Backend API Response Formatting

When to use this skill

• API development
• Consistent responses
• Error handling
• Client expectations

Workflow

• Define response format
• Wrap data consistently
• Include metadata
• Standard error format
• Document responses

Instructions

Success Response

<?php

return $this->respond([
    'success' => true,
    'data' => $users,
    'meta' => [
        'page' => 1,
        'per_page' => 10,
        'total' => 100
    ]
]);

Error Response

<?php

return $this->fail([
    'success' => false,
    'error' => [
        'code' => 'VALIDATION_ERROR',
        'message' => 'Invalid input',
        'details' => [
            'email' => ['Email is required']
        ]
    ]
], 400);

Response Trait

<?php

trait ApiResponseTrait
{
    protected function success($data, $message = null, $code = 200)
    {
        return $this->respond([
            'success' => true,
            'message' => $message,
            'data' => $data
        ], $code);
    }

    protected function error($message, $code = 400, $details = null)
    {
        return $this->fail([
            'success' => false,
            'error' => [
                'message' => $message,
                'details' => $details
            ]
        ], $code);
    }
}

Resources

• Consistent structure
• Include success flag
• Standard error format