Simplifying Stream Handling with Laravel's resource Method

Last updated on June 30th, 2025 by Harris Raftopoulos

Laravel's HTTP Client now includes a resource() method that streamlines working with response streams, eliminating the verbose setup previously required for stream operations.

Before this enhancement, converting HTTP responses to streams required multiple steps and additional imports:

$response = Http::get($documentUrl);
$stream = StreamWrapper::getResource($response->toPsrResponse()->getBody());
Storage::writeStream('document.pdf', $stream);

The new approach reduces this to a single method call, making stream handling more intuitive and readable.

$response = Http::get($documentUrl);
Storage::writeStream('document.pdf', $response->resource());

Here's a file backup service that demonstrates practical stream usage:

class BackupService
{
    public function downloadRemoteBackup(string $backupUrl, string $destinationPath)
    {
        try {
            $this->validateBackupUrl($backupUrl);
 
            $response = Http::timeout(300)->get($backupUrl);
 
            if ($response->failed()) {
                throw new BackupDownloadException("Failed to retrieve backup from {$backupUrl}");
            }
 
            $fileSize = $response->header('Content-Length');
            $this->logBackupStart($backupUrl, $fileSize);
 
            Storage::disk('backups')->writeStream(
                $destinationPath,
                $response->resource()
            );
 
            $this->verifyBackupIntegrity($destinationPath, $fileSize);
            $this->logBackupCompletion($destinationPath);
 
            return true;
 
        } catch (Exception $e) {
            $this->logBackupError($backupUrl, $e->getMessage());
            throw new BackupProcessingException("Backup operation failed: {$e->getMessage()}");
        }
    }
 
    public function syncMediaLibrary(array $mediaUrls)
    {
        $results = [];
 
        foreach ($mediaUrls as $url) {
            $filename = basename(parse_url($url, PHP_URL_PATH));
 
            try {
                $response = Http::get($url);
 
                if ($response->successful()) {
                    Storage::disk('media')->writeStream(
                        "library/{$filename}",
                        $response->resource()
                    );
 
                    $results[$url] = 'success';
                } else {
                    $results[$url] = 'failed';
                }
 
            } catch (Exception $e) {
                $results[$url] = 'error: ' . $e->getMessage();
            }
        }
 
        return $results;
    }
 
    private function validateBackupUrl(string $url)
    {
        if (!filter_var($url, FILTER_VALIDATE_URL)) {
            throw new InvalidArgumentException("Invalid backup URL provided");
        }
    }
 
    private function verifyBackupIntegrity(string $path, $expectedSize)
    {
        $actualSize = Storage::disk('backups')->size($path);
 
        if ($expectedSize && $actualSize !== (int) $expectedSize) {
            throw new BackupIntegrityException("File size mismatch during backup verification");
        }
    }
}