Your first endpoint

This example adds a status action and a message action. It needs no database. The message action also supports Precognition so you can try validation without running its handler.

The examples use an application with routes/api.php loaded and the usual /api prefix. Exert does not enable API routing or create route files for you.

1. Generate the classes

Run these commands in your Laravel application:

php artisan make:action-controller SystemController
php artisan make:action System/Status
php artisan make:action System/EchoMessage
php artisan make:request MessageRequest

Replace the generated files with the following code.

2. Add the status action

app/Http/Actions/System/Status.php:

<?php

namespace App\Http\Actions\System;

use Exert\Action;

class Status extends Action
{
    public function handle(): array
    {
        return ['status' => 'ok'];
    }
}

The base action accepts GET by default.

3. Define the message input

app/Http/Requests/MessageRequest.php:

<?php

namespace App\Http\Requests;

use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\FormRequest;

class MessageRequest extends FormRequest
{
    public function authorize(): bool
    {
        // This demo accepts messages from anyone.
        return true;
    }

    public function rules(): array
    {
        return [
            'message' => ['required', 'string', 'max:255'],
        ];
    }
}

authorize() controls whether the caller may make this request. Replace the demo's true with the permission check your application needs, or enforce access through middleware.

4. Add the message action

app/Http/Actions/System/EchoMessage.php:

<?php

namespace App\Http\Actions\System;

use App\Http\Requests\MessageRequest;
use Exert\Action;

class EchoMessage extends Action
{
    protected array $methods = ['POST'];

    protected bool $precognition = true;

    public function handle(MessageRequest $request): array
    {
        return $request->validated();
    }
}

Laravel checks the form request's authorization and validation before calling handle().

5. Register the actions

app/Http/Controllers/SystemController.php:

<?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' => Status::class,
        'echo' => EchoMessage::class,
    ];
}

status and echo are the public names. They do not need to match the PHP class names.

6. Register the endpoint

Add this to your application's loaded routes/api.php:

use App\Http\Controllers\SystemController;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;

Route::exert('/system', SystemController::class, ['GET', 'POST'])
    ->name('system.actions');

These demo actions are public. Add the authentication and authorization your real endpoints need; see middleware and access control.

7. Send requests

Read the status:

curl -H 'Accept: application/json' \
  'http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/system?action=status'

{"status":"ok"}

Send a message:

curl -X POST 'http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/system?action=echo' \
  -H 'Accept: application/json' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"message":"Hello"}'

{"message":"Hello"}

Notice that action=echo stays in the query string even for a POST request. The body contains the action's data. A missing message returns a validation error with status 422.

What you just built

Two operations now share /api/system, but each owns its behavior:

Request	Selected class	Result
GET ?action=status	Status	A small status response.
POST ?action=echo	EchoMessage	The validated message.
POST ?action=status	Status	405: this action only accepts GET.
GET ?action=missing	None	404: the name is not registered.

You can add another operation without editing either handler. Create the class, add a name to the controller map, and make sure the route allows its method.

The echo example enables Precognition explicitly. We will use it again in Try a prediction.

Next: understand the action class and the controller map.