Direct calls

Within an HTTP request, you can call an action without selecting it through a controller:

$response = app(\App\Http\Actions\System\Status::class)
    ->initiate(request());

To expose one action directly as an HTTP endpoint, use the fluent route API:

Route::exert('/status')
    ->action(\App\Http\Actions\System\Status::class, 'GET');

Laravel supplies the current request, and Exert runs the same action lifecycle as a direct initiate() call.

This runs the action's method checks, middleware, dependency resolution, and response conversion. It does not run the resolver, populate Exert's action attributes, or rerun route middleware.

If the request has a route, that route's method restrictions and middleware exclusions still apply. With no route, only the action's methods are used and no route exclusions are supplied.

Calling handle() directly skips Exert's lifecycle. For work shared with jobs or console commands, call a separate application service instead.

Which behavior do you get?

Behavior	Through controller	Direct initiate()
Read an action name from input	Yes	No
Check the controller map	Yes	No
Set Exert identity attributes	Yes	No
Check methods and run action middleware	Yes	Yes
Apply the request route's method restrictions and exclusions	Yes	Yes, if there is a route
Resolve dependencies and convert the result	Yes	Yes

Direct invocation does not rerun route middleware. It also does not clear or replace metadata that may already be on the request from an earlier controller selection. Do not assume metadata describes a directly called action.

A limiter based on exert.action_id therefore needs a deliberate identity strategy if you use direct calls. For most endpoints, normal controller dispatch keeps this simpler.