Laravel Testing: How to Test External API Calls

One frequent question in Laravel testing is, "How do I test interactions with external APIs?" In this guide, we'll look at three methods for doing just that.

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This article summarizes a section from the course: "Advanced Laravel Testing."

We'll cover:

1. Simulating HTTP requests

2. Mimicking Classes

3. Working with External Test Environments

Imagine you have a feature that fetches data based on IP addresses using Laravel's HTTP Client. Here's an example:

private static function fetchIPDetails(string $ip): array
{
    $apiKey = config('location.ipdata.key', '');
    $apiEndpoint = "https://api.ipdata.co/{$ip}?api-key=".$apiKey;

    return Http::get($apiEndpoint)->throw()->json();
}

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