Use PHP 8 attributes to register routes in a Laravel app

This package provides attributes to automatically register routes. Here's a quick example:

use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Get;

class MyController
{
    #[Get('my-route')]
    public function myMethod()
    {
    }
}

This attribute will automatically register this route:

Route::get('my-route', [MyController::class, 'myMethod']);

Are you a visual learner?

In this video you'll get an introduction to PHP 8 attributes and how this laravel-routes-attributes works under the hood.

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Installation

You can install the package via composer:

composer require spatie/laravel-route-attributes

You can publish the config file with:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Spatie\RouteAttributes\RouteAttributesServiceProvider" --tag="config"

This is the contents of the published config file:

return [
    /*
     *  Automatic registration of routes will only happen if this setting is `true`
     */
    'enabled' => true,

    /*
     * Controllers in these directories that have routing attributes
     * will automatically be registered.
     *
     * Optionally, you can specify group configuration by using key/values
     */
    'directories' => [
        app_path('Http/Controllers'),

        app_path('Http/Controllers/Web') => [
            'middleware' => ['web']
        ],

        app_path('Http/Controllers/Api') => [
            'prefix' => 'api',
            'middleware' => 'api'
        ],
    ],
];

For controllers outside the applications root namespace directories can also be added using a namespace => path pattern in the directories array. In the following example controllers from Modules\Admin\Http\Controllers will be included.

'directories' => [
    'Modules\Admin\Http\Controllers\\' => base_path('admin-module/Http/Controllers'),
    // Or
    base_path('admin-module/Http/Controllers') => [
        'namespace' => 'Modules\Admin\Http\Controllers\\'
    ],
    app_path('Http/Controllers'),
],

If you are using a directory structure where you co-locate multiple types of files in the same directory and want to be more specific about which files are checked for route attributes, you can use the patterns and not_patterns options. For example, if you are co-locating your tests with your controllers you could use the patterns option to only look in controller files, or you could use not_patterns to configure it to not look in test files for route attributes.

'directories' => [
    base_path('app-modules/Blog') => [
        // only register routes in files that match the patterns
        'patterns' => ['*Controller.php'],
        // do not register routes in files that match the patterns
        'not_patterns' => ['*Test.php'],
    ],
],

Usage

The package provides several annotations that should be put on controller classes and methods. These annotations will be used to automatically register routes

Adding a GET route

use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Get;

class MyController
{
    #[Get('my-route')]
    public function myMethod()
    {

    }
}

This attribute will automatically register this route:

Route::get('my-route', [MyController::class, 'myMethod']);

Using other HTTP verbs

We have left no HTTP verb behind. You can use these attributes on controller methods.

#[Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Post('my-uri')]
#[Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Put('my-uri')]
#[Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Patch('my-uri')]
#[Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Delete('my-uri')]
#[Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Options('my-uri')]

Resource controllers

To register a resource controller, use the Resource attribute as shown in the example below.

You can use only or except parameters to manage your resource routes availability.

You can use parameters parameter to modify the default parameters set by the resource attribute.

You can use the names parameter to set the route names for the resource controller actions. Pass a string value to set a base route name for each controller action or pass an array value to define the route name for each controller action.

You can use shallow parameter to make a nested resource to apply nesting only to routes without a unique child identifier (index, create, store).

You can use apiResource boolean parameter to only include actions used in APIs. Alternatively, you can use the ApiResource attribute, which extends the Resource attribute class, but the parameter apiResource is already set to true.

Using Resource attribute with Domain, Prefix and Middleware attributes works as well.

use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Resource;

#[Prefix('api/v1')]
#[Resource(
    resource: 'photos.comments',
    apiResource: true,
    shallow: true,
    parameters: ['comments' => 'comment:uuid'],
    names: 'api.v1.photoComments',
    except: ['destroy'],
)]
// OR #[ApiResource(resource: 'photos.comments', shallow: true, ...)]
class PhotoCommentController
{
    public function index(Photo $photo)
    {
    }

    public function store(Request $request, Photo $photo)
    {
    }

    public function show(Comment $comment)
    {
    }

    public function update(Request $request, Comment $comment)
    {
    }
}

The attribute in the example above will automatically register following routes:

Route::get('api/v1/photos/{photo}/comments', [PhotoCommentController::class, 'index'])->name('api.v1.photoComments.index');
Route::post('api/v1/photos/{photo}/comments', [PhotoCommentController::class, 'store'])->name('api.v1.photoComments.store');
Route::get('api/v1/comments/{comment}', [PhotoCommentController::class, 'show'])->name('api.v1.photoComments.show');
Route::match(['put', 'patch'], 'api/v1/comments/{comment}', [PhotoCommentController::class, 'update'])->name('api.v1.photoComments.update');

Using multiple verbs

To register a route for all verbs, you can use the Any attribute:

#[Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Any('my-uri')]

To register a route for a few verbs at once, you can use the Route attribute directly:

#[Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Route(['put', 'patch'], 'my-uri')]

Specify a route name

All HTTP verb attributes accept a parameter named name that accepts a route name.

use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Get;

class MyController
{
    #[Get('my-route', name: "my-route-name")]
    public function myMethod()
    {
    }
}

This attribute will automatically register this route:

Route::get('my-route', [MyController::class, 'myMethod'])->name('my-route-name');

Adding middleware

All HTTP verb attributes accept a parameter named middleware that accepts a middleware class or an array of middleware classes.

use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Get;

class MyController
{
    #[Get('my-route', middleware: MyMiddleware::class)]
    public function myMethod()
    {

    }
}

This annotation will automatically register this route:

Route::get('my-route', [MyController::class, 'myMethod'])->middleware(MyMiddleware::class);

To apply middleware on all methods of a class you can use the Middleware attribute. You can mix this with applying attribute on a method.

use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Get;
use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Middleware;

#[Middleware(MyMiddleware::class)]
class MyController
{
    #[Get('my-route')]
    public function firstMethod()
    {
    }

    #[Get('my-other-route', middleware: MyOtherMiddleware::class)]
    public function secondMethod()
    {
    }
}

These annotations will automatically register these routes:

Route::get('my-route', [MyController::class, 'firstMethod'])->middleware(MyMiddleware::class);
Route::get('my-other-route', [MyController::class, 'secondMethod'])->middleware([MyMiddleware::class, MyOtherMiddleware::class]);

Specifying a prefix

You can use the Prefix annotation on a class to prefix the routes of all methods of that class.

use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Get;
use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Post;
use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Prefix;

#[Prefix('my-prefix')]
class MyController
{
    #[Get('my-get-route')]
    public function myGetMethod()
    {
    }

    #[Post('my-post-route')]
    public function myPostMethod()
    {
    }
}

These annotations will automatically register these routes:

Route::get('my-prefix/my-get-route', [MyController::class, 'myGetMethod']);
Route::post('my-prefix/my-post-route', [MyController::class, 'myPostMethod']);

Specifying a domain

You can use the Domain annotation on a class to prefix the routes of all methods of that class.

use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Get;
use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Post;
use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Domain;

#[Domain('my-subdomain.localhost')]
class MyController
{
    #[Get('my-get-route')]
    public function myGetMethod()
    {
    }

    #[Post('my-post-route')]
    public function myPostMethod()
    {
    }
}

These annotations will automatically register these routes:

Route::get('my-get-route', [MyController::class, 'myGetMethod'])->domain('my-subdomain.localhost');
Route::post('my-post-route', [MyController::class, 'myPostMethod'])->domain('my-subdomain.localhost');

Specifying a domain from a config key

There maybe a need to define a domain from a configuration file, for example where your subdomain will be different on your development environment to your production environment.

// config/domains.php
return [
    'main' => env('SITE_URL', 'example.com'),
    'subdomain' => env('SUBDOMAIN_URL', 'subdomain.example.com')
];

use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Get;
use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Post;
use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\DomainFromConfig;

#[DomainFromConfig('domains.main')]
class MyController
{
    #[Get('my-get-route')]
    public function myGetMethod()
    {
    }
}

When this is parsed, it will get the value of domains.main from the config file and register the route as follows;

Route::get('my-get-route', [MyController::class, 'myGetMethod'])->domain('example.com');

Scoping bindings

When implicitly binding multiple Eloquent models in a single route definition, you may wish to scope the second Eloquent model such that it must be a child of the previous Eloquent model.

By adding the ScopeBindings annotation, you can enable this behaviour:

use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Get;
use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\ScopeBindings;

class MyController
{
    #[Get('users/{user}/posts/{post}')]
    #[ScopeBindings]
    public function getUserPost(User $user, Post $post)
    {
        return $post;
    }
}

This is akin to using the ->scopeBindings() method on the route registrar manually:

Route::get('/users/{user}/posts/{post}', function (User $user, Post $post) {
    return $post;
})->scopeBindings();

By default, Laravel will enabled scoped bindings on a route when using a custom keyed implicit binding as a nested route parameter, such as /users/{user}/posts/{post:slug}.

To disable this behaviour, you can pass false to the attribute:

#[ScopeBindings(false)]

This is the equivalent of calling ->withoutScopedBindings() on the route registrar manually.

You can also use the annotation on controllers to enable implicitly scoped bindings for all its methods. For any methods where you want to override this, you can pass false to the attribute on those methods, just like you would normally.

Specifying where

You can use the Where annotation on a class or method to constrain the format of your route parameters.

use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Get;
use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Post;
use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Where;
use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\WhereAlphaNumeric;

#[Where('my-where', '[0-9]+')]
class MyController
{
    #[Get('my-get-route/{my-where}')]
    public function myGetMethod()
    {
    }

    #[Post('my-post-route/{my-where}/{my-alpha-numeric}')]
    #[WhereAlphaNumeric('my-alpha-numeric')]
    public function myPostMethod()
    {
    }
}

These annotations will automatically register these routes:

Route::get('my-get-route/{my-where}', [MyController::class, 'myGetMethod'])->where(['my-where' => '[0-9]+']);
Route::post('my-post-route/{my-where}/{my-alpha-numeric}', [MyController::class, 'myPostMethod'])->where(['my-where' => '[0-9]+', 'my-alpha-numeric' => '[a-zA-Z0-9]+']);

For convenience, some commonly used regular expression patterns have helper attributes that allow you to quickly add pattern constraints to your routes.

#[WhereAlpha('alpha')]
#[WhereAlphaNumeric('alpha-numeric')]
#[WhereIn('in', ['value1', 'value2'])]
#[WhereNumber('number')]
#[WhereUlid('ulid')]
#[WhereUuid('uuid')]

Specifying a group

You can use the Group annotation on a class to create multiple groups with different domains and prefixes for the routes of all methods of that class.

use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Get;
use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Post;
use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Domain;

#[Group(domain: 'my-subdomain.localhost', prefix: 'my-prefix')]
#[Group(domain: 'my-second-subdomain.localhost', prefix: 'my-second-prefix')]
class MyController
{
    #[Get('my-get-route')]
    public function myGetMethod()
    {
    }

    #[Post('my-post-route')]
    public function myPostMethod()
    {
    }
}

These annotations will automatically register these routes:

Route::get('my-get-route', [MyController::class, 'myGetMethod'])->prefix('my-prefix')->domain('my-subdomain.localhost');
Route::post('my-post-route', [MyController::class, 'myPostMethod'])->prefix('my-prefix')->domain('my-subdomain.localhost');
Route::get('my-get-route', [MyController::class, 'myGetMethod'])->prefix('my-second-prefix')->domain('my-second-subdomain.localhost');
Route::post('my-post-route', [MyController::class, 'myPostMethod'])->prefix('my-second-prefix')->domain('my-second-subdomain.localhost');

Specifying defaults

You can use the Defaults annotation on a class or method to define the default values of your optional route parameters.

use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Defaults;
use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Get;
use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Post;

#[Defaults('param', 'controller-default')]
class MyController extends Controller
{
    #[Get('my-get-route/{param?}')]
    public function myGetMethod($param)
    {
    }

    #[Post('my-post-route/{param?}/{param2?}')]
    #[Defaults('param2', 'method-default')]
    public function myPostMethod($param, $param2)
    {
    }

    #[Get('my-default-route/{param?}/{param2?}/{param3?}')]
    #[Defaults('param2', 'method-default-first')]
    #[Defaults('param3', 'method-default-second')]
    public function myDefaultMethod($param, $param2, $param3)
    {
    }

    #[Get('my-override-route/{param?}')]
    #[Defaults('param', 'method-default')]
    public function myOverrideMethod($param)
    {
    }
}

These annotations will automatically register these routes:

Route::get('my-get-route/{param?}', [MyController::class, 'myGetMethod'])->setDefaults(['param', 'controller-default']);
Route::post('my-post-route/{param?}/{param2?}', [MyController::class, 'myPostMethod'])->setDefaults(['param', 'controller-default', 'param2' => 'method-default']);
Route::get('my-default-route/{param?}/{param2?}/{param3?}', [MyController::class, 'myDefaultMethod'])->setDefaults(['param', 'controller-default', 'param2' => 'method-default-first', 'param3' => 'method-default-second']);
Route::get('my-override-route/{param?}', [MyController::class, 'myOverrideMethod'])->setDefaults(['param', 'method-default']);

With Trashed

You can use the WithTrashed annotation on a class or method to enable WithTrashed bindings to the model. You can explicitly override the behaviour using WithTrashed(false) if it is applied at the class level

use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Get;
use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\Post;
use Spatie\RouteAttributes\Attributes\WithTrashed;

#[WithTrashed]
class MyController extends Controller
{
    #[Get('my-get-route/{param}')]
    #[WithTrashed]
    public function myGetMethod($param)
    {
    }

    #[Post('my-post-route/{param}')]
    #[WithTrashed(false)]    
    public function myPostMethod($param)
    {
    }

    #[Get('my-default-route/{param}')]
    public function myDefaultMethod($param)
    {
    }    
}

These annotations will automatically register these routes:

Route::get('my-get-route/{param}', [MyController::class, 'myGetMethod'])->WithTrashed();
Route::post('my-post-route/{param}', [MyController::class, 'myPostMethod'])->withTrashed(false);
Route::get('my-default-route/{param}', [MyController::class, 'myDefaultMethod'])->withTrashed();

Testing

composer test

Changelog

Please see CHANGELOG for more information on what has changed recently.

Contributing

Please see CONTRIBUTING for details.

Security Vulnerabilities

Please review our security policy on how to report security vulnerabilities.

Credits

• Freek Van der Herten
• All Contributors

License

The MIT License (MIT). Please see License File for more information.