HTTP — Routing

Installation
Attribute-Based Routing
- Defining Routes
- Route name
Routes definition
Route configurator
Route group configurator
Router
Named route patterns
RESTful
- Sharing target across routes
Url Generation
Events

Installation

By default, the router component is installed in Spiral, but if you want to use it in your custom build, use composer to install the router component.

composer require spiral/router

Attribute-Based Routing

The simplest way to define routes using attributes directly in your controller methods. This can be a really convenient way to set up your routes, and it has a few key benefits. For one, it can make your code more concise and easier to read. It can also help to improve the separation of concerns in your application, and it makes it easier for other developers to discover and understand the available routes. So if you're looking for a more organized and maintainable way to set up your routes, attribute-based routing might be worth considering!

Note
We use Tokenizer component for static analysis identify route attributes. To specify the directories where controllers should be searched for, refer to the Tokenizer documentation's section on customizing search directories..

Warning
Be cautious because Tokenizer will ignore any files that contain include or require statements in your controllers.

Just activate the bootloader Spiral\Router\Bootloader\AnnotatedRoutesBootloader in your application:

php
app/src/Application/Kernel.php
public function defineBootloaders(): array
{
    return [
        // ...
        \Spiral\Router\Bootloader\AnnotatedRoutesBootloader::class,
        // ...
    ];
}

Read more about bootloaders in the Framework — Bootloaders section.

php
app/src/Application/Kernel.php
protected const LOAD = [
    // ...
    \Spiral\Router\Bootloader\AnnotatedRoutesBootloader::class,
    // ...
];

Read more about bootloaders in the Framework — Bootloaders section.

That's it! Now you can use the component.

Defining Routes

The Spiral\Router\Annotation\Route attribute enables you to establish a route in your controller method by setting various properties:

php
app/src/Endpoint/Web/HomeController.php
namespace App\Endpoint\Web;

use Spiral\Router\Annotation\Route;

class HomeController
{
    #[Route(route: '/', name: 'index', methods: 'GET')] 
    public function index(): string
    {
        return 'hello world';
    }
}

Here is a brief description of each of the properties:

Property	Type	Description
route	string	The route pattern, which defines the URL pattern that the route will match. Router. Required
name	string	Route name. Optional
methods	array/string	The HTTP methods that the route will match (e.g. `GET`, `POST`, `PUT`, etc.). Defaults to all methods.
defaults	array	An array of default values for route parameters.
group	string	A route group that the route will belong to. Defaults to `default`.
middleware	array	Route specific middleware class names.
priority	int	Position in a routes list. The lower the number, the more important the route. Helps to solve the cases when one request matches two routes. Defaults to 0.

Using these properties, you can define the details of your route in a concise and organized way.

Route name

It's generally a good idea to specify a name for your routes, as it can make it easier to reference them elsewhere in your application. However, if you don't specify a name, Spiral will generate one for you automatically, which can be convenient if you don't need to reference the route by name.

The framework will generate a default name for you based on the route pattern and the HTTP method(s) that it matches.

php
#Route(route: '/api/news', methods: ["POST", "PATCH"]) // => post,patch:/api/news

Routes definition

Spiral offers a convenient and organized way for developers to define routes using thedefineRoutes method of the App\Application\Bootloader\RoutesBootloader class. This method provides a Spiral\Router\Loader\Configurator\RoutingConfigurator instance , which offers a range of methods for defining and configuring routes.

Warning
App\Application\Bootloader\RoutesBootloader must be in the LOAD section of the bootloaders list.

With the RoutingConfigurator, developers can easily apply various settings such as middleware, prefixes, and HTTP methods to their routes. It allows you to create and automatically register routes.

Here is an example of how to define routes using the RoutingConfigurator:

php
app/src/Application/Bootloader/RoutesBootloader.php
namespace App\Application\Bootloader;

use Spiral\Bootloader\Http\RoutesBootloader as BaseRoutesBootloader;
use Spiral\Router\Loader\Configurator\RoutingConfigurator;

final class RoutesBootloader extends BaseRoutesBootloader
{
    // ...
 
    protected function defineRoutes(RoutingConfigurator $routes): void
    {
        $routes->add(name: 'news.show', pattern: '/news/<id:int>')
            ->group('web')
            ->methods(methods: ['GET'])
            ->action(NewsController::class, 'show');
            
        ...
    }
}

The RoutingConfigurator has a handy feature that lets you import routes from specific files.

Here's an example of how to do that:

php
app/src/Application/Bootloader/RoutesBootloader.php
use Spiral\Router\Loader\Configurator\RoutingConfigurator;

namespace App\Application\Bootloader;

use Spiral\Boot\DirectoriesInterface;
use Spiral\Bootloader\Http\RoutesBootloader as BaseRoutesBootloader;
use Spiral\Router\Loader\Configurator\RoutingConfigurator;

final class RoutesBootloader extends BaseRoutesBootloader
{
    public function __construct(
        private readonly DirectoriesInterface $dirs
    ) {
    }
    
    // ...

    protected function defineRoutes(RoutingConfigurator $routes): void
    {
        $routes->import($this->dirs->get('app') . '/routes/web.php')
            ->group('web');
            
        $routes->import($this->dirs->get('app') . '/routes/api.php')
            ->prefix('/api');
            ->group('api');
    }
}

Open the web.php file, use the add method to add a new route.

php
app/routes/web.php
use App\Controller\HomeController;
use Spiral\Router\Loader\Configurator\RoutingConfigurator;

return function (RoutingConfigurator $routes): void {
    $routes->add(name: 'news.show', pattern: '/news/<id:int>')
        ->methods(methods: ['GET'])
        ->action(NewsController::class, 'show');
};

Route configurator

Route configurator provides a variety of methods for defining and configuring routes.

Route Target

Sets the target controller for the route

In certain scenarios, it may be necessary to route to a collection of controllers residing within the same namespace. To achieve this, employ the namespaced method. This target mandates the specification of route parameters <controller> and <action> (unless the default value is enforced).

php
$routes->add(name: 'admin', pattern: '/admin/<controller>/<action>')
    ->namespaced(
        namespace: 'App\Controllers\Admin', // required
    );

Example request

GET /admin/users/index

In this case, the <controller> parameter corresponds to users and the <action> parameter corresponds to index. As a result, the request will be routed to the index action of the UsersController class located in the App\Controllers\Admin namespace.

By default, the method assumes that controllers have a Controller postfix. However, if you wish to change the default postfix, you can do so by using the postfix argument.

For example, if your controllers have a Handler postfix instead of Controller, you can set up the namespaced route target as follows:

php
$routes->add(name: 'admin', pattern: '/admin/<controller>/<action>')
    ->namespaced(
        namespace: 'App\Controllers\Admin',
        postfix: 'Handler'
    );

The controller method enables you to direct your route to all actions of a specific controller at once. This target necessitates the definition of an <action> parameter (unless a default value is imposed).

php
$routes->add(name: 'user', pattern: '/user/<action>')
    ->controller(controller: UserController::class);

Example request

GET /user/list

Here, the <action> parameter is list. The request will be routed to the list action of the UserController class.

By default, if the route pattern does not contain an <action> segment, the index action will be used as the default action for the specified controller.

You can also specify a different default action for the controller route target using the default method. For example, if you want to set the default action to list instead of index, you can do so as follows:

php
$routes->add(name: 'user', pattern: '/user/list')
    ->controller(controller: UserController::class)
    ->defaults(['action' => 'list'])

To designate your route to a particular controller action, use the action method to specify the route handler.

php
$routes->add(name: 'post.show', pattern: '/post/<id:int>')
    ->action(PostController::class, 'show');

Example request

GET /post/42

The request will be routed to the show action of the PostController class, with the value 42 passed as an argument to the show action.

It allows you to define routes that point directly to a callable function, closure, or an array consisting of an object and a method name. This can be a useful option when you want to handle a specific route with a small amount of logic without creating a separate controller.

php
use Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface;
use Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface;

$routes->add(name: 'greeting', pattern: '/greeting')
    ->callable(function (ServerRequestInterface $r, ResponseInterface $rsp) {
        return 'Hello, world!';
    });

Default route parameters

php
$routes
    ->add(name: 'html', pattern: '/<action>.html')
    ->defaults(['action' => 'default'])
    ->...;

Custom domain core

php
$core = new \Spiral\Core\InterceptableCore(...);
$core->addInterceptor(...);

$routes
    ->add(name: 'html', pattern: '/<action>.html')
    ->core($core)
    ->...;

Prefixing routes

php
$routes->add(name: 'news', pattern: '/news/<id:int>')
    ->prefix('/api')
    ->...;

HTTP methods (verbs)

php
$routes->add(name: 'html', pattern: '/<action>.html')
    ->methods('GET')
    ->...;

// or

$routes->add(name: 'news', pattern: '/news/<id:int>')
    ->methods(['GET', 'POST'])
    ->...;

Add middleware

php
$routes->add(name: 'news', pattern: '/news/<id:int>')
    ->middleware(LocaleSelector::class)
    ->...;

Fallback route

In some cases, users may request pages that do not exist, or the application may receive a URL that does not match any pre-defined route. To handle these scenarios gracefully, it is crucial to have a fallback route in place that can catch these unmatched requests and return a meaningful response to the user.

The provided code snippet demonstrates an example of a fallback route in Spiral:

php
use Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface;
use Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface;

$routes->default('/<path:.*>')
    ->callable(function (ServerRequestInterface $r, ResponseInterface $rsp) {
        return 'Page not found!';
    });

Note
You can use not only callable, but also any other route targets: controller, action, namespaced, etc.

Route group configurator

You can easily organize your application's routes into logical groups and apply middleware, prefixes, and other settings to all routes within a group with just a few lines of code. This makes it easy to maintain and scale your application, and can save you a lot of time and effort when working with large, complex projects.

You can set up route groups via App\Application\Bootloader\RoutesBootloader. This bootloader contains the configureRouteGroups method, which contains the Spiral\Router\GroupRegistry in the parameters.

Here is a simple example of how to set up a route group:

php
app/src/Application/Bootloader/RoutesBootloader.php
namespace App\Application\Bootloader;

use Spiral\Router\GroupRegistry;
use Spiral\Bootloader\Http\RoutesBootloader as BaseRoutesBootloader;

final class RoutesBootloader extends BaseRoutesBootloader
{
    // ...

    protected function configureRouteGroups(GroupRegistry $groups): void
    {
        $groups->getGroup('api')
            ->setNamePrefix('api.')
            ->setPrefix('/api');
            
        $groups->getGroup('web')
            ->addMiddleware(MyMiddelware::class);
            ->setPrefix('/api');
    }
}

And here are examples of how to assign routes to groups:

You can assign routes to the group by specifying the group's name.

php
app/src/Application/Bootloader/RoutesBootloader.php
$routes->add(name: 'news', pattern: '/news/<id:int>')
    ->action(NewsController::class, 'show')
    ->group('auth');
    ->methods('GET');

You can assign routes to the group by specifying the group's name in the group attribute.

Warning
Make sure to register a bootloader after AnnotatedRoutesBootloader.

php
app/src/Endpoint/Web/HomeController.php
#[Route(route: '/', name: 'index', methods: 'GET', group: 'api')]  
public function index(): ResponseInterface
{
    // ...    
}

In this example, the route will be assigned to the api group and will be prefixed with /api/v1 and have the SomeMiddleware middleware applied to it. This allows you to easily apply shared rules and middleware to a group of routes in a convenient and organized way.

You can also set a default group for all routes:

php
app/src/Application/Bootloader/RoutesBootloader.php
protected function configureRouteGroups(GroupRegistry $groups): void
{
    // ...
    
    $groups->getGroup('api')
        ->setNamePrefix('api.')
        ->setPrefix('/api');
    
    $groups->setDefaultGroup('api');
}

Router

You can create new routing using Spiral\Router\RouterInterface.

We can start with a simple / handler:

php
app/src/Application/Bootloader/RoutesBootloader.php
namespace App\Application\Bootloader;

use Spiral\Boot\Bootloader\Bootloader;
use Spiral\Router\Route;
use Spiral\Router\RouterInterface;

class RoutesBootloader extends Bootloader
{
    public function boot(RouterInterface $router): void
    {
        $router->setRoute(
            'home',                    // route name 
            new Route(
                '/',                   // pattern
                fn () => 'hello world' // handler
            )
        );
    }
}

Note
The Route class can accept a handler of type Psr\Http\Server\RequestHandlerInterface, closure, invokable class, or Spiral\Router\TargetInterface. Simply pass a class or a binding name instead of a real object if you want it to be constructed on demand.

Closure Handler

It is possible to pass the closure as a route handler. In this case our function will receive two arguments: Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface and Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface.

php
$router->setRoute('home', new Route(
    '/<name>',
    function (ServerRequestInterface $request, ResponseInterface $response): ResponseInterface {
        $response->getBody()->write('hello world');

        return $response;
    }
));

Route Pattern and Parameters

You can use a route pattern to specify any number of required and optional parameters. These parameters will later be passed to the route handler via the ServerRequestInterface attribute matches.

Note
Use attribute:matches.id in Request Filters to access these values.

Use the <parameter_name:pattern> form to define a route parameter, where the pattern is a regexp friendly expression. You can omit the pattern and just use <parameter_name>, in this case, the parameter will match [^\/]+.

We can add a simple parameter name:

php
namespace App\Bootloader;

use Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface;
use Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface;
use Spiral\Boot\Bootloader\Bootloader;
use Spiral\Router\Route;
use Spiral\Router\RouterInterface;

class RoutesBootloader extends Bootloader
{
    public function boot(RouterInterface $router): void
    {
        $router->setRoute('home', new Route(
            '/<name>',
            function (ServerRequestInterface $request, ResponseInterface $response): array {
                return $request->getAttribute('route')->getMatches(); // returns JSON ['name' => '']
            }
        ));
    }
}

Use [] to make a part of route (including the parameters) optional, for example:

php
$router->setRoute('home', new Route(
    '/[<name>]',
    function (ServerRequestInterface $request, ResponseInterface $response): array {
        return $request->getAttribute('route')->getMatches();
    }
));

Note
This route will match /, the name parameter will be null.

You can specify any number of parameters and make some of them optional. For example we can match URLs like /group/user, where user is optional:

php
$router->setRoute('home', new Route(
    '/<group>[/<user>]',
    function (ServerRequestInterface $request, ResponseInterface $response): array {
        return $request->getAttribute('route')->getMatches();
    }
));

You can specify default parameter value using the third route argument:

php
$router->setRoute('home', new Route(
    '/<group>[/<user>]',
    function (ServerRequestInterface $request, ResponseInterface $response): array {
        return $request->getAttribute('route')->getMatches();
    },
    [
        'user' => 'default'
    ]
));

Use <parameter:pattern> to specify a parameter pattern:

php
$router->setRoute('home', new Route(
    '/user/<id:\d+>',
    function (ServerRequestInterface $request, ResponseInterface $response): array {
        return $request->getAttribute('route')->getMatches();
    }
));

Note
This route will only match URLs with numeric id but it doesn't mean that the route attribute id will contain integer value. In this case, the attribute will always contain a string value.

Route pre-defined options

You can also specify multiple pre-defined options:

php
$router->setRoute('home', new Route(
    '/do/<action:login|logout>',
    function (ServerRequestInterface $request, ResponseInterface $response): array {
        return $request->getAttribute('route')->getMatches();
    }
));

Note
This route will only match /do/login and /do/logout.

Match Host

To match the domain or sub-domain name, prefix your pattern with //:

php
$router->setRoute('home', new Route(
    '//<host>/',
    function (ServerRequestInterface $request, ResponseInterface $response): array {
        return $request->getAttribute('route')->getMatches();
    }
));

To match a sub-domain:

php
$router->setRoute('home', new Route(
    '//<sub>.domain.com/',
    function (ServerRequestInterface $request, ResponseInterface $response): array {
        return $request->getAttribute('route')->getMatches();
    }
));

You can combine host and path matching:

php
$router->setRoute('home', new Route(
    '//<sub>.domain.com/[<action>]',
    function (ServerRequestInterface $request, ResponseInterface $response): array {
        return $request->getAttribute('route')->getMatches();
    }
));

Immutability

All route objects are immutable by design, you can not change their state after creation, but only make a copy with new values. To set default route parameters outside the constructor:

php
namespace App\Bootloader;

use Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface;
use Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface;
use Spiral\Boot\Bootloader\Bootloader;
use Spiral\Router\Route;
use Spiral\Router\RouterInterface;

class RoutesBootloader extends Bootloader
{
    public function boot(RouterInterface $router): void
    {
        $route = new Route('/[<action>]', function (ServerRequestInterface $request, ResponseInterface $response): array {
            return $request->getAttribute('route')->getMatches();
        });

        $router->setRoute('home', $route->withDefaults([
            'action' => 'default'
        ]));
    }
}

Verbs

Use withVerbs method to match routes with only certain HTTP verbs:

php
namespace App\Bootloader;

use Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface;
use Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface;
use Spiral\Boot\Bootloader\Bootloader;
use Spiral\Router\Route;
use Spiral\Router\RouterInterface;

class RoutesBootloader extends Bootloader
{
    public function boot(RouterInterface $router): void
    {
        $route = new Route('/[<action>]', function (ServerRequestInterface $request, ResponseInterface $response): array {
            return $request->getAttribute('route')->getMatches();
        });

        $router->setRoute('get.route',
            $route->withVerbs('GET')->withDefaults(['action' => 'GET'])
        );

        $router->setRoute(
            'post.route',
            $route->withVerbs('POST', 'PUT')->withDefaults(['action' => 'POST'])
        );
    }
}

Middleware

To associate route-specific middleware, use withMiddleware. You can access route parameters via route attribute of the request object:

php
namespace App\Bootloader;

use App\Middleware\ParamWatcher;
use Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface;
use Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface;
use Spiral\Boot\Bootloader\Bootloader;
use Spiral\Router\Route;
use Spiral\Router\RouterInterface;

class RoutesBootloader extends Bootloader
{
    public function boot(RouterInterface $router): void
    {
        $route = new Route('/<param>', function (ServerRequestInterface $request, ResponseInterface $response): array {
            return $request->getAttribute('route')->getMatches();
        });

        $router->setRoute('home', $route->withMiddleware(
            ParamWatcher::class
        ));
    }
}

where ParamWatcher is:

php
namespace App\Middleware;

use Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface as Response;
use Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface as Request;
use Psr\Http\Server\MiddlewareInterface;
use Psr\Http\Server\RequestHandlerInterface;
use Spiral\Http\Exception\ClientException\UnauthorizedException;
use Spiral\Router\RouteInterface;

class ParamWatcher implements MiddlewareInterface
{
    public function process(Request $request, RequestHandlerInterface $handler): Response
    {
        /** @var RouteInterface $route */
        $route = $request->getAttribute('route');

        if ($route->getMatches()['param'] === 'forbidden') {
           throw new UnauthorizedException();
        }

        return $handler->handle($request);
    }
}

This route will trigger an Unauthorized exception on /forbidden.

Note
You can add as many middlewares as you want.

Multiple Routes

The router will match all routes in the order they were registered. Make sure to avoid situations where the previous route matches the conditions of the following routes.

php
$router->setRoute(
    'home',
    new Route('/<param>',
        function (ServerRequestInterface $request, ResponseInterface $response): array {
            return $request->getAttribute('route')->getMatches();
        }
    )
);

// this route will never trigger
$router->setRoute(
    'hello',
    new Route('/hello',
        function (ServerRequestInterface $request, ResponseInterface $response): array {
            return $request->getAttribute('route')->getMatches();
        }
    )
);

Default Route

Spiral Router enables you to specify the default/fallback route. This route will always be invoked after every other route and check for matching to its pattern.

E.g., there's no need to define the route for every controller and action if you set up your default routing in the following way:

php
$router->setRoute(
    'home',
    new Route('/<param>',
        function (ServerRequestInterface $request, ResponseInterface $response): array {
            return $request->getAttribute('route')->getMatches();
        }
    )
);

$router->setDefault(new Route('/', fn (): string => 'default'));

See below how to use the default route to scaffold application paths quickly.

Route Targets (Controllers and Actions)

The most effective way to use the router is to target routes to the controllers and their actions. To demonstrate all the capabilities, we will need multiple controllers in App\Controller namespace:

php
namespace App\Controller;

class HomeController
{
    public function index(): string
    {
        return 'index';
    }

    public function other(): string
    {
        return 'other';
    }

    public function user(int $id): string
    {
        return "hello {$id}";
    }
}

Create a second controller using scaffolding php ./app.php create:controller demo -a test:

php
namespace App\Controller;

class DemoController
{
    public function test(): string
    {
        return 'demo test';
    }
}

Route to Action

To point your route to the controller action, specify the route handler as Spiral\Router\Target\Action:

php
namespace App\Bootloader;

use App\Controller\HomeController;
use Spiral\Boot\Bootloader\Bootloader;
use Spiral\Router\Route;
use Spiral\Router\RouterInterface;
use Spiral\Router\Target\Action;

class RoutesBootloader extends Bootloader
{
    public function boot(RouterInterface $router): void
    {
        $router->setRoute(
            'index',
            new Route('/index', new Action(HomeController::class, 'index'))
        );
    }
}

You can combine this target with the required or optional parameter. The parameter will be available as method injection to the desired target:

php
$router->setRoute(
    'user',
    new Route('/user/<id:\d+>', new Action(HomeController::class, 'user'))
);

Wildcard Actions

We can point a route to more than one controller action at the same time. To do that we have to define the parameter <action> in our route pattern. Since one of the methods requires <id> parameter, we can make it optional:

php
$router->setRoute(
    'home',
    new Route('/<action>[/<id>]', new Action(HomeController::class, ['index', 'user']))
);

Note
This route will match both /index and /user/1 paths.

Under the hood, the route will be compiled into an expression that is aware of action constrains /^(?P<action>index|user)(?:\/(?P<id>[^\/]+))?$/iu. Such an approach would not only allow you to increase the performance but also reuse the same pattern with different action sets.

php
// match "/index"
$router->setRoute(
    'home',
    new Route('/<action>', new Action(HomeController::class, 'index'))
);

// match "/other"
$router->setRoute(
    'home',
    new Route('/<action>', new Action(HomeController::class, 'other'))
);

// match "/test"
$router->setRoute(
    'demo',
    new Route('/<action>', new Action(DemoController::class, 'test'))
);

Route to Controller

You can point your route to all of the controller actions at once using Spiral\Router\Target\Controller. This target requires <action> parameter to be defined (unless the default value is forced).

php
namespace App\Bootloader;

use App\Controller\HomeController;
use Spiral\Boot\Bootloader\Bootloader;
use Spiral\Router\Route;
use Spiral\Router\RouterInterface;
use Spiral\Router\Target\Controller;

class RoutesBootloader extends Bootloader
{
    public function boot(RouterInterface $router): void
    {
        $router->setRoute(
            'home',
            new Route('/home/<action>[/<id>]', new Controller(HomeController::class))
        );
    }
}

Note
The route matches /home/index, /home/other and /home/user/1.

Combine this target with defaults to make your URLs shorter.

php
$router->setRoute(
    'home',
    (new Route('/home[/<action>[/<id>]]', new Controller(HomeController::class)))
        ->withDefaults(['action' => 'index'])
);

Note
This route will match /home with action=index. Note that you must extend optional path segments [] till the end of the route pattern.

Route to Namespace

In some cases, you might want to route to the set of controllers located in the same namespace. Use target Spiral\Router\Target\Namespaced for these purposes. This target will require route parameters <controller> and <action> (unless the default is forced).

You can specify a target namespace and a controller class postfix:

php
namespace App\Bootloader;

use Spiral\Boot\Bootloader\Bootloader;
use Spiral\Router\Route;
use Spiral\Router\RouterInterface;
use Spiral\Router\Target\Namespaced;

class RoutesBootloader extends Bootloader
{
    public function boot(RouterInterface $router): void
    {
        $router->setRoute('app', new Route(
            '/<controller>/<action>',
            new Namespaced('App\Controller', 'Controller')
        ));
    }
}

Note
This route will match /home/index, /home/other and /demo/test.

You can make all the parameters optional and set the default values:

php
$router->setRoute('app',
    (new Route(
        '[/<controller>[/<action>]]',
        new Namespaced('App\Controller', 'Controller')
    ))->withDefaults([
        'controller' => 'home',
        'action'     => 'index'
    ])
);

Note
This route will match / (home->index), /home (home->index), /home/index, /home/other and /demo/test. The /demo will trigger not-found error as DemoController does not define method index.

The default web-application bundle sets this route as default. You don't need to create a route for any of the controllers added to App\Controller, simply use /controller/action URLs to access the required method. If no action is specified, the index will be used by default. The routing will point to the public methods only.

Note
You can turn the default route off once the development is over.

Route to Controller Group

The alternative is to specify controller names manually without a common namespace. Use target Spiral\Router\Target\Group. Target requires <controller> and <action> parameters to be defined (unless the default is forced).

php
namespace App\Bootloader;

use App\Controller\DemoController;
use App\Controller\HomeController;
use Spiral\Boot\Bootloader\Bootloader;
use Spiral\Router\Route;
use Spiral\Router\RouterInterface;
use Spiral\Router\Target\Group;

class RoutesBootloader extends Bootloader
{
    public function boot(RouterInterface $router): void
    {
        $router->setRoute('app', new Route('/<controller>/<action>', new Group([
            'home' => HomeController::class,
            'demo' => DemoController::class
        ])));
    }
}

Note
Such an approach is useful when you want to assemble multiple modules under one path (i.e., admin panels).

Named route patterns

If you would like a route parameter to always be constrained by a given regular expression, you may use named patterns. You should define these patterns via Spiral\Router\Registry\RoutePatternRegistryInterface in a bootloader:

php
use Spiral\Router\Registry\RoutePatternRegistryInterface;

class AppBootloader extends Bootloader
{
   public function boot(RoutePatternRegistryInterface $patternRegistry): void
   {
      $patternRegistry->register(
          'uuid', 
          '[0-9a-fA-F]{8}\b-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}\b-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}\b-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}\b-[0-9a-fA-F]{12}'
      );
      $patternRegistry->register(
          'names', 
          new InArrayPattern(['tom', 'jerry'])
      );
   }
}

Once the pattern has been defined, it is automatically applied to all routes using that parameter name:

Example:

php
#Route(uri: 'blog/post/<post:uuid>')  // <===== Will match: /blog/post/f403554a-e70f-479a-969b-3edc047912a3
public function show(string $post)
{ 
    \var_dump($post); // f403554a-e70f-479a-969b-3edc047912a3
}

php
#Route(uri: 'user/<name:names>') // <===== Will match: /user/tom || /user/jerry
public function show(string $name)
{ 
    \var_dump($name); // tom
}

RESTful

All of the route targets listed above support the third argument, which specifies the method selection behavior. Set this parameter as AbstractTarget::RESTFUL to automatically prefix all the methods with HTTP verb.

For example, we can use the following controller:

php
app/src/Endpoint/Web/UserController.php
namespace App\Endpoint\Web;

class UserController
{
    public function getUser($id): string
    {
        return "get {$id}";
    }

    public function postUser($id): string
    {
        return "post {$id}";
    }

    public function deleteUser($id): string
    {
        return "delete {$id}";
    }
}

And route to it:

php
$router->setRoute('user', new Route(
    '/user/<id:\d+>',
    new Controller(UserController::class, Controller::RESTFUL),
    ['action' => 'user']
));

Note
Invoking /user/1 with different HTTP methods will call different controller methods. Note that you still need to specify the action name.

Sharing target across routes

Another way to define RESTful or similar routing to multiple controllers is to share a common target with different routes. Such an approach will allow you to define your controller style.

For example, we can route different HTTP verbs to the following controller(s):

php
app/src/Endpoint/Web/UserController.php
namespace App\Endpoint\Web;

class UserController
{
    public function load($id): string
    {
        return "get {$id}";
    }

    public function store($id): string
    {
        return "post {$id}";
    }

    public function delete($id): string
    {
        return "delete {$id}";
    }
}

Let's create an API that will look like GET|POST|DELETE /v1/<controller> and point to the corresponding controller(s) methods.

Our base route will look like this:

php
$resource = new Route('/v1/<controller>', new Group([
    'user' => UserController::class,
]));

We can register it with different HTTP verbs and action values:

php
app/src/Application/Bootloader/RoutesBootloader.php
namespace App\Application\Bootloader;

use App\Controller\UserController;
use Spiral\Boot\Bootloader\Bootloader;
use Spiral\Router\Route;
use Spiral\Router\RouterInterface;
use Spiral\Router\Target\Group;

class RoutesBootloader extends Bootloader
{
    public function boot(RouterInterface $router): void
    {
        $resource = new Route('/v1/<controller>/<id>', new Group([
            'user' => UserController::class,
        ]));

        $router->setRoute(
            'resource.get',
            $resource->withVerbs('GET')->withDefaults(['action' => 'load'])
        );

        $router->setRoute(
            'resource.store',
            $resource->withVerbs('POST')->withDefaults(['action' => 'store'])
        );

        $router->setRoute(
            'resource.delete',
            $resource->withVerbs('DELETE')->withDefaults(['action' => 'delete'])
        );
    }
}

Such an approach allows you to use the same route-set for multiple resource controllers.

Url Generation

The router can generate Uri based on any given route and its parameters.

php
$router->setRoute(
    'home',
    new Route('/home/<action>', new Controller(HomeController::class))
);

Use method uri of RouterInterface to generate a URL:

php
app/src/Endpoint/Web/UserController.php
use Spiral\Router\RouterInterface;

// ...

public function index(RouterInterface $router)
{
    $uri = $router->uri('home', ['action' => 'index']);

    dump((string)$uri); // /home/index
}

Additional parameters will mount as a query string:

php
app/src/Endpoint/Web/UserController.php
use Spiral\Router\RouterInterface;

// ...

public function index(RouterInterface $router)
{
    $uri = $router->uri('home', [
        'action' => 'index',
        'page'   => 123
    ]);

    dump((string)$uri); // /home/index?page=123
}

The uri method will return the instance Psr\Http\Message\UriInterface:

php
app/src/Endpoint/Web/UserController.php
use Spiral\Router\RouterInterface;

// ...

public function index(RouterInterface $router)
{
    $uri = $router->uri('home', [
        'action' => 'index',
        'page'   => 123
    ]);

    dump((string)$uri->withFragment('hello')); // /home/index?page=123#hello
}

Note that all of the parameters passed into the URL pattern will be slugified:

php
app/src/Endpoint/Web/UserController.php
use Spiral\Router\RouterInterface;

// ...

public function index(RouterInterface $router)
{
    $uri = $router->uri('home', [
        'action' => 'hello World',
    ]);

    dump((string)$uri); // /home/hello-world
}

Note
You can use @route(name, params) directive in Stempler views.

Handling Non-Latin Characters in URIs

The Spiral router component, by default, transliterates non-Latin characters into Latin characters when generating URIs. This can be problematic, especially when maintaining the original character set in the URI is important, such as for SEO or multilingual applications.

For example:

php
$router->setRoute(
  'page',
  new Route('/page/<path>', ....),
);

$uri = $router->uri('page', ['path' => 'some-path']);
// Generates: /page/some-path

$uri = $router->uri('page', ['path' => 'некоторый-путь']); 
// Default behavior generates: /page/nekotoriy-put

To change this behavior, you can replace the default URI handler for a route with a custom encoding function using the withPathSegmentEncoder method. This method allows you to define a custom function for segment encoding.

Here is an example

php
$router->setRoute(
  'page',
  new Route('/page/<path>', ....),
);

// Get the route by name
$route = $router->getRoute('page');

// Replace the default URI handler with a custom encoding function for path segments
$route = $route->withUriHandler(
    $route->getUriHandler()->withPathSegmentEncoder(
      static fn(string $segment): string => \rawurlencode($segment),
    ),
);

// Generate the URI
$uri = $route->uri(['path' => 'некоторый-путь']);

// Generates: /page/%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%8B%D0%B9-%D0%BF%D1%83%D1%82%D1%8C

To define a custom encoder configure a Spiral\Router\UriHandler factory in the Container via a Bootloader.

Here is an example of how to do this:

php
app/src/Application/Bootloader/AppBootloader.php
<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

namespace App\Application\Bootloader;

use Psr\Http\Message\UriFactoryInterface;
use Spiral\Boot\Bootloader\Bootloader;
use Spiral\Router\UriHandler;

final class AppBootloader extends Bootloader
{
    public function defineSingletons(): array
    {
        return [
            UriHandler::class => static function (UriFactoryInterface $uriFactory) {
                return (new UriHandler($uriFactory))->withPathSegmentEncoder(
                    static fn(string $segment): string => \rawurlencode($segment)
                );
            },
        ];
    }
}

Events

Event	Description
Spiral\Router\Event\Routing	The Event will be fired `before` matching the route.
Spiral\Router\Event\RouteMatched	The Event will be fired when the route is successfully matched.
Spiral\Router\Event\RouteNotFound	The Event will be fired when the route is not found.

Note
To learn more about dispatching events, see the Events section in our documentation.

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HTTP — Routing

#Installation

#Attribute-Based Routing

#Defining Routes

#Route name

#Routes definition

#Route configurator

#Route Target

#Default route parameters

#Custom domain core

#Prefixing routes

#HTTP methods (verbs)

#Add middleware

#Fallback route

#Route group configurator

#Router

#Closure Handler

#Route Pattern and Parameters

#Route pre-defined options

#Match Host

#Immutability

#Verbs

#Middleware

#Multiple Routes

#Default Route

#Route Targets (Controllers and Actions)

#Route to Action

#Wildcard Actions

#Route to Controller

#Route to Namespace

#Route to Controller Group

#Named route patterns

#Example:

#RESTful

#Sharing target across routes

#Url Generation

#Handling Non-Latin Characters in URIs

#Events

Installation

Attribute-Based Routing

Defining Routes

Route name

Routes definition

Route configurator

Route Target

Default route parameters

Custom domain core

Prefixing routes

HTTP methods (verbs)

Add middleware

Fallback route

Route group configurator

Router

Closure Handler

Route Pattern and Parameters

Route pre-defined options

Match Host

Immutability

Verbs

Middleware

Multiple Routes

Default Route

Route Targets (Controllers and Actions)

Route to Action

Wildcard Actions

Route to Controller

Route to Namespace

Route to Controller Group

Named route patterns

Example:

RESTful

Sharing target across routes

Url Generation

Handling Non-Latin Characters in URIs

Events