Laravel 12 JWT Settings & Config API – Step by Step

In this guide, we’ll build a Settings & Config API in Laravel 12 using JWT authentication.

We’ll store app configuration as key/value pairs in a settings table and expose CRUD endpoints for easy management.

API Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Purpose
GET	/api/settings	List all settings
GET	/api/settings/{key}	Get a specific setting
POST	/api/settings	Create a new setting
PUT	/api/settings/{key}	Update setting
DELETE	/api/settings/{key}	Delete setting

🔹 Step 1: Create Model & Migration

php artisan make:model Setting -m

Migration: create_settings_table.php

public function up()
{
    Schema::create('settings', function (Blueprint $table) {
        $table->id();
        $table->string('key')->unique();
        $table->text('value')->nullable();
        $table->timestamps();
    });
}

Run migration:

php artisan migrate

🔹 Step 2: Setting Model

app/Models/Setting.php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class Setting extends Model
{
    protected $fillable = ['key', 'value'];

    // Cast JSON values if stored as JSON
    protected $casts = [
        'value' => 'array',
    ];
}

🔹 Step 3: Create Controller

php artisan make:controller Api/SettingController --api

app/Http/Controllers/Api/SettingController.php

namespace App\Http\Controllers\Api;

use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;
use App\Models\Setting;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class SettingController extends Controller
{
    public function index()
    {
        return response()->json(Setting::all(), 200);
    }

    public function show($key)
    {
        $setting = Setting::where('key', $key)->firstOrFail();
        return response()->json($setting, 200);
    }

    public function store(Request $request)
    {
        $validated = $request->validate([
            'key' => 'required|string|unique:settings,key',
            'value' => 'nullable',
        ]);

        $setting = Setting::create($validated);
        return response()->json($setting, 201);
    }

    public function update(Request $request, $key)
    {
        $setting = Setting::where('key', $key)->firstOrFail();

        $validated = $request->validate([
            'value' => 'nullable',
        ]);

        $setting->update($validated);
        return response()->json($setting, 200);
    }

    public function destroy($key)
    {
        $setting = Setting::where('key', $key)->firstOrFail();
        $setting->delete();

        return response()->json(['message' => 'Setting deleted'], 200);
    }
}

🔹 Step 4: Define Routes

routes/api.php

use App\Http\Controllers\Api\SettingController;

Route::middleware('auth:api')->group(function () {
    Route::get('/settings', [SettingController::class, 'index']);
    Route::get('/settings/{key}', [SettingController::class, 'show']);
    Route::post('/settings', [SettingController::class, 'store']);
    Route::put('/settings/{key}', [SettingController::class, 'update']);
    Route::delete('/settings/{key}', [SettingController::class, 'destroy']);
});

🔹 Step 5: Example Usage (Postman)

1. List Settings
GET /api/settings

[
  { "key": "site_name", "value": "My Laravel App" },
  { "key": "logo_url", "value": "https://example.com/logo.png" }
]

2. Create Setting
POST /api/settings

{
  "key": "site_name",
  "value": "My Laravel API"
}

3. Get Specific Setting
GET /api/settings/site_name

{
  "key": "site_name",
  "value": "My Laravel API"
}

4. Update Setting
PUT /api/settings/site_name

{
  "value": "Updated API App"
}

5. Delete Setting
DELETE /api/settings/site_name

🔹 Step 6: Optimizing with a Helper

Create app/Helpers/SettingHelper.php

use App\Models\Setting;

if (!function_exists('setting')) {
    function setting($key, $default = null)
    {
        return optional(Setting::where('key', $key)->first())->value ?? $default;
    }
}

Register in composer.json → autoload:

"autoload": {
    "files": [
        "app/Helpers/SettingHelper.php"
    ]
}

Run:

composer dump-autoload

Now you can call:

$siteName = setting('site_name', 'Default App');

🎯 Conclusion

You now have a Settings & Config API in Laravel 12 with JWT that:

✅ Stores settings in DB (easy to update)
✅ Provides CRUD endpoints
✅ Can serve as a headless settings system for frontend apps
✅ Includes a setting() helper for quick usage in Laravel

This makes your Laravel project more dynamic, configurable, and frontend-ready 🚀

Want the full source code?

Download the complete Laravel 12 JWT API Authentication example on my GitHub repo here.

Happy Coding!