Laravel on Ubuntu vs Laravel on Windows

The difference in behavior you’re seeing is due to how Laravel handles unauthenticated API requests, and it’s likely related to the Accept header sent by the frontend or the configuration/environment of your servers.

Explanation:

• When you call $request->user() in a route or controller, Laravel will return the authenticated user or null if not authenticated.
• If you have middleware like auth:sanctum on your route, and the request is unauthenticated, Laravel will return a response based on the request type:
  • If the request expects JSON (i.e., the Accept: application/json header is present), Laravel returns a JSON response (usually with a 401 status).
  • If the request does not expect JSON, Laravel returns an HTML response (often a redirect to the login page).

Why the difference?

• On Ubuntu, your frontend (or API client) is likely sending the Accept: application/json header, so Laravel returns null (or a JSON response).
• On Windows/Herd, the request might not be sending the Accept: application/json header, so Laravel returns an HTML response (the login page).

How to Fix:

Ensure that your frontend always sends the Accept: application/json header when making API requests. This will make Laravel consistently return JSON responses for unauthenticated requests, regardless of the OS or server.

Example (Axios):

axios.get('/api/user', {
  headers: {
    'Accept': 'application/json'
  }
})

Or, if using fetch:

fetch('/api/user', {
  headers: {
    'Accept': 'application/json'
  }
})

Summary Table:

Accept Header	Authenticated	Unauthenticated (Laravel Response)
application/json	user object	JSON error/null
(not set or text/html)	user object	HTML login page

Conclusion:

The issue is not with Herd or Ubuntu specifically, but with the headers sent by the frontend. Make sure your frontend always requests JSON from the API, and Laravel will respond consistently across all environments.