Managing Request Host Information in Laravel

Last updated on February 6th, 2025 by Harris Raftopoulos

Laravel provides powerful methods for accessing and manipulating request host information, enabling precise control over URL handling and domain-specific logic. These methods - host(), httpHost(), and schemeAndHttpHost() - each serve distinct purposes in URL manipulation and domain handling.

This functionality is particularly crucial when building multi-tenant applications, handling cross-domain requests, or managing applications that need to generate domain-specific URLs dynamically.

// Basic host information retrieval
$host = $request->host();  // Returns domain name
$httpHost = $request->httpHost();  // Includes port if non-standard
$fullUrl = $request->schemeAndHttpHost();  // Full scheme and host

Here's an example of a multi-environment URL generator:

// app/Services/DomainRouter.php
<?php
 
namespace App\Services;
 
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
 
class DomainRouter
{
    public function __construct(private Request $request)
    {
    }
 
    public function generateRoutes(): array
    {
        $baseHost = $this->request->host();
        $scheme = $this->request->schemeAndHttpHost();
 
        return match($this->getEnvironment($baseHost)) {
            'production' => [
                'api' => "{$scheme}/api/v1",
                'web' => $this->request->httpHost(),
                'assets' => str_replace('api', 'cdn', $scheme),
                'environment' => 'production'
            ],
            'staging' => [
                'api' => "{$scheme}/api/v1",
                'web' => str_replace('api', 'staging', $this->request->httpHost()),
                'assets' => str_replace('api', 'staging-cdn', $scheme),
                'environment' => 'staging'
            ],
            default => [
                'api' => 'http://localhost:8000/api/v1',
                'web' => 'http://localhost:3000',
                'assets' => 'http://localhost:9000',
                'environment' => 'local'
            ]
        ];
    }
 
    private function getEnvironment(string $host): string
    {
        if (str_contains($host, 'prod')) {
            return 'production';
        }
 
        if (str_contains($host, 'staging')) {
            return 'staging';
        }
 
        return 'local';
    }
}

Example usage:

// On production (api.example.com)
{
    "api": "https://api.example.com/api/v1",
    "web": "api.example.com",
    "assets": "https://cdn.example.com",
    "environment": "production"
}
// On staging (api.staging.example.com)
{
    "api": "https://api.staging.example.com/api/v1",
    "web": "staging.example.com",
    "assets": "https://staging-cdn.example.com",
    "environment": "staging"
}