What are resource controllers and how do they work?

A resource controller has one method for each standard action on a resource, so a single Route::resource() line wires up all its CRUD routes. You generate one with the --resource flag.

// Generate: php artisan make:controller PostController --resource
// Route: Route::resource('posts', PostController::class);

The seven methods map to verbs and URIs like this:

• index() lists resources at GET /posts.
• create() shows the creation form at GET /posts/create.
• store() stores a new resource at POST /posts.
• show($id) displays one resource at GET /posts/{post}.
• edit($id) shows the edit form at GET /posts/{post}/edit.
• update($id) updates a resource at PUT /posts/{post} or PATCH.
• destroy($id) deletes a resource at DELETE /posts/{post}.

Each route also gets a name such as posts.index. For a JSON API, Route::apiResource() leaves out create and edit, since an API serves no HTML forms. Chain only() or except() to register a subset.