '$3CR3T',
    ]);

    $response->assertStatus(200)
        ->assertJsonStructure(['token']);

    $token = $response->json('token');

    // Test not authorized
    $this->getJson('/api/greetings')
        ->assertStatus(401);

    // Test authorized
    $this->withHeader('Authorization', "Bearer $token")
        ->getJson('/api/greetings')
        ->assertStatus(200);
});

# Test with PHPUnit

<?php

namespace Tests\Feature;

use App\Models\User;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\RefreshDatabase;
use Tests\TestCase;

class AuthenticationTest extends TestCase
{
    use RefreshDatabase;

    public function testLogin(): void
    {
        $user = User::factory()->create([
            'email' => '[email protected]',
            'password' => bcrypt('$3CR3T'), // Hash the password
        ]);

        // Retrieve a token
        $response = $this->postJson('/api/auth', [
            'email' => '[email protected]',
            'password' => '$3CR3T',
        ]);

        $response->assertStatus(200)
            ->assertJsonStructure(['token']);

        $token = $response->json('token');

        // Test not authorized
        $this->getJson('/api/greetings')
            ->assertStatus(401);

        // Test authorized
        $this->withHeader('Authorization', "Bearer $token")
            ->getJson('/api/greetings')
            ->assertStatus(200);
    }
}

JWT Authentication with Laravel

Table of Contents

# Setup Instructions

# Testing

# Test with Pest

# Test with PHPUnit