you can use a middleware,

infact laravel comes with a middleware that does similar task. take a look at App\Http\Middleware\RedirectIfAuthenticated class

@scottabailey did you ever end up finding a solution for this? I'm having this same problem. The moment I switch the default route to API, I can use the Auth::check() method, but when i switch it back to web, it ceases to work.

@Astroanu suggested implementing a middleware, but I'm not sure how this would work. Even if I run the Auth::guard('api')->check(), it doesn't give me access to the auth::check method.

Please Create an API Middleware and use it on the specific routes:

see below:

https://laravel.com/docs/5.6/middleware

@peace-N thanks for the response. That's actually not what I was asking. I know how to create and implement middleware, I'm just wondering how to make the auth::check method available to the API route when the default guard is set to WEB.

Here's the problem, I can access the Auth::check() method when applying the auth middleware to the specific route, but that will return a non authenticated message before hitting the controller. I need to return data regardless of whether they are logged in or not, which is why I use the auth::check method and don't force the auth.

Ultimately, what I'm wondering if @scottbailey ever managed to resolve, is whether he built a middleware that works in the circumstance. I tried creating one with just this:

Auth::guard('api')->check();
return $next($request);

which didn't work. I also tried to replicate the Authenticate middleware class and tweaking it to return regardless of the auth fail, but didn't actually managed to get it to go through if it failed.

Anyone has a workable solution they can demonstrate?

In the mean time, you can use this in your controllers to check if the user is logged in with the api key:

$user = Auth::guard('api')->user();

Solution found. Create a middleware with this code:

namespace App\Http\Middleware;

use Closure;
use Illuminate\Contracts\Auth\Factory as Auth;

class CheckAuth
{
	protected $auth;

	public function __construct(Auth $auth)
	{
		$this->auth = $auth;
	}

	public function handle($request, Closure $next, ...$guards)
	{
		$this->authenticate(["api"]);

		return $next($request);
	}

	protected function authenticate(array $guards)
	{
		if (empty($guards)) {
			return $this->auth->authenticate();
		}

		foreach ($guards as $guard) {
			if ($this->auth->guard($guard)->check()) {
				return $this->auth->shouldUse($guard);
			}
		}

		throw new AuthenticationException('Unauthenticated.', $guards);
	}
}

Of course, implement this inside your kelnel.php

protected $middlewareGroups = [
        'web' => [
            ...
        ],

        'api' => [
            ...
	        \App\Http\Middleware\CheckAuth::class,
        ],
    ];