Authentication & Sanctum in PHP
From the Laravel cheat sheet · API Development · verified Jul 2026
Authentication & Sanctum
API authentication with Laravel Sanctum
php
// Install Sanctum
composer require laravel/sanctum
php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Laravel\Sanctum\SanctumServiceProvider"
php artisan migrate
// User model
use Laravel\Sanctum\HasApiTokens;
class User extends Authenticatable
{
use HasApiTokens;
}
// Create token
$token = $user->createToken('token-name');
return $token->plainTextToken;💡 Sanctum provides both token and cookie-based authentication
⚡ Use abilities for fine-grained API permissions
📌 SPA auth uses cookies, mobile uses tokens
🔥 Always revoke tokens on logout for security