Creating a Simple JSON API with PHP

In this tutorial, you will create a simple API using PHP.

The API will return JSON data when visited in a browser.

This is the same type of data format used by many real-world APIs.

---

Project Structure

Create a folder called:

api-demo

Inside the folder place:

api-demo
├── api.php
└── smart_security_data.json

---

Create the API File

Create:

api.php

Add:

<?php

header(
    "Content-Type: application/json"
);

echo file_get_contents(
    "smart_security_data.json"
);

?>

Save the file.

---

Understanding the Code

This line tells the browser that JSON data is being returned:

header(
    "Content-Type: application/json"
);

This line reads the JSON file:

file_get_contents(
    "smart_security_data.json"
);

This line sends the JSON data to the browser:

echo file_get_contents(
    "smart_security_data.json"
);

---

Test the API

Open:

http://localhost/api-demo/api.php

You should see:

{
  "homeId": "GC-HOME-014",
  "location": "Gold Coast"
}

along with the rest of the JSON data.

Test the API in a New Browser Tab

Notice that the URL now behaves like a data source.

Instead of displaying a webpage, it returns structured JSON data.

This is the same concept used by many modern APIs.

Example:

https://example.com/api/users
https://example.com/api/products
https://example.com/api/weather

---

Complete API File

<?php

header(
    "Content-Type: application/json"
);

echo file_get_contents(
    "smart_security_data.json"
);

?>

You have successfully created a JSON API using PHP.

Next tutorial: Reading API Data with JavaScript.