Refactoring series: Structuring Laravel - Part 2

Hey! The second part of this article is a step-by-step tutorial on how to organize your Laravel app and make use of App\Support namespace. Previous post talks about advantages of this approach is available here. I want to emphasize that I do not use this approach in every app. I reach for it, when the out-of-box structuring feels bloated.

All framework-related classes in the app folder have to be registered in the framework. Controllers are registered in the routes file, middlewares are registered in App\Http\Kernel, console commands are in App\Console\Kernel and providers are registered in the config/app.php file. This post covers how to move individual files and update the reference.

OK, when you install a new Laravel project, the app folder looks like this:

app
├── Console
│   └── Kernel.php
├── Exceptions
│   └── Handler.php
├── Http
│   ├── Controllers
│   │   ├── Auth
│   │   └── Controller.php
│   ├── Middleware
│   │   ├── EncryptCookies.php
│   │   ├── RedirectIfAuthenticated.php
│   │   ├── TrimStrings.php
│   │   └── VerifyCsrfToken.php
│   └── Kernel.php
├── Providers
│   ├── AppServiceProvider.php
│   ├── AuthServiceProvider.php
│   ├── BroadcastServiceProvider.php
│   ├── EventServiceProvider.php
│   └── RouteServiceProvider.php
└── User.php

The goal of this tutorial, is to move “the code I do not want” to App\Support namespace. The rationale behind this is included in the previous post.

1. Moving Providers directory

1. move the folder (and its contents) from app/Providers to app/Support/Providers
2. change namespace in every provider from App\Providers to App\Support\Providers
3. update namespaces in config/app.php in the providers sections

That’s it. As the app folder follows PSR-4 autoloading standard, moving files and updating namespaces is all you need to do.

The app folder now looks like this:

app
├── Console
│   └── Kernel.php
├── Exceptions
│   └── Handler.php
├── Http
│   ├── Controllers
│   │   ├── Auth
│   │   └── Controller.php
│   ├── Middleware
│   │   ├── EncryptCookies.php
│   │   ├── RedirectIfAuthenticated.php
│   │   ├── TrimStrings.php
│   │   └── VerifyCsrfToken.php
│   └── Kernel.php
├── Support
│   └── Providers
│       ├── AppServiceProvider.php
│       ├── AuthServiceProvider.php
│       ├── BroadcastServiceProvider.php
│       ├── EventServiceProvider.php
│       └── RouteServiceProvider.php
└── User.php

2. Moving Console\Kernel, Http\Kernel and Exceptions\Handler

As mentioned above, all framework-related classes need to be registered, so Laravel knows where to look for them. These three “core” classes are registered in the bootstrap/app.php file. If you open this file and scroll down a bit, you will see this piece of code:

<?php

// ...

$app->singleton(
    Illuminate\Contracts\Http\Kernel::class,
    App\Http\Kernel::class
);

$app->singleton(
    Illuminate\Contracts\Console\Kernel::class,
    App\Console\Kernel::class
);

$app->singleton(
    Illuminate\Contracts\Debug\ExceptionHandler::class,
    App\Exceptions\Handler::class
);

// ...

To move App\Http\Kernel into the App\Support namespace, follow these steps (same steps apply for all three files):

1. move the file to the app/Support/Http folder
2. change the namespace from App\Http to App\Support\Http
3. update the namespace in the bootstrap/app.php file

Repeat these steps for App\Console\Kernel and App\Exceptions\Handler, and you will end up with a structure that looks like this:

app
├── Http
│   ├── Controllers
│   │   ├── Auth
│   │   └── Controller.php
│   └── Middleware
│       ├── EncryptCookies.php
│       ├── RedirectIfAuthenticated.php
│       ├── TrimStrings.php
│       └── VerifyCsrfToken.php
├── Support
│   ├── Console
│   │   └── Kernel.php
│   ├── Exceptions
│   │   └── Handler.php
│   ├── Http
│   │   └── Kernel.php
│   └── Providers
│       ├── AppServiceProvider.php
│       ├── AuthServiceProvider.php
│       ├── BroadcastServiceProvider.php
│       ├── EventServiceProvider.php
│       └── RouteServiceProvider.php
└── User.php

Neat, right?

3. Moving the rest

We are almost done at this point. If it was me, I would also move App\Http\Controllers\Controller to App\Support\Http\Controller. I like to keep the “BaseClasses” inside the Support directory as well.

Next, you can move the middlewares. I tend to only move the ones that do not include any business logic, VerifyCsrfToken for example. When it comes to middlewares like RedirectIfAuthenticated, I tend to think differently. If the logic for authentication depends on a custom, project-specific functionality, it stays where it is. Otherwise it goes to the Support folder.

I will let you figure out the rest. Do you like having controllers in App\Http\Controllers or would you place them directly inside App\Http? Or maybe App\Users\Controllers? It’s up to you.

By writing this post, I want to show that you can structure your app however you want (at least the app folder). If it makes your app simpler or better, go for it!