laravel-enterprise

When to activate

• Creating a new Laravel API or module
• "How do I structure this in Laravel?"
• Refactoring a fat controller
• Designing or implementing the service layer
• Implementing Repository pattern in Laravel
• Any mention of Laravel architecture, Eloquent best practices, or team-scale structure

Project Structure

app/
├── Http/
│   ├── Controllers/Api/V1/       # Thin controllers only
│   ├── Requests/Order/           # All validation lives here
│   └── Resources/                # All response shaping lives here
├── Services/                     # All business logic lives here
├── Repositories/
│   ├── Contracts/                # Interfaces
│   └── Eloquent/                 # Implementations
├── DTOs/
└── Exceptions/

The Layering Rule

Request → FormRequest → Controller → Service → Repository → Eloquent

Never skip layers. Never call Eloquent directly from a Controller.

Controllers — Always thin

// ✅ Correct
class OrderController extends Controller
{
    public function __construct(private OrderService $service) {}

    public function store(CreateOrderRequest $request): JsonResponse
    {
        $order = $this->service->create($request->toDTO());
        return response()->json(new OrderResource($order), 201);
    }
}

// ❌ Fat controller
class OrderController extends Controller
{
    public function store(Request $request): JsonResponse
    {
        $request->validate([...]);
        $order = Order::create($request->all());
        return response()->json($order);
    }
}

Form Requests — All validation here

class CreateOrderRequest extends FormRequest
{
    public function rules(): array
    {
        return [
            'customer_id'        => ['required', 'integer', 'exists:customers,id'],
            'items'              => ['required', 'array', 'min:1'],
            'items.*.product_id' => ['required', 'integer', 'exists:products,id'],
            'items.*.quantity'   => ['required', 'integer', 'min:1'],
        ];
    }

    public function toDTO(): CreateOrderDTO
    {
        return new CreateOrderDTO(
            customerId: $this->integer('customer_id'),
            items: $this->collect('items')->toArray(),
        );
    }
}