routes-to-json

innoboxrr/routes-to-json 2.1.0 exports Laravel's named routes to a JSON file the frontend reads. The frontend then resolves every URL the way Blade does: by name, not by a hand-typed string.

A hand-typed URL breaks silently. You rename a route, the backend tests pass, and a button in the SPA quietly returns 404 in production. With the name on both sides, the rename shows up when routes.json is regenerated.

php artisan route:json

{
    "auth.login": "auth/login",
    "api.laravel-options.option.index": "api/laravel-options/option/index",
    "lu.upload.display": "lu/upload/{upload_uuid}/display/{filename?}"
}

In the frontend, innoboxrr-route-resolver resolves them:

import route, { setRoutes } from 'innoboxrr-route-resolver'
import routes from './routes.json'

setRoutes(routes)

route('api.laravel-options.option.index', { paginate: 0 })

Install

composer require innoboxrr/routes-to-json

It requires PHP ^8.3 and illuminate/support ^13.0. The provider is auto-discovered.

Configuration

Key	Default	What it decides
path	env('JSON_ROUTES_FILE', resource_path('vue/assets/json/routes.json'))	Where the JSON is written

• Directory. It is created if it doesn't exist.
• Relative paths. They resolve against the project root (base_path()), not the working directory, so this also works from Artisan::call inside a request or a queued job.
• An empty JSON_ROUTES_FILE= falls back to the default path.

Environment variables

Variable	Default	Use
JSON_ROUTES_FILE	resources/vue/assets/json/routes.json	path

Publishing

Tag	What it copies
config	config/routes-to-json.php

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Innoboxrr\RoutesToJson\Providers\RoutesToJsonServiceProvider" --tag=config

Migrations

It ships no migrations.

Commands

Command	Options	What it does
route:json	—	Writes { name: uri } for every route that has a name, as indented JSON. Unnamed routes are skipped

• No leading slash. URIs come out as Laravel stores them, without a leading /.
• Parameters. They appear in braces, with ? on optional ones.
• Not included: the HTTP method and the domain.

The command is route:json

The innoboxrr-route-resolver README calls it routes:json. That command doesn't exist; it's route:json.

HTTP routes

It registers no routes.

Policies and gates

It defines no policies or abilities.

Extension points

Only path. To keep the file current, regenerate it before building the frontend:

{
    "scripts": {
        "build": "php artisan route:json && vite build"
    }
}

In the base application

• File path. app:setup writes its own config/routes-to-json.php, pointing at the file the interface imports:

  'path' => env('JSON_ROUTES_FILE', resource_path('vue/routes.json')), // or react/routes.json

• Initial file. The stubs ship resources/<ui>/routes.json as a placeholder, and app:install runs route:json to write the real one.

• Boot. The interface calls setRoutes(routes) and asks for every URL with route('name'):

  • laravel-auth, laravel-options, laravel-notifications and laravel-uploads routes;
  • the generated user's routes (api.app.user.*);
  • the routes of every model you generate.

  In Vue, asking for a missing name throws Unknown backend route "x". Run php artisan route:json.

• Build. The base application's npm run build is just vite build; it does not run route:json. After larapack:import, or after adding routes, run it yourself before building.

Two different default paths

The package writes to resources/vue/assets/json/routes.json by default, and its README suggests resources/react/assets/json/routes.json for React. The base application reads resources/vue/routes.json or resources/react/routes.json. If you delete the config/routes-to-json.php that app:setup left, route:json goes back to the package path and the interface keeps reading a stale file.

See Requests, routes and languages.

Upgrading

From 2.0 to 2.1

• Unnamed routes no longer appear in the JSON. Before, they all landed under the "" key and overwrote each other.
• A relative output path resolves against the project root.
• An empty JSON_ROUTES_FILE= uses the default path. Before, the command used a different one (resources/json/routes.json) and failed to write.

The command, the path key, the variable and the tag are unchanged. The only visible change in the JSON is that the "" key disappears.

Pitfalls

• "Unknown backend route", or a request that goes to the current page. The file predates the route: run php artisan route:json and rebuild.
• The frontend keeps reading old routes. route:json writes somewhere other than where the interface imports from; check routes-to-json.path.
• You changed JSON_ROUTES_FILE and nothing happened. The configuration is cached: run php artisan config:clear.
• A route is missing. It has no name. For example, laravel-env-editor's PATCH and DELETE key routes have none.
• routes.json isn't a secret, but it is a map. It ships inside the built frontend and lists every named route in the application, admin ones included. Each route's middleware is what protects it, not obscurity.