VS Code Extension

A free visual interface for the generator. Build an entity in a form while the package shows the files it will write, generate from your database, a spec or a plain description, then run the migrations and the tests from the same panel.

Install from the Marketplace · Open VSX for Cursor · Extension repository

What it adds

Entity Builder	A form next to the live preview of every file, rendered by the package installed in your project
Sources & Review	Generate from a description with Copilot, your database, a schema file, a Mermaid diagram or an OpenAPI spec, after reviewing the package's dry run
Diagram & Sidebar	An entity canvas with an inspector, and the tree of every generated file, the ones you edited flagged
API Ready & Project Actions	Migrations, tests, seeding, API docs and stubs, run in place with their result
Copilot and Cursor	The package's agent skill and its MCP server, registered for Copilot's agent mode and for Cursor, so they plan and generate APIs through the package. The sidebar's Agents block installs laravel/mcp when it is missing and copies the Claude Code command
Commands & Settings	Command palette reference, keybindings, settings, PHP snippets

The whole UI (panel labels, popups, prompts, error messages) is available in English and French, following VS Code's display language (forceable via the laravelApiGenerator.locale setting).

Install

1. Search "Laravel API Generator" in VS Code Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X), or install from the Marketplace. In Cursor and the other VS Code forks, it comes from Open VSX.
2. Open a Laravel project: the extension activates when it finds an artisan file (monorepos are supported: Laravel apps up to two levels below the workspace root, e.g. backend/ or apps/api/, are detected).
3. The extension drives the Composer package in your project:

composer require --dev nameless/laravel-api-generator

If the package is missing, the extension offers to install it for you, as a dev dependency (nothing from the generator ships to production, and the generated code doesn't depend on it). If the installed version is too old for a feature, it explains why and offers to run composer update.

A native Getting Started walkthrough (Help → Get Started) covers the package install, your first generation, the other sources, the sidebar and the agents.

Requirements

• VS Code 1.82+
• PHP 8.2+ on your PATH (or set laravelApiGenerator.phpPath, or laravelApiGenerator.phpCommand for Sail and Docker)
• A Laravel 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 project. The package's 4.x line needs Laravel 12: on Laravel 10 and 11, the extension installs its 3.x line.

Your first API, without a terminal

1. Click the Laravel API Generator icon in the activity bar, then New API.
2. Fill the form, start from the Examples menu, or bring an entity from the Import menu. The live preview follows every change.
3. Click Generate the API (Ctrl+Enter). The panel becomes the API ready screen, with the files written and the routes registered.
4. Run the migrations, then the tests. Each step shows its result in place, such as the number of tests passed. If .env is missing, the extension first offers to create it from .env.example.
5. Open the API documentation starts the development server if none is running and opens the interactive documentation of your new API. When Scramble is missing, the step offers to install it.