What is a Laravel API?

A Laravel API is a server side application built with the Laravel PHP framework that exposes data and business logic through HTTP endpoints (REST) or a typed query language (GraphQL). It is the backend that powers mobile apps, single page web apps, partner integrations, IoT devices, and microservices. Laravel ships with everything an API needs out of the box, including routing, validation, authentication through Sanctum or Passport, rate limiting, queue processing, real time events, and testing.