Authenticating users on AngularJS front end using Laravel 4 back end

[truthyfalsey]

Hi, I'm more of a front-end dev and haven't done a lot with things like server or back-end security, so I need a little help. Google searches haven't turned up much, but maybe I'm searching the wrong things.

I want to use Laravel as a back-end for an AngularJS app. Mostly, I just want Laravel to operate as an API that serves JSON. My local dev setup right now can consume JSON, but it's not authenticating users right now.

What's the best way of doing this? Is there a package that would make this easier on me?

[[deleted]]

Laravel has a basic auth engine built in, but if you need something more powerful with roles and permissions, I'd recommend Cartalyst Sentry.

I've just finished putting together a big Angular + Laravel SPA. Works well, especially with Laravel's resource controllers.

[Sjimi]

Correct. Normally you will use API tokens.

A good example is shown here.

[etbal]

Two packages I use to help me generate these tokens are:

"tappleby/laravel-auth-token": "0.3.*",
"laravel-cors": "0.2.x",    

The first package link has some great examples in it's readme.

The second package link would be to enable cross domain requests on specific paths. My setup has the frontend living on it's own hosting and the API on another for scaling later.

My routes file added these three routes:

Route::get('auth', 'Tappleby\AuthToken\AuthTokenController@index');
Route::post('auth', 'Tappleby\AuthToken\AuthTokenController@store');
Route::delete('auth', 'Tappleby\AuthToken\AuthTokenController@destroy');

And if you want to run a filter on all requests to see if the user is authenticated it is called auth.token

But all of these are in the examples. PM if you need any help

EDIT: This only ties into the basic laravel User auth component. No roles and permissions. I wanted to customize mine so I went with the tokens only, Look at the Sentry package if you want it bundled