name: laravel-controller-cleanup
description: Reduce controller bloat using Form Requests for auth/validation, small Actions/Services with DTOs, and resource/single-action controllers

Controller Cleanup

Keep controllers small and focused on orchestration.

Move auth/validation to Form Requests

• Create a Request class (e.g., StoreUserRequest) and use authorize() + rules()
• Type-hint the Request in your controller method; Laravel runs it before the action

php artisan make:request StoreUserRequest

Extract business logic to Actions/Services

• Create a small Action (one thing well) or a Service for larger workflows
• Pass a DTO from the Request to the Action to avoid leaking framework concerns

final class CreateUserAction {
    public function __invoke(CreateUserDTO $dto): User { /* ... */ }
}

Prefer Resource or Single-Action Controllers

• Use resource controllers for standard CRUD
• For one-off endpoints, use invokable (single-action) controllers

Testing

• Write feature tests for the controller route
• Unit test Actions/Services independently with DTOs