Cant access API on Ubuntu Server

I have recently created a lumen app on a Ubuntu server and I cannot get it work. I keep getting a 500 error when I try to hit the endpoint. The folder structure is /var/www/api. This is where I made a new lumen app. When I call .../api/{endpoint} i get 500. However when I run the api folder locally with php -S localhost:8000 -t public it works perfectly fine. I am new to the Unix/PHP world so forgive me if I sound stupid.