Laravel controllers are used to group related route logic into a single class. Instead of writing closures directly in routes, controllers provide a clean structure for handling web requests.

Creating a Controller

You can create a controller using Artisan:

php artisan make:controller UserController

This will create app/Http/Controllers/UserController.php.

Basic Controller Route

Map a route to a controller method:

web.php(routes\web.php):

use App\Http\Controllers\UserController;

Route::get('/users', [UserController::class, 'index']);

UserController.php(app\Http\Controllers\UserController.php):

class UserController extends Controller
{
    public function index() {
        return "List of users";
    }
}

Output:

Single-Action Controllers

If your controller handles only one action, you can use __invoke:

php artisan make:controller ProfileController --invokable

ProfileController.php

class ProfileController extends Controller
{
    public function __invoke(Request $request)
    {
        return "List of profiles";
    }
}

Route:

use App\Http\Controllers\ProfileController;

Route::get('/profiles', ProfileController::class);

Output:

Controller with Parameters

Pass URL parameters to controller methods:

web.php(routes\web.php):

Route::get('/user/{id}', [UserController::class, 'show']);

UserController.php(app\Http\Controllers\UserController.php):

public function show($id) {
  return "User ID: " . $id;
}

Named Controller Routes

Assign a name to controller routes:

web.php(routes\web.php):

Route::get('/user/{id}', [UserController::class, 'show'])->name('user.show');

$url = route('user.show', ['id' => 5]);

Controller Route Groups

Group routes for the same controller:

Route::controller(UserController::class)->group(function () {
  Route::get('/users', 'index');
  Route::get('/users/{id}', 'show');
  Route::post('/users', 'store');
});

Resource Controllers

Resource controllers provide CRUD routes automatically:

php artisan make:controller PostController --resource

This will create app/Http/Controllers/PostController.php. with index,create,store,show,edit,update,destroy functions

class PostController extends Controller
{
    public function index(){   //    }

    public function create(){  //    }

    public function store(Request $request){    //    }

    public function show(string $id){    //    }

    public function edit(string $id){    //    }

    public function update(Request $request, string $id){   //    }

    public function destroy(string $id){    //    }
}

web.php(routes\web.php):

Route::resource('posts', PostController::class);

Generated routes:

API Resource Controllers

For API-only routes (no create, edit):

php artisan make:controller ProductController --api

This will create app/Http/Controllers/ProductController.php. with index,store,show,update,destroy functions

class PostController extends Controller
{
    public function index(){   //    }

    public function store(Request $request){    //    }

    public function show(string $id){    //    }

    public function update(Request $request, string $id){   //    }

    public function destroy(string $id){    //    }
}

api.php(routes\api.php):

Route::apiResource('products', ProductController::class);