Sanctum vs Passport

Yes, Sanctum can be used for authentication in a Laravel application that is API-driven with React frontend and React Native for mobile. Sanctum is a lightweight authentication system that is easy to set up and use. It provides a simple way to authenticate users and issue API tokens.

Sanctum is a good choice for applications that do not require complex authentication requirements. If your application requires more advanced authentication features such as OAuth2, then Passport may be a better choice.

Here is an example of how to use Sanctum for authentication in a Laravel application:

1. Install Sanctum using composer:

composer require laravel/sanctum

1. Publish the Sanctum configuration file:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Laravel\Sanctum\SanctumServiceProvider"

1. Run the Sanctum migration:

php artisan migrate

1. Add the Sanctum middleware to your API routes:

Route::middleware('auth:sanctum')->group(function () {
    // API routes here
});

1. To authenticate a user and issue an API token, use the createToken method:

$user = User::find(1);
$token = $user->createToken('token-name')->plainTextToken;

1. To authenticate a user using an API token, send the token in the Authorization header:

Authorization: Bearer {api-token}

For more information on using Sanctum, see the Laravel documentation: https://laravel.com/docs/8.x/sanctum