The Rick and Morty API - PHP Client

An API wrapper written in PHP for the Rick and Morty API at https://rickandmortyapi.com.

Get all the information about characters, episodes and locations of Rick and Morty with this PHP client without messing around with Curl calls and JSON responses. This library does not return the same JSON provided by the API, but wraps everything in convenient PHP class objects. The Rick and Morty API is made by Axel Fuhrmann.

Requirements

• PHP >= 8.1

Installation

Install the library into your project with Composer.

composer require nickbeen/rick-and-morty-php-api --no-dev

Usage

Initiate a Character, Episode or Location model and use the available tools to list, retrieve or search within that model. The library returns a NotFoundException when using invalid arguments, retrieving nonexistent models or if the Rick and Morty API is not available. Implement a try block to handle the exception in your application in the best possible way.

Collections

Requests for all characters, episodes and locations as well as queries with search parameters will return a Collection object containing an array with results.

Collection object

Field	Type	Description
info	Info	Information about the collection
results	Character[] Episode[] Location[]	Array containing characters, episodes or locations

Info object

Field	Type	Description
count	integer	The length of the response
pages	integer	The amount of pages
next	?string	Link to the next page (if it exists)
prev	?string	Link to the previous page (if it exists)

Usage

For instructions for the usage of collections, check the sections Characters, Episodes and Locations for more details and examples.

Api

This library contains a useful method to return all the endpoints of the Rick and Morty API in an Api object.

Api object

Field	Type	Description
characters	string	Endpoint used for retrieving characters
episodes	string	Endpoint used for retrieving episodes
locations	string	Endpoint used for retrieving locations

Usage

Retrieve an Api object containing the endpoints for retrieving characters, episodes and locations.

$api = new Api();
$api->get();

echo $api->characters;
echo $api->episodes;
echo $api->locations;

Characters

Retrieve any character from Rick and Morty, browse through all the characters or use search parameters to find a specific character.

Character object

Field	Type	Description
id	integer	The id of the character
name	string	The name of the character
status	string	The status of the character
species	string	The species of the character
type	string	The type or subspecies of the character
gender	string	The gender of the character
origin	Origin	Name and link to the character's origin location endpoint
location	Location	Name and link to the character's last known location endpoint
image	string	Link to the character's image
episode	string[]	List of episodes in which this character appeared
url	string	Link to the character's own URL endpoint
created	string	Time at which the character was created in the database

Origin object

Field	Type	Description
name	string	The name of the character
url	string	Url to the character's last known location endpoint

Location object

Field	Type	Description
name	string	The name of the character's origin location
url	string	Url to the character's origin location endpoint

List characters

Retrieve a Collection object with next 20 characters from the first page.

$characters = new Character();
$characters->get();

foreach ($characters->results as $character) {
    echo $character->name;
}

Retrieve a Collection object with next 20 characters from the second page.

$characters = new Character();
$characters->page(2)
    ->get();

foreach ($characters->results as $character) {
    echo $character->name;
}

Get character

Retrieve a Character object with id 1.

$character = new Character();
$character->get(1);

echo $character->name;

Get multiple characters

Retrieve an array containing Character objects with id 1 and 2.

$characters = new Character();
$characters->get(1,2);

foreach ($characters as $character) {
    echo $character->name;
}

Search characters

It is possible to search for characters based on search parameters such as species and name. For gender and status you can use a Gender enum object and Status enum object for auto-completion in an IDE.

Method	Type	Description
withGender	Gender	Filter by given gender
withName	string	Filter by given name
withSpecies	string	Filter by given species
withStatus	Status	Filter by given status
withType	string	Filter by given type

Gender object

Field	Type	Description
Gender::Female	string	Female
Gender::Genderless	string	Genderless
Gender::Male	string	Male
Gender::Unknown	string	Unknown

Status object

Field	Type	Description
Status::Alive	string	Alive
Status::Dead	string	Dead
Status::Unknown	string	Unknown

Retrieve a Collection with all alive male Ricks.

$characters = new Character();
$characters->withGender(Gender::Male)
    ->withName('Rick')
    ->withStatus(Status::Alive)
    ->get();

foreach ($characters->results as $character) {
    echo $character->name;
}

Episodes

Retrieve any episode from Rick and Morty, browse through all the episodes or use search parameters to find a specific episode.

Episode object

Field	Type	Description
id	integer	The id of the episode
name	string	The name of the episode
air_date	string	The air date of the episode
episode	string	The code of the episode
characters	string[]	List of characters who have been seen in the episode
url	string	Link to the episode's own URL endpoint
created	string	Time at which the episode was created in the database

List episodes

Retrieve a Collection object with first 20 episodes from the first page.

$episodes = new Episode();
$episodes->get();

foreach ($episodes->results as $episode) {
    echo $episode->name;
}

Retrieve a Collection object with next 20 episodes from the second page.

$episode = new Episode();
$episode->page(2)
    ->get();

foreach ($episodes->results as $episode) {
    echo $episode->name;
}

Get episode

Retrieve an Episode object with id 1.

$episode = new Episode();
$episode->get(1);

echo $episode->name;

Get multiple episodes

Retrieve an array containing Episode objects with id 1 and 2.

$episodes = new Episode();
$episodes->get(1,2);

foreach ($episodes as $episode) {
    echo $episode->name;
}

Search episodes

It is possible to search for episodes based on search parameters such as episode code (e.g. S01E01) and name.

Method	Type	Description
withEpisode	string	Filter by given episode code
withName	string	Filter by given name

Retrieve a Collection object with all episodes from season 1.

$episodes = new Episode();
$episodes->withEpisode('S01')
    ->get();

foreach ($episodes->results as $episode) {
    echo $episode->name;
}

Locations

Retrieve any location from Rick and Morty, browse through all the featured locations or use search parameters to find a specific location.

Location object

Field	Type	Description
id	integer	The id of the location
name	string	The name of the location
type	string	The type of the episode
dimension	string	The dimension in which the location is located
residents	string[]	List of characters who have been seen in the location
url	string	Link to the location's own URL endpoint
created	string	Time at which the location was created in the database

List locations

Retrieve a Collection object with first 20 locations from the first page.

$locations = new Location();
$locations->get();

foreach ($locations->results as $location) {
    echo $location->name;
}

Retrieve a Collection object with next 20 locations from the second page.

$locations = new Location();
$locations->page(2)
    ->get();

foreach ($locations->results as $location) {
    echo $location->name;
}

Get location

Retrieve a Location object with id 1.

$location = new Location();
$location->get(1);

echo $location->name;

Get multiple locations

Retrieve an array containing Location objects with id 1 and 2.

$locations = new Location();
$locations->get(1,2);

foreach ($locations as $location) {
    echo $location->name;
}

Search locations

It is possible to search for locations based on search parameters such as dimension and name.

Method	Type	Description
withDimension	string	Filter by given dimension
withName	string	Filter by given name
withType	string	Filter by the given type

Retrieve a Collection object with all locations within dimension C-137.

$location = new Location();
$location->withDimension('Dimension C-137')
    ->get();

foreach ($locations->results as $location) {
    echo $location->name;
}

FAQ

What are the limits of the API?

The API is open and requires no authentication. According to the R implementation Mortyr, the API allows 10.000 requests per IP address per day after which any request will result in a 429 (Too Many Requests) response.

Can I get more than 20 results per page in a Collection?

The API returns 20 results per page by design and this cannot be adjusted. It is however possible to return more than 20 results by manually inserting more than 20 ids in the get() method.

How about extra filters?

Not possible, this library already offers all the available filters currently provided by the API.

Why is the code of the episode called episode in the Episode model?

It looks like an oopsie from the creator of the Rick And Morty API. There is an unresolved pull request to rename the field to code.

License

This library is licensed under the MIT License (MIT). See the LICENSE for more details.