Just deal with API as needed, don't get lost in the microservice termanology.
I like this example:
- A tech logs in at doctors office patient room.
- Tech takes blood pressure records results, but tech has no access to other results
- Doctor comes in, logs in, and pulls up your labs from another source
- Probably pulled them up from a connected Lab via API.
So entry into other services / api's is done through authentication and authorization.
Same for a pet shelter:
An admin logs into shelters computer. Through authorization (on their system) enters some animals through an api to a larger adoption agency.
There are at least a couple of credentials required.
- 1 A login in to system being used
- 2 The token based Auth to outside. The "local system" i.e., doctors office or pet shelter is already "setup" with the api.
So access to the api (meaning that part of the MVC application) in doctors office or pet shelter is handled via normal laravel authentication.
This type of app is far different from a straight back and forth api between user and api. In that case it's token based only. A weather app is an example of that.
However if all back end is the same app you do not need an api. You only need an api to pull in some data from another back end.