Fully rely on API?

Hi,

I've been wondering what would be the best way to go about splitting certain logic. I started with traditional controllers using Eloquent to retrieve and return data directly into the view, e.g.:

$checkins = Checkin::where('user_id', Auth::user()->id)
                            ->with(['location', 'status'])
                            ->paginate(25);

return view('checkin.index', compact('checkins'));

Now with all the fuzz and focus on having a full API layer, I am wondering whether I should move all data interactions to APIs and only return JSON. That would update above code to _(and move the 'query logic' to the API controller)_:

$client = new \GuzzleHttp\Client([
   'base_uri' => config('app.api'),
 ]);
            
 try 
 {
    $response = $client->request('GET', 'api/v1/checkins');
    $body = $response->getBody()->getContents();
    $checkins = json_decode((string) $body, true);
 }
catch (\GuzzleHttp\Exception\ClientException $exception) 
{
  abort($exception);
}

return view('checkin.index', compact('checkins'));

This allows me to fully separate web and API and have all data logic in one place (API). But on the other hand it feels like making things relatively complex/ slow as I believe it is faster to directly query a data model via Eloquent than it is to do that via an API.

Or obviously there could be a hybrid way, though if I decide to split API from Web, that would mean isolating my Models to a separate repository for both API and Web to refer to.

What would you recommend?

1. Stay to Eloquent
2. Move everything to APIs
3. Use a hybrid model

Thanks.