Routing And Controllers

Routing and Controllers

When to Activate This Skill

Activate this skill whenever:

• Creating new controllers or modifying existing ones
• Registering routes in routes/web.php or other route files
• Working with RESTful resource routing
• Understanding how routes map to Wayfinder TypeScript actions
• Troubleshooting missing controller actions or route registration issues

The Complete Workflow

When creating a new controller with a route:

1. Create the controller using Artisan:

   php artisan make:controller JobController --no-interaction
   

2. Implement the controller action with proper type hints and return types:

   final class JobController
   {
       public function show(int $id): string
       {
           return "Job details for job {$id}";
       }
   }
   

3. Register the route in routes/web.php:

   use App\Http\Controllers\JobController;
   
   Route::middleware(['auth', 'verified'])->group(function () {
       Route::resource('jobs', JobController::class)
            ->only(['show']);
   });
   

4. Generate Wayfinder TypeScript actions:

   php artisan wayfinder:generate --no-interaction
   

5. Use the generated action in React components:

   import JobController from '@/actions/App/Http/Controllers/JobController';
   
   <Link href={JobController.show(jobId).url}>View Job</Link>
   

RESTful Resource Routing

This project uses Laravel's resource routing convention:

Route::resource('jobs', JobController::class)
     ->only(['index', 'show', 'create', 'store', 'edit', 'update', 'destroy']);

Common patterns:

• .only(['index', 'show']) — Read-only resources
• .only(['show']) — Single action (like job details)
• .only(['store', 'update', 'destroy']) — Mutation actions

Critical: Routes Must Be Registered for Wayfinder

Wayfinder only generates TypeScript action files for routes that are actually registered in your route files.

If you create a controller but don't register its route, Wayfinder won't generate the TypeScript action file, and you'll get import errors in your React components.

Troubleshooting Missing Action Files

If import JobController from '@/actions/...' fails:

1. Check that the route is registered in routes/web.php
2. Verify the controller class name matches the import path
3. Run php artisan wayfinder:generate --no-interaction again
4. Check that the generated file exists in resources/js/actions/

If still missing, activate the troubleshooting skill for further diagnosis.