How do you force a JSON response on every response in Laravel?

Question

I\'m trying to build a REST api using Laravel Framework, I want a way to force the API to always responed with JSON not by doing this manulaly like:

return Respo         


        

Answer 1

Create a middleware as suggested by Alexander Lichter that sets the Accept header on every request:

headers->set('Accept', 'application/json');

        return $next($request);
    }
}

Add it to $routeMiddleware in the app/Http/Kernel.php file:

protected $routeMiddleware = [
    (...)
    'json.response' => \App\Http\Middleware\ForceJsonResponse::class,
];

You can now wrap all routes that should return JSON:

Route::group(['middleware' => ['json.response']], function () { ... });

Edit: For Laravel 6.9+

Give the json.response middleware priority over other middlewares - to handle cases where the request is terminated by other middlewares (such as the Authorize middleware) before you get to set the Accept header.

To do this - override the constructor of you App\Http\Kernel class (app/Http/Kernel.php) with:

    public function __construct( Application $app, Router $router ) {
        parent::__construct( $app, $router );
        $this->prependToMiddlewarePriority(\App\Http\Middleware\ForceJsonResponse::class);
    }