How to determine where a request is coming from in a REST api

You can use

if ($request->wantsJson()) {
     // enter code heree
}

Use this Way. you can simply identify URL being call form ( Web or API )

Controller code

if ( Request::capture()->expectsJson()  )
     {  return "API Method";  }
     else
     {  return "Web Method";     }

Route Code

For api.php Route::post("category","CategoryController@index");

For Web.php Route::get("category","CategoryController@index");

You can use Request::wantsJson() like this:

if (Request::wantsJson()) {
    // return JSON-formatted response
} else {
    // return HTML response
}

Basically what Request::wantsJson() does is that it checks whether the accept header in the request is application/json and return true or false based on that. That means you'll need to make sure your client sends an "accept: application/json" header too.

Note that my answer here does not determine whether "a request is coming from a REST API", but rather detects if the client requests for a JSON response. My answer should still be the way to do it though, because using REST API does not necessary means requiring JSON response. REST API may return XML, HTML, etc.

---

Reference to Laravel's Illuminate\Http\Request:

/**
 * Determine if the current request is asking for JSON in return.
 *
 * @return bool
 */
public function wantsJson()
{
    $acceptable = $this->getAcceptableContentTypes();

    return isset($acceptable[0]) && $acceptable[0] == 'application/json';
}

Note::This is for future viewers

The approach I found convenient using a prefix api for api calls. In the route file use

Route::group('prefix'=>'api',function(){
    //handle requests by assigning controller methods here for example
    Route::get('posts', 'Api\Post\PostController@index');
}

In the above approach, I separate controllers for api call and web users. But if you want to use the same controller then Laravel Request has a convenient way. You can identify the prefix within your controller.

public function index(Request $request)
{
    if( $request->is('api/*')){
        //write your logic for api call
        $user = $this->getApiUser();
    }else{
        //write your logic for web call
        $user = $this->getWebUser();
    }
}

The is method allows you to verify that the incoming request URI matches a given pattern. You may use the * character as a wildcard when utilizing this method.