tymondesigns/jwt-auth

★ 11,481PHPAudience · developerComplexity · 3/5Setup · moderate

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((jwt-auth))
    What it does
      Token-based login
      No server sessions
      Route protection
    How it works
      Signed tokens
      Stateless validation
      Token refresh
    Tech Stack
      PHP
      Laravel
      Composer
    Audience
      Laravel developers
      API builders

mindmap root((jwt-auth)) What it does Token-based login No server sessions Route protection How it works Signed tokens Stateless validation Token refresh Tech Stack PHP Laravel Composer Audience Laravel developers API builders

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Protect a Laravel API so only users with a valid token can access private routes.

USE CASE 2

Build a mobile app backend in Laravel where the app sends a JWT token with every request instead of cookies.

USE CASE 3

Replace session-based auth in an existing Laravel app with stateless JWT tokens for better scalability.

USE CASE 4

Use Laravel's standard auth helpers and middleware with JWT tokens without writing custom token logic.

Tech stack

PHPLaravelComposer

Getting it running

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Requires a Laravel project and Composer. You must generate and configure a JWT secret key after installation.

In plain English

jwt-auth is a PHP package that adds JSON Web Token authentication to Laravel applications. Laravel is a popular PHP framework for building web applications, and JWT is a way of handling user login sessions without storing session data on the server. When a user logs in to a traditional web application, the server creates a session record and sends back a cookie. Every subsequent request checks the server's session store. JSON Web Tokens work differently: the server issues a compact, cryptographically signed token at login, and the client sends that token with every request. The server can verify the token using a secret key without looking anything up in a database. This stateless approach is useful for APIs and mobile app backends where you do not want to maintain server-side session state. jwt-auth integrates this flow into Laravel's built-in authentication system. Once installed, you can use Laravel's standard auth helpers and guards with JWT tokens instead of cookies. The package handles token creation, validation, and refresh, and it works with Laravel's middleware system so you can protect routes in the same way you would with session-based auth. The README itself is minimal and points to the project wiki for full documentation. The package is installed via Composer, PHP's standard dependency manager. With over 11,000 stars, it has been widely adopted by Laravel developers building APIs who want a straightforward way to add token-based authentication without building the JWT logic themselves.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

I have a fresh Laravel app. Walk me through installing jwt-auth, generating the secret key, and protecting an API route so only logged-in users can access it.

Prompt 2

How do I create a Laravel login endpoint with jwt-auth that returns a JWT token, and a protected route that validates that token?

Prompt 3

My Laravel API uses session auth. Show me how to migrate it to jwt-auth token auth without breaking existing endpoints.

Prompt 4

Using jwt-auth in Laravel, implement a token refresh endpoint so users don't get logged out when their token expires.

Prompt 5

How do I handle JWT token expiry in a React frontend talking to a Laravel jwt-auth backend? Show the fetch code with automatic token refresh on 401.

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