Throw Laravel ValidationException Manually for API Errors

Originally published at recca0120.github.io Scenario When calling an external API and receiving an error response, I want to wrap the error as a ValidationException so the frontend can display it the same way as form validation errors. Solution use Illuminate\Validation\ValidationException ; try { // call external API } catch ( Exception $e ) { throw ValidationException :: withMessages ([ 'field' => [ $e -> getMessage ()], ]); } withMessages() accepts the same format as Validator errors — the key is the field name and the value is an array of error messages. The JSON structure the frontend receives will be identical to a regular validation failure.