HOWTO.md

How to Use Laravel ReverseKit - Complete Guide

Generate complete Laravel backend scaffolding from JSON, API, OpenAPI, Postman, or Database in seconds!

📦 Installation

composer require shaqi-labs/laravel-reversekit

No additional configuration needed - Laravel auto-discovers the package.

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🚀 Quick Start (5 Minutes)

Method 1: From JSON File

Step 1: Create a JSON file with your sample API data:

// users.json
{
  "users": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "name": "John Doe",
      "email": "john@example.com",
      "is_active": true,
      "created_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
      "posts": [
        {
          "id": 1,
          "title": "My First Post",
          "body": "Content here...",
          "published": true
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Step 2: Run the generator:

php artisan reverse:generate users.json

Step 3: That's it! ReverseKit generates:

• ✅ User and Post Models with relationships
• ✅ Migrations with correct column types
• ✅ API Controllers with CRUD methods
• ✅ Form Requests with validation rules
• ✅ API Resources for JSON responses
• ✅ Factories & Seeders
• ✅ Feature Tests
• ✅ Routes

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📋 All Input Methods

1️⃣ From JSON File/String

# From file
php artisan reverse:generate path/to/data.json

# From inline JSON string
php artisan reverse:generate '{"products": [{"name": "iPhone", "price": 999.99}]}'

2️⃣ From Live API URL

# Public API
php artisan reverse:generate --from-url=https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users

# With Bearer Token
php artisan reverse:generate --from-url=https://api.example.com/users --auth-token=your-api-token

3️⃣ From OpenAPI/Swagger Spec

php artisan reverse:generate --from-openapi=openapi.yaml
php artisan reverse:generate --from-openapi=swagger.json

4️⃣ From Postman Collection

php artisan reverse:generate --from-postman=collection.json

5️⃣ From Existing Database

# All tables
php artisan reverse:generate --from-database=*

# Specific tables
php artisan reverse:generate --from-database=users,posts,comments

6️⃣ Interactive Mode (No files needed!)

php artisan reverse:interactive

Follow the prompts to:

1. Define models (User, Post, Comment...)
2. Add fields with types (string, integer, boolean...)
3. Set up relationships (hasMany, belongsTo...)
4. Choose what to generate

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⚙️ Useful Options

Preview Before Generating

php artisan reverse:generate data.json --preview

Shows what will be generated without creating files.

Generate Only Specific Components

# Only models and migrations
php artisan reverse:generate data.json --only=model,migration

# Only controllers and routes
php artisan reverse:generate data.json --only=controller,routes

Available components: model, migration, controller, resource, request, policy, factory, seeder, test, routes

Overwrite Existing Files

php artisan reverse:generate data.json --force

Custom Namespace

php artisan reverse:generate data.json --namespace=Domain\\Shop

Module/Domain Prefix

php artisan reverse:generate data.json --module=Blog

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📁 Generated File Structure

After running ReverseKit on a users + posts JSON:

app/
├── Http/
│   ├── Controllers/
│   │   ├── UserController.php
│   │   └── PostController.php
│   ├── Requests/
│   │   ├── StoreUserRequest.php
│   │   ├── UpdateUserRequest.php
│   │   ├── StorePostRequest.php
│   │   └── UpdatePostRequest.php
│   └── Resources/
│       ├── UserResource.php
│       └── PostResource.php
├── Models/
│   ├── User.php
│   └── Post.php
└── Policies/
    ├── UserPolicy.php
    └── PostPolicy.php

database/
├── factories/
│   ├── UserFactory.php
│   └── PostFactory.php
├── migrations/
│   ├── 2024_01_15_000001_create_users_table.php
│   └── 2024_01_15_000002_create_posts_table.php
└── seeders/
    ├── UserSeeder.php
    └── PostSeeder.php

tests/Feature/
├── UserControllerTest.php
└── PostControllerTest.php

routes/
└── api.php (routes appended)

---

💡 Real-World Examples

Example 1: E-commerce Product Catalog

{
  "categories": [{
    "id": 1,
    "name": "Electronics",
    "slug": "electronics",
    "products": [{
      "id": 1,
      "name": "iPhone 15",
      "price": 999.99,
      "stock": 50,
      "is_featured": true,
      "images": ["url1", "url2"]
    }]
  }]
}

php artisan reverse:generate products.json --only=model,migration,controller
php artisan migrate

Example 2: Blog System from Public API

# Fetch from JSONPlaceholder API
php artisan reverse:generate --from-url=https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts --preview

# Generate if looks good
php artisan reverse:generate --from-url=https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts

Example 3: Reverse Engineer Existing Database

# Preview what's in your database
php artisan reverse:generate --from-database=* --preview

# Generate models for specific tables
php artisan reverse:generate --from-database=products,orders,customers --only=model,resource

Example 4: From OpenAPI Spec

# openapi.yaml
openapi: 3.0.0
info:
  title: My API
paths:
  /users:
    get:
      responses:
        '200':
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/User'
components:
  schemas:
    User:
      type: object
      properties:
        id:
          type: integer
        name:
          type: string
        email:
          type: string
          format: email

php artisan reverse:generate --from-openapi=openapi.yaml

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✏️ Customizing Stubs

Want to customize generated code? Publish the stubs:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=reversekit-stubs

Edit files in resources/stubs/reversekit/:

• model.stub
• controller.stub
• migration.stub
• etc.

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❓ FAQ

Q: Does it overwrite my existing files? A: No! By default, existing files are skipped. Use --force to overwrite.

Q: Can I generate only specific components? A: Yes! Use --only=model,migration to select what you need.

Q: Does it support nested relationships? A: Yes! Nested objects and arrays are automatically converted to relationships.

Q: What Laravel versions are supported? A: Laravel 10, 11, and 12.

Q: Can I use it with modules/domains? A: Yes! Use --module=Blog or --namespace=Domain\\Blog.

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🔗 Links

• GitHub: github.com/shaqilabs/laravel-reversekit
• Packagist: packagist.org/packages/shaqi-labs/laravel-reversekit

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Made with ❤️ by Shaqi Labs