How can I shorten Laravel API response time?

Question

I was pulling the data this way, but when I query with Postman, it takes too long to get the response.

public function getAllItems(Request $request)
    {
        $type = $request->input('type');
        
        $query = Item::query();
        
        if ($type === 'series') {
            $query->where('is_series', true);
        } elseif ($type === 'movies') {
            $query->where('is_series', false);
        }

        $items = $query->get();
        
        return response()->json($items, 200, [], JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE | JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES);
    }

I tried using caching to shorten the response time. I also added the start and end times of the query to the response.

public function getAllItems(Request $request)
{
    $type = $request->input('type');

    $cacheKey = 'all_items_' . $type;

    $startTime = microtime(true);

    if (Cache::has($cacheKey)) {
        $items = Cache::get($cacheKey);
        
        $endTime = microtime(true);
        $executionTime = ($endTime - $startTime);
        
        return response()->json([
            'isCache' => true,
            'time' => $executionTime . ' seconds',
            'data' => $items,
            ], 200, [], JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE | JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES);
    } else {
        $query = Item::query();
        
        if ($type === 'series') {
            $query->where('is_series', true);
        } elseif ($type === 'movies') {
            $query->where('is_series', false);
        }

        $items = $query->get();

        Cache::put($cacheKey, $items, now()->addMinutes(60));
        
        $endTime = microtime(true);
        $executionTime = ($endTime - $startTime);
        
        return response()->json([
            'isCache' => false,
            'time' => $executionTime . ' seconds',
            'data' => $items,
            ], 200, [], JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE | JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES);
    }
}

However, as you can see in the screenshot, there is a big difference between the time I added to the response and the time it took for Postman to return the response.

How can I get the response faster?

Answer 1

In my case I implemented the following solution to the problem:

I added the array to the cache using the "toArray()" method. Thus, when it fetches the data in the cache, it will not waste time parsing it again.

I save the data in the cache indefinitely and update this cache when necessary with another function.

Here's what the final version looks like:

public function getAllItems(Request $request)
{
    $type = $request->input('type');
    
    $cacheKey = 'all_items_' . $type;
    
    if (Cache::has($cacheKey)) {
        $items = Cache::get($cacheKey);
        
        return response()->json(['data' => $items], 200, [], JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE | JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES);
    } else {
        $query = Item::query();
        
        if ($type === 'series') {
            $query->where('is_series', true);
        } elseif ($type === 'movies') {
            $query->where('is_series', false);
        }
        
        $items = $query->get();

        Cache::forever($cacheKey, $items->toArray());

        return response()->json(['data' => $items], 200, [], JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE | JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES);
    }
}
public function updateCache(Request $request)
{
    $type = $request->input('type');
    $cacheKey = 'all_items_' . $type;
    
    $query = Item::query();

    if ($type === 'series') {
        $query->where('is_series', true);
    } elseif ($type === 'movies') {
        $query->where('is_series', false);
    }
    
    $items = $query->get();
    
    Cache::forever($cacheKey, $items->toArray());
    
    return response()->json([
            'status' => true,
            'message' => $type . ' Cache updated successfully',
            'statusCode' => 200
            ], 200);
}

Answer 2

To solve this issue, there are several ways: firstly, ignore extra columns in the query by using the select method, secondly, use pagination.

Answer 3

There are several ways to reduce API response.

1. Use select method. so it will be select only the column you need.

Example:

$items = $query->select('id', 'name', 'description', 'created_at', 'updated_at')->get();

2. Use indexing for your 'is_series' column because you are using condition on this column.

3. Your Cache key may overlap. Make sure your Cache key is unique.

4. Consider pagination for large datasets

Example

$query->paginate(10);

These above points will short your response time.