QA
Intermediate LevelLaravel

How does Laravel Sanctum issue API Tokens and handle SPA session auth?

❓ Interview Prompt: Explain Laravel Sanctum, HasApiTokens trait, issuing scoped bearer tokens (createToken()), and stateful cookie SPA authentication.

Laravel Sanctum provides a lightweight authentication system for SPAs, mobile apps, and simple token APIs:

1. Mobile / Third-Party API Tokens:

Issues scoped Bearer tokens via '$user->createToken("mobile-app", ["posts:create"])->plainTextToken'.

2. SPA Cookie Authentication:

Uses stateful HTTP-only session cookies for single-page applications (Vue/React) by requesting '/sanctum/csrf-cookie' before login.

Code Implementation Example

php
<?php
use AppModelsUser;
use IlluminateHttpRequest;
use IlluminateSupportFacadesHash;

public function issueToken(Request $request)
{
    $user = User::where('email', $request->email)->first();
    if (! $user || ! Hash::check($request->password, $user->password)) {
        return response()->json(['message' => 'Invalid credentials'], 401);
    }
    $token = $user->createToken('api-token', ['read', 'write'])->plainTextToken;
    return response()->json(['token' => $token]);
}
💡Issuing scoped API bearer token using Laravel Sanctum.
🎯 Interview Key Takeaway

Use Laravel Sanctum for lightweight API bearer token generation and stateful cookie SPA authentication.

#Sanctum#API Tokens#Authentication#Intermediate
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