Dynamic Profile API

#showdev #laravel #api #backend

HNG i13 Backend — Stage 0 Task: Dynamic Profile API

Hey everyone 👋

I just completed Stage 0 of the HNG i13 Backend Track, where we were tasked with building a dynamic REST API that returns our profile information along with a random cat fact fetched from the Cat Facts API.

Even as a Laravel developer, I love using these small tasks to experiment with different hosting setups and third-party integrations, and I’m sharing this so others can learn and grow alongside me.

💡 What I Built

I created a simple Laravel API endpoint:

/api/me

The endpoint returns:

My email, name, and backend stack
A timestamp in ISO 8601 UTC format
A dynamic cat fact (fetched fresh on every request)

Example response:

{
  "status": "success",
  "user": {
    "email": "version.control.dev@gmail.com",
    "name": "Samuel Osho",
    "stack": "Laravel/PHP"
  },
  "timestamp": "2025-10-18T12:45:32.567Z",
  "fact": "Cats sleep 70% of their lives."
}

⚙️ Tools & Technologies

Laravel 11 – my go-to PHP framework
PHP HTTP Client – for consuming the Cat Facts API
Carbon – for UTC timestamp formatting
Render.com – experimenting with Docker-based deployment

🧠 What I Learned / Tips for Others

Even as someone familiar with Laravel, this small project reinforced some key practices:

How to integrate external APIs cleanly within a Laravel route
Handling API failures gracefully using try/catch and fallback messages
Returning well-structured JSON responses following strict schema requirements
Deploying Laravel projects quickly using Render’s Docker hosting

If you’re new to backend APIs, these are simple steps that can help you practice API consumption, JSON formatting, and dynamic data handling.

🔗 Links

Live Endpoint: https://hng-13-stage0.onrender.com/api/me
GitHub Repo: https://github.com/samthatcode/php-laravel-docker

🧭 Next Steps

I’m excited for the upcoming stages!
Even small tasks like this remind us that good practices in API design, error handling, and dynamic responses are what separate simple code from robust, production-ready systems.

Sharing this to help others experiment, learn, and grow — because the best way to improve is to build, break, and iterate together.

#HNGi13 #BackendDevelopment #Laravel #PHP #WebDevelopment #LearningByDoing #API #HNGInternship #RESTAPI #DevTips