---
title: "JSON resource — Reviews for Laravel | Roundly"
description: "ReviewResource and ReviewCollection expose a sensible public API shape — swap the author and subject resources, or publish them to customise the fields."
url: https://roundly-consulting.com/open-source/docs/reviews-for-laravel/json-resource
language: en
---

[All packages](https://roundly-consulting.com/open-source.md)

[Reviews for Laravel](https://roundly-consulting.com/open-source/docs/reviews-for-laravel.md)

# JSON resource

ReviewResource (and ReviewCollection) expose a sensible public shape for API and mobile clients:

```php
use RoundlyConsulting\Reviews\Http\Resources\ReviewResource;

return ReviewResource::collection(
    $product->approvedReviews()->with(['author', 'reviewable', 'responses'])->get(),
);
```

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| `id / parent_id` | Review key; parent key for owner responses. |
| `rating / status / verified` | Score (or null), status string, verified flag. |
| `title / content` | The review text. |
| `helpful_count / unhelpful_count / helpful_score` | Vote tallies and their difference. |
| `author / reviewable` | Each as { id, type } — type is the model’s class basename (User), never its class name; null once the related row is gone. |
| `responses` | Nested ReviewResource items — only when the relation is loaded. |
| `photos` | A list of { id, url, srcset }, signed when photos are private. |
| `created_at / updated_at / approved_at` | ISO 8601 strings. |

meta is deliberately not exposed, so internal notes and rejection reasons stay private. Photo URLs follow the photo visibility — signed for private photos, never public.

## Author and subject

author and reviewable never carry a PHP class name. Each renders through its own resource that wraps the related model — ReviewAuthorResource and ReviewableResource, both {id, type} by default. type is the model’s class basename (User, Product), with or without a morph map — never the morph alias or the class name (App\\Models\\User):

```json
{
  "id": 12,
  "rating": 5,
  "author": { "id": 7, "type": "User" },
  "reviewable": { "id": 42, "type": "Product" },
  …
}
```

A related row that no longer exists renders null; both keys are always present. To add what your API needs — a name, an avatar, a title — point reviews.resources.author or reviews.resources.reviewable at a JsonResource of your own. It receives the related model:

```php
// app/Http/Resources/ReviewerResource.php
final class ReviewerResource extends JsonResource
{
    public function toArray(Request $request): array
    {
        return [
            'id' => $this->resource->getKey(),
            'name' => $this->resource->name,
            'avatar' => $this->resource->avatar_url,
        ];
    }
}

// config/reviews.php
'resources' => [
    'author' => App\Http\Resources\ReviewerResource::class,
    'reviewable' => RoundlyConsulting\Reviews\Http\Resources\ReviewableResource::class,
],
```

A blank value takes the packaged resource; anything that is not a concrete JsonResource subclass throws InvalidConfigurationException naming the key. ReviewResource::authorOf($review, $request) and ReviewResource::reviewableOf($review, $request) return the same rendered references as plain arrays (or null).

## Paginated collections

```php
use RoundlyConsulting\Reviews\Http\Resources\ReviewCollection;

return new ReviewCollection(
    $product->approvedReviews()->latestFirst()->paginate(10),
);
```

ReviewCollection loads the authors and subjects of its reviews — and of the owner responses already loaded on them — in one query per morph type before rendering; it never loads responses itself. When you render reviews any other way (new ReviewResource($review), ReviewResource::collection()), eager-load author and reviewable, as above, to avoid a query per review.

## Customising

Publish editable copies — App\\Http\\Resources\\Reviews\\ReviewResource and ReviewCollection in app/Http/Resources/Reviews, app-namespaced classes you own that start out rendering exactly what the package’s resource does:

```bash
# Translations → lang/vendor/reviews
php artisan vendor:publish --tag="reviews-translations"

# JSON resources → app/Http/Resources/Reviews
php artisan vendor:publish --tag="reviews-resources"
```

Edit them, and use them in your controllers instead of the package classes:

```php
use App\Http\Resources\Reviews\ReviewResource;

return ReviewResource::collection(
    $product->approvedReviews()->with(['author', 'reviewable', 'responses'])->get(),
);
```

The published ReviewResource renders author and reviewable through the package’s helpers, so the reviews.resources.\* swaps apply to your copy too:

```php
// app/Http/Resources/Reviews/ReviewResource.php
use RoundlyConsulting\Reviews\Http\Resources\ReviewResource as PackageReviewResource;

'author' => PackageReviewResource::authorOf($review, $request),
'reviewable' => PackageReviewResource::reviewableOf($review, $request),
```

Copies published before 1.2.0 still render the stored author\_type and reviewable\_type — the full class name on an app without a morph map. Publish the resources again (--force overwrites your edits), or change those two keys in your copy to the lines above.

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