---
url: /laravel-api-generator/guide/extension/builder.md
---
# Entity Builder

**New API** opens a form on the left and, on the right, the files the package is about to write.

![The builder: the form on the left, the live preview of the files on the right](/ext-builder.png)

## The form

Name the entity first. The input validates PascalCase as you type, rejects the names Laravel reserves, and shows the table and the route the entity will get. A name that already exists is allowed, and the preview then compares the existing files with what the generator would write.

The **Examples** menu fills the form with a blog post, a product, a task, a comment, a profile or an article. The **Import** menu brings an entity from a database table, a `class_data.json` file or an OpenAPI spec, as described in [Sources & Review](/guide/extension/imports#builder-imports).

Fields are rows you add, remove and drag to reorder, each with a name and a type (`string`, `integer`, `text`, `float`, `boolean`, `json`, `date`, `datetime`, `uuid`…). Under each row, **nullable**, **unique** and **default** set the column modifiers. Two settings go further than a column:

* The `enum` type asks for its values (`draft`, `published`), and the generated API gets a backed PHP enum class, the model cast, `Rule::enum()` validation and a faked factory value.
* The key icon makes the field the primary key instead of the default `id`. The model (`$primaryKey`, `$incrementing`, `$keyType`), the migration and every incoming relation follow. See [Field Types & Primary Keys](/guide/field-types).

Relations get their own rows (`belongsTo`, `hasMany`, `hasOne`, `belongsToMany`). The target model autocompletes from `app/Models`, the relation name defaults to the model, and the row shows the foreign key or the pivot table it implies. Generation hands the entity to the package in the schema file format, so relations arrive with real foreign key columns, foreign-keyed factories and passing tests.

The options are Soft deletes, Pest tests, Sanctum auth, Spatie QueryBuilder, JSON:API resources (Laravel 12.45+) and Postman collection. **Only some files** restricts the generation to the kinds you tick, in which case routes and the seeder are left alone. The `...` menu resets the form and opens the project actions, the stubs and the snippets.

![Pick an example, add a relation, and the preview follows](/ext-builder.gif)

## Live preview

The preview comes from the package installed in your project. When the form opens, the extension starts `php artisan api-generator:serve --stdio` and keeps it running, so every change is rendered in a few milliseconds by the same code that will write the files. Your published stubs, enum casts, custom primary keys and relations show up exactly as they will be generated.

Every file the generation touches is listed with its folder: model, controller, service, DTO, both requests, resource, policy, migration, factory, seeder, tests and enums, plus `routes/api.php` and `DatabaseSeeder.php`. Click one to read it. A badge says whether the file is new, modified, unchanged or kept, and **View the diffs** opens each modified file side by side with what the generator would write.

When the preview cannot run, it says why and offers the fix: `composer install` when the package is not installed yet, `composer update nameless/laravel-api-generator -W` when it is too old, or the setting to change when PHP is missing. The PHP process restarts by itself after a `composer update`, a change to `.env` or to `config/`.

## Safety while generating

A file you edited by hand since the last generation is marked **kept**, and the package leaves it as it is. Before generating, a modal names these files: **Overwrite** replaces them anyway, **Keep my changes** generates everything else. With a package older than 3.11, the modal lists every existing file that would be overwritten, so you can back out before anything is written.

A running generation can be stopped. Click the button again and the artisan process is killed, with the form as you left it. Once the files are written, the panel shows the [API ready screen](/guide/extension/quick-actions) and its next steps.

## The same command as the terminal

The form builds a `make:fullapi` call, the command documented in the [CLI Reference](/reference/cli). An entity generated from the extension, from the terminal or in a CI script produces exactly the same files.