Resource Collections

Last modified on: September 4, 2025

<h1 data-start="87" data-end="122">🔹 Laravel Resource Collections</h1>
<p data-start="124" data-end="234">When building APIs in Laravel, simply returning raw model data (<code data-start="188" data-end="201">Post::all()</code>) is not ideal. You often want:</p>
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<p data-start="238" data-end="274">Clean &amp; consistent response format</p>
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<p data-start="277" data-end="341">Ability to <strong data-start="288" data-end="306">transform data</strong> (e.g., rename keys, hide fields)</p>
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<p data-start="344" data-end="364">Pagination support</p>
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<p data-start="367" data-end="415">Easy integration with <strong data-start="389" data-end="413">nested relationships</strong></p>
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<p data-start="417" data-end="465">That&rsquo;s where <strong data-start="430" data-end="454">Resource Collections</strong> come in.</p>
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<h2 data-start="472" data-end="503">🛠️ 1. Creating a Resource</h2>
<p data-start="505" data-end="557">Suppose we have a <code data-start="523" data-end="529">Post</code> model. Create a resource:</p>
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<pre class="language-php"><code>php artisan make:resource PostResource</code></pre>
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<p data-start="611" data-end="669">This creates:<br data-start="624" data-end="627" />📌 <code data-start="630" data-end="667">app/Http/Resources/PostResource.php</code></p>
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<pre class="language-php"><code>namespace App\Http\Resources;

use Illuminate\Http\Resources\Json\JsonResource;

class PostResource extends JsonResource
{
    public function toArray($request)
    {
        return [
            'id'        =&gt; $this-&gt;id,
            'title'     =&gt; $this-&gt;title,
            'content'   =&gt; $this-&gt;content,
            'author'    =&gt; $this-&gt;user-&gt;name,  // relationship example
            'created'   =&gt; $this-&gt;created_at-&gt;toDateString(),
        ];
    }
}</code></pre>
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<h2 data-start="1146" data-end="1185">🛠️ 2. Returning a Single Resource</h2>
<p data-start="1187" data-end="1205">In a controller:</p>
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<pre class="language-php"><code>use App\Http\Resources\PostResource;
use App\Models\Post;

public function show($id)
{
    $post = Post::findOrFail($id);
    return new PostResource($post);
}</code></pre>
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<h3 data-start="1379" data-end="1406">Example JSON Response</h3>
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<pre class="language-php"><code>{
  "id": 1,
  "title": "My First Post",
  "content": "This is content...",
  "author": "John Doe",
  "created": "2025-09-03"
}</code></pre>
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<h2 data-start="1554" data-end="1588">🛠️ 3. Returning a Collection</h2>
<p data-start="1590" data-end="1626">Instead of <code data-start="1601" data-end="1614">Post::all()</code>, wrap it:</p>
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<pre class="language-php"><code>public function index()
{
    return PostResource::collection(Post::all());
}</code></pre>
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<h3 data-start="1718" data-end="1745">Example JSON Response</h3>
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<pre class="language-php"><code>[
  {
    "id": 1,
    "title": "First Post",
    "content": "Hello World",
    "author": "John Doe",
    "created": "2025-09-01"
  },
  {
    "id": 2,
    "title": "Second Post",
    "content": "Another article",
    "author": "Jane Doe",
    "created": "2025-09-02"
  }
]</code></pre>
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<h2 data-start="2039" data-end="2074">🛠️ 4. Customizing Collections</h2>
<p data-start="2076" data-end="2126">You can create a <strong data-start="2093" data-end="2123">dedicated collection class</strong>:</p>
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<pre class="language-php"><code>php artisan make:resource PostCollection</code></pre>
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<p data-start="2182" data-end="2226">📌 <code data-start="2185" data-end="2224">app/Http/Resources/PostCollection.php</code></p>
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<pre class="language-php"><code>namespace App\Http\Resources;

use Illuminate\Http\Resources\Json\ResourceCollection;

class PostCollection extends ResourceCollection
{
    public function toArray($request)
    {
        return [
            'data' =&gt; $this-&gt;collection,
            'meta' =&gt; [
                'total' =&gt; $this-&gt;count(),
                'author' =&gt; 'Laravel API Tutorial'
            ],
        ];
    }
}</code></pre>
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<p data-start="2631" data-end="2639">Usage:</p>
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<pre class="language-php"><code>return new PostCollection(Post::all());</code></pre>
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<h3 data-start="2693" data-end="2711">Example JSON</h3>
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<pre class="language-php"><code>{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "title": "First Post",
      "content": "Hello World"
    }
  ],
  "meta": {
    "total": 1,
    "author": "Laravel API Tutorial"
  }
}</code></pre>
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<h2 data-start="2908" data-end="2941">🛠️ 5. Paginated Collections</h2>
<p data-start="2943" data-end="2993">Laravel integrates <strong data-start="2962" data-end="2976">pagination</strong> automatically:</p>
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<pre class="language-php"><code>return PostResource::collection(Post::paginate(5));</code></pre>
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<p data-start="3059" data-end="3099">Response inc</p>
<pre class="language-php"><code>{
  "data": [
    { "id": 1, "title": "First Post" },
    { "id": 2, "title": "Second Post" }
  ],
  "links": {
    "first": "http://api.test/api/posts?page=1",
    "last": "http://api.test/api/posts?page=10",
    "prev": null,
    "next": "http://api.test/api/posts?page=2"
  },
  "meta": {
    "current_page": 1,
    "last_page": 10,
    "per_page": 5,
    "total": 50
  }
}</code></pre>
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<h2 data-start="3496" data-end="3535">🛠️ 6. Nested Resource Collections</h2>
<p data-start="3537" data-end="3576">Suppose a <code data-start="3547" data-end="3553">Post</code> has many <code data-start="3563" data-end="3573">Comments</code>.</p>
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<p data-start="3580" data-end="3608">Create a <code data-start="3589" data-end="3606">CommentResource</code></p>
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<p data-start="3611" data-end="3639">Use inside <code data-start="3622" data-end="3636">PostResource</code>:</p>
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<pre class="language-php"><code>use App\Http\Resources\CommentResource;

public function toArray($request)
{
    return [
        'id' =&gt; $this-&gt;id,
        'title' =&gt; $this-&gt;title,
        'comments' =&gt; CommentResource::collection($this-&gt;comments),
    ];
}</code></pre>
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<h2 data-start="3885" data-end="3925">📌 Benefits of Resource Collections</h2>
<p data-start="3927" data-end="4128">✅ Consistent JSON responses<br data-start="3954" data-end="3957" />✅ Easy to hide sensitive data<br data-start="3986" data-end="3989" />✅ Pagination + metadata support<br data-start="4020" data-end="4023" />✅ Clean API contracts for frontend developers<br data-start="4068" data-end="4071" />✅ Great for <strong data-start="4083" data-end="4126">mobile apps, SPAs, and third-party APIs</strong></p>

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