The latest articles on DEV Community by Anirban (@anirbancodes). https://dev.to/anirbancodes https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F3830107%2Ff50aac2e-2ecd-4a85-806f-f394b7532919.jpeg https://dev.to/anirbancodes en Anirban Tue, 17 Mar 2026 22:16:43 +0000 https://dev.to/anirbancodes/i-built-a-simple-api-monitoring-tool-for-laravel-no-datadog-needed-gmk https://dev.to/anirbancodes/i-built-a-simple-api-monitoring-tool-for-laravel-no-datadog-needed-gmk <p>As a Laravel developer, I kept running into the same problem:</p> <p>👉 <em>“What is actually happening in my APIs?”</em></p> <ul> <li>Which endpoints are being hit the most?</li> <li>Which requests are slow?</li> <li>Where are the errors happening?</li> </ul> <p>Most solutions like Datadog or New Relic felt:</p> <ul> <li>Overkill</li> <li>Expensive</li> <li>Time-consuming to set up</li> </ul> <p>So I built something simpler.</p> <h1> ⚡ Introducing ApiLens </h1> <p>A lightweight Laravel package that gives you a <strong>real-time dashboard of your API activity</strong>.</p> <p>No setup headaches. No external services.</p> <h1> 🎯 What it does </h1> <ul> <li>Logs every request (endpoint, method, status, duration)</li> <li>Shows recent API activity</li> <li>Helps identify errors (4xx / 5xx)</li> <li>Highlights slow endpoints</li> <li>Simple filter system to debug quickly</li> </ul> <h1> 📸 Dashboard Preview </h1> <p><a href="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Ffifyramkv5qsse2i7dws.png" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Ffifyramkv5qsse2i7dws.png" alt=" " width="800" height="353"></a></p> <p><a href="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fulqw045cbbztjz7oqdm2.png" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fulqw045cbbztjz7oqdm2.png" alt=" " width="800" height="452"></a></p> <h1> 📦 Installation </h1> <div class="highlight js-code-highlight"> <pre class="highlight shell"><code>composer require apilens/laravel-api-lens php artisan apilens:install </code></pre> </div> <p>Open:<br> </p> <div class="highlight js-code-highlight"> <pre class="highlight plaintext"><code>http://localhost:8000/apilens?token=secret </code></pre> </div> <p>That’s it.</p> <h1> 🧠 Why I built this </h1> <p>I didn’t need:</p> <ul> <li>Distributed tracing</li> <li>Enterprise dashboards</li> <li>Complex setup</li> </ul> <p>I just needed:</p> <p>👉 A quick way to understand what my APIs are doing</p> <h1> 💡 Who this is for </h1> <ul> <li>Laravel developers</li> <li>Freelancers building APIs</li> <li>Startups that need quick visibility</li> <li>Anyone debugging backend issues</li> </ul> <h1> ⚖️ ApiLens vs Datadog </h1> <div class="table-wrapper-paragraph"><table> <thead> <tr> <th>Feature</th> <th>ApiLens</th> <th>Datadog</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>Setup</td> <td>1 min</td> <td>Complex</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Cost</td> <td>Free</td> <td>Paid</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Focus</td> <td>Laravel</td> <td>Generic</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Use case</td> <td>Dev + small teams</td> <td>Enterprise</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div> <h1> 🚧 What’s coming next </h1> <ul> <li>Time-based filters</li> <li>Charts &amp; analytics</li> <li>Alerts</li> <li>SaaS version (multi-project dashboard)</li> </ul> <h1> 💬 Feedback </h1> <p>Would love your thoughts 🙌</p> <ul> <li>What features would you want?</li> <li>Would you use something like this?</li> </ul> <h1> 🔗 GitHub </h1> <p>👉 <a href="https://github.com/anirbancodes69/laravel-api-lens" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://github.com/anirbancodes69/laravel-api-lens</a></p> laravel monitoring api php