How To Secure Laravel API Authentication with Sanctum — Complete Security Guide

Building an API with Laravel?
You need to make sure it’s secure — especially if it handles sensitive user data or financial transactions.

In this guide, we’ll cover how to use Laravel Sanctum to protect your API with token-based authentication while following best security practices.

🔐 You’ll Learn:
✅ How Laravel Sanctum works for token-based APIs
✅ Setting up authentication routes and middleware
✅ Protecting endpoints with auth:sanctum
✅ Handling CORS and preventing CSRF attacks

Why Sanctum for API Security?
Laravel Sanctum is lightweight yet powerful, making it perfect for securing APIs without the complexity of OAuth. It supports personal access tokens, SPA authentication, and mobile app integration.

Quick Example:

Route::middleware('auth:sanctum')->get('/user', function (Request $request) {
    return $request->user();
});

This ensures only authenticated requests with valid tokens can access the /user endpoint.

👉 Full step-by-step security guide here:
How To Secure Laravel API Authentication with Sanctum — Security Guide