Laravel - Purpose and different between web.php and api.php

Yes, for all your requests for normal web applications, use web.php. If you have a mobile app (iOS, Android for example) define your routes in api.php, so use both files.

I have my CMS routes all defined in web.php, and for the mobile apps I define my route calls in api.php.

@Erulezz

If I am using axios for ajax request.

I must use api.php in order to fetch data?

@tyris No, you can perfectly define your routes for your ajax request in web.php

But using api.php has some advantages:

• routes are automatically prefixed with 'api/'
• routes are using auth and api middle ware -- auth -> checks for a token -- api middleware adds some additional security/protection by throttling api request. So a client can request a route only x time per minute

I use api.php for ALL my ajax routes.

@samfrjn11 @Erulezz

Can api.php do something like web.php

Route::resource('/category', 'CategoryController');

The api file can do exactly what the web file can do. You can see this in the RouteServiceProvider.

The only difference is: the prefix and middleware.