How to Write a REST API in PHP in 30 Minutes: A Step-by-Step Guide

Online Python Trainer for Beginners

Learn Python easily without overwhelming theory. Solve practical tasks with automatic checking, get hints in Russian, and write code directly in your browser — no installation required.

Start Course

How to Write a REST API in PHP in 30 Minutes

REST API (Representational State Transfer) is an architectural style for interaction between components of a distributed application over a network. In modern web development, REST API is the standard for creating backends for mobile applications, SPAs (Single Page Application), and microservices. In this article, we will show you how to write a simple but fully functional REST API in PHP in just 30 minutes.

We will create an API for managing a task list (Todo List) with support for CRUD operations (Create, Read, Update, Delete). You will learn how to organize routing, handle JSON requests, and connect to a MySQL database.

Environment Setup

For this you will need:

Apache or Nginx web server with PHP 7.4+ support
MySQL or MariaDB
Code editor (VS Code, PhpStorm)
Postman or curl for testing the API

Create the project structure:

todo-api/├── index.php          # Entry point (router)├── config.php         # Database connection settings├── api/│   └── tasks.php      # Task management logic└── .htaccess          # URL rewrite settings

Step 1: Configuring .htaccess and Entry Point

Create the .htaccess file to redirect all requests to index.php:

RewriteEngine OnRewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-fRewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-dRewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?url=$1 [QSA,L]

Now let's create index.php — our main router:

<?phpheader("Content-Type: application/json; charset=UTF-8");header("Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *");header("Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, OPTIONS");header("Access-Control-Allow-Headers: Content-Type, Authorization");

// Handle preflight requestsif ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] === 'OPTIONS') {    http_response_code(200);    exit();}

require_once 'config.php';require_once 'api/tasks.php';

$url = isset($_GET['url']) ? rtrim($_GET['url'], '/') : '';$urlParts = explode('/', $url);$resource = $urlParts[0] ?? '';$id = $urlParts[1] ?? null;

switch ($resource) {    case 'tasks':        $tasks = new Tasks();        echo $tasks->handleRequest($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'], $id);        break;    default:        http_response_code(404);        echo json_encode(["message" => "Resource not found"]);        break;}?>

Step 2: Database Connection

Create config.php with connection settings:

<?phpclass Database {    private $host = "localhost";    private $db_name = "todo_api";    private $username = "root";    private $password = "";    public $conn;

    public function getConnection() {        $this->conn = null;        try {            $this->conn = new PDO(                "mysql:host=" . $this->host . ";dbname=" . $this->db_name,                $this->username,                $this->password            );            $this->conn->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);        } catch(PDOException $e) {            http_response_code(500);            echo json_encode(["message" => "Database connection error"]);            exit();        }        return $this->conn;    }}?>

Create the table in MySQL:

CREATE DATABASE todo_api;USE todo_api;

CREATE TABLE tasks (    id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,    title VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,    description TEXT,    status ENUM('pending', 'completed') DEFAULT 'pending',    created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,    updated_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP);