laika-framework

Routing

Routes live in lf-routes/*.php — plain PHP files, auto-loaded on boot by Laika\Route\Url (loads every file under APP_PATH/lf-routes). Just call Url::... at the top level of the file.

HTTP Methods

use Laika\Route\Url;

Url::get('/users', 'UserController@index');
Url::post('/users', 'UserController@store');
Url::put('/users/{id}', 'UserController@update');
Url::patch('/users/{id}', 'UserController@patch');
Url::delete('/users/{id}', 'UserController@destroy');
Url::options('/users', 'UserController@options');

A handler can be a 'Controller@method' string, a [Class::class, 'method'] array, or a closure:

Url::get('/', 'HomeController@index');
Url::get('/', 'App\Controller\HomeController@index');
Url::get('/', [HomeController::class, 'index']);
Url::get('/', function () {
    return 'Home';
});

Route Parameters

Url::get('/users/{id}', 'UserController@show');
Url::get('/users/{id:[0-9]+}', 'UserController@show'); // regex-constrained
Url::get('/users/{id:\d+}', 'UserController@show');    // shorthand works too

Routes are tested in registration order — the first pattern that matches wins. Register the more specific route before the generic one that would also match it:

Url::get('/users/new', 'UserController@create'); // must come first
Url::get('/users/{id}', 'UserController@show');  // {id} would swallow "new"

Non-ASCII Routes

Route URIs may contain any UTF-8 character:

Url::get('/বাংলা', 'PageController@show')->name('bangla');
Url::get('/blog/{slug}', 'PostController@show'); // {slug} matches UTF-8 too

The request path is percent-decoded one segment at a time before matching, so the encoded form a browser actually sends (/%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BE...) and the raw form you write in the route file are the same route. Registered URIs are decoded the same way, so an already-encoded URI in the route file works as well.

Parameter constraints are matched with the u flag, so {slug:\w+} and . count characters rather than bytes.

Two request forms are always refused with a 404, because neither can be expressed unambiguously as a path: an encoded separator (%2F, %5C) or a NUL byte inside a segment, and a path that is not valid UTF-8.

Named Routes

Url::get('/users/{id}', 'UserController@show')->name('users.show');

$url = Url::url('users.show', ['id' => 5]); // "/users/5"

Groups

Url::group('admin', function () {
    Url::get('/dashboard', 'Admin\DashboardController@index');
});

Groups nest, and a nested group inherits its parent’s pipelines/filters:

Url::group('admin', function () {
    Url::group('billing', function () {
        Url::get('/invoices', 'Admin\Billing\InvoiceController@index');
    })->pipeline(['Permission|perm=billing.view']);
})->pipeline(['Auth']);

Chaining ->pipeline()/->filter() on a group applies retroactively to every route already registered inside it:

Url::group('api', function () {
    Url::post('/payments', 'PaymentController@store')->pipeline(['ApiKey']);
})->pipeline(['Cors'])->filter(['LogApi']);

Pipelines & Filters

Attach pipeline per route:

Url::get('/profile', 'ProfileController@show')
    ->pipeline(Authenticate::class)
    ->filter(LogResponse::class);

// Multiple, and with inline config args ("Class|key=value,key2=value2")
Url::get('/admin', 'AdminController@index')->pipeline(['Auth', 'Role|role=admin']);

Or globally, for every route in the application:

Url::globalPipeline(['Csrf', 'Cors']);
Url::globalFilter(['LogResponse']);

See Pipelines and Filters for how to write these classes.

Fallback / 404

// Per group prefix
Url::fallback('admin', fn() => '<h1>Admin route not found</h1>');

// Default (no prefix)
Url::fallback(null, fn() => '<h1>Page not found</h1>');

Longest-prefix match; if nothing matches (no route, no registered fallback), the built-in _404::show() renders a minimal 404 page.

Loading Routes From Elsewhere

To load route files from outside lf-routes/ (e.g. a package or a submodule), register the directory with the resource loader:

use Laika\Service\Resource;

Resource::register('routes', __DIR__ . '/routes'); // loads every *.php file as routes

Dispatch

Url::dispatch();

Called once, from index.php, after the framework boots. Lifecycle:

preDispatcher()
    → registerInitiators()   (headers + hook files)
    → match route / asset / fallback
    → run pipeline chain
    → run controller
    → run filter chain

API Reference

Class	Purpose
Url	Static facade — routes, groups, pipeline/filter chaining, dispatch, named URLs
Handler	Route registry — storage, group stack, fallback, naming
Dispatcher	Request lifecycle, matching, asset serving, fallback resolution
Invoke	Pipeline/filter chain execution, controller resolution
Reflection	Named-argument injection for controller methods
Path	URI normalization, pattern compiling, request matching
_404	Default 404 page
PipelineInterface	handle(callable $next, array &$params): ?string
FilterInterface	terminate(callable $next, ?string $response, array &$params): ?string

See Controllers for writing the handlers routes point to.

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