What are Invokable Controllers? (controllers with one specific action)

[Andrew]

Definition​

Invokable Controller is a controller that contains only one (__invoke()) method.

The __invoke() method is a magic method that is called when a script tries to call an object/class as a function.

Invokable controllers come in handy when you need to create a controller that does one thing and you are struggling with that one method name.

Although it may be better to consider using one of the seven CRUD actions (index, create, store, show, edit, update, destroy).

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How to create an invokable controller in Laravel​

To create an invokable controller, run the following command:

php artisan make:controller HomepageController --invokable

As you can see, the command is almost the same as when you are trying to create a regular controller, except for the --invokable flag.

After running the artisan command above, a controller class will be created as follows:

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;

class HomepageController extends Controller
{
    /**
     *
     * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
     */
    public function __invoke()
    {
        // ...
    }
}

To call this controller, we need to define a new route:

// routes/web.php

Route::get('/', HomepageController::class);

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Passing parameters to Invokable Controllers​

You can also pass parameters when using invokable controllers in the same way as you do with regular controllers.

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;

class UserController extends Controller
{
    /**
     *
     * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
     */
    public function __invoke($user)
    {
        // ...
    }
}

// routes/web.php

Route::get('/users/{user}', UserController::class);