Controllers and registration

An Exert controller is the menu of operations available through an endpoint. Its main job is mapping public names to action classes.

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use App\Http\Actions\System\EchoMessage;
use App\Http\Actions\System\Status;
use Exert\ActionController;

class SystemController extends ActionController
{
    protected array $actions = [
        '/' => Status::class,
        'status' => Status::class,
        'echo' => EchoMessage::class,
        '*' => Status::class,
    ];
}

The classes above are defined in Your first endpoint.

The / entry is optional and handles requests where the configured action key is completely absent. It cannot be selected by sending / as the value, and a present empty value does not select it. The * entry is optional and handles invalid or unregistered values. It also handles a missing key when / is not registered. Without an applicable entry, those requests return 404.

Names are part of your API

A client sends ?action=echo. It does not send the PHP class name. You can reorganize your PHP namespaces while keeping the public name stable.

The name must match a registered entry exactly. Dotted names such as system.status and hyphenated names such as send-message are allowed.

Choose names that make sense to the caller. A small group may only need cancel; a larger group may benefit from orders.cancel.

What the resolver does

The route calls the inherited resolve() method. It reads the selected name, checks the map, creates the mapped class through Laravel's container, and calls its initiate() method.

Unknown names return 404 unless a * fallback is registered. A missing selection uses / when available, falls back to *, and otherwise returns 404. User input is never used directly as a PHP class name.

Registration is not a permission check

Putting refund in the map means it can be selected. Your route middleware, action middleware, form request, or policy must still decide who may refund which order.

Keep the map useful

Group actions that share a meaningful area of the application. One controller for every operation in the entire application becomes difficult to understand. A controller for orders and another for reports usually tells a clearer story.

You can inspect a controller's map through getActions(). The action-list command reads this map too, so keep custom map-building logic safe to run in the console.

Next: Register the route.