As a Laravel developer, I kept running into the same problem:
๐ โWhat is actually happening in my APIs?โ
- Which endpoints are being hit the most?
- Which requests are slow?
- Where are the errors happening?
Most solutions like Datadog or New Relic felt:
- Overkill
- Expensive
- Time-consuming to set up
So I built something simpler.
โก Introducing ApiLens
A lightweight Laravel package that gives you a real-time dashboard of your API activity.
No setup headaches. No external services.
๐ฏ What it does
- Logs every request (endpoint, method, status, duration)
- Shows recent API activity
- Helps identify errors (4xx / 5xx)
- Highlights slow endpoints
- Simple filter system to debug quickly
๐ธ Dashboard Preview
๐ฆ Installation
composer require apilens/laravel-api-lens
php artisan apilens:install
Open:
http://localhost:8000/apilens?token=secret
Thatโs it.
๐ง Why I built this
I didnโt need:
- Distributed tracing
- Enterprise dashboards
- Complex setup
I just needed:
๐ A quick way to understand what my APIs are doing
๐ก Who this is for
- Laravel developers
- Freelancers building APIs
- Startups that need quick visibility
- Anyone debugging backend issues
โ๏ธ ApiLens vs Datadog
| Feature | ApiLens | Datadog |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | 1 min | Complex |
| Cost | Free | Paid |
| Focus | Laravel | Generic |
| Use case | Dev + small teams | Enterprise |
๐ง Whatโs coming next
- Time-based filters
- Charts & analytics
- Alerts
- SaaS version (multi-project dashboard)
๐ฌ Feedback
Would love your thoughts ๐
- What features would you want?
- Would you use something like this?
Top comments (1)
Curious โ how are you currently monitoring APIs in Laravel?