Refactor Controller into Action Class: Cleaner Laravel Code

Refactoring a Laravel Controller into an Action Class is a great way to make your code cleaner, more maintainable, and testable. This approach follows the Single Responsibility Principle — where each action does one thing.

Why Use Action Classes?

Keeps controllers clean and focused.
Separates business logic from HTTP layer.
Easier to test and reuse logic.
Improves code readability and organization.

Folder Structure Example

app/
├── Actions/
│   └── Product/
│       └── CreateProduct.php
├── Http/
│   └── Controllers/
│       └── ProductController.php

Step-by-Step Example

Scenario:

We want to move the logic of creating a product from the controller into an action class.

Before (Fat Controller)

// app/Http/Controllers/ProductController.php

use App\Models\Product;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class ProductController extends Controller
{
    public function store(Request $request)
    {
        $validated = $request->validate([
            'name' => 'required|string',
            'price' => 'required|numeric',
        ]);

        $product = Product::create($validated);

        return response()->json([
            'message' => 'Product created successfully!',
            'product' => $product
        ], 201);
    }
}

After (Using Action Class)

Create the Action Class

// app/Actions/Product/CreateProduct.php

namespace App\Actions\Product;

use App\Models\Product;

class CreateProduct
{
    public function handle(array $data): Product
    {
        return Product::create($data);
    }
}

Refactor the Controller

// app/Http/Controllers/ProductController.php

use App\Actions\Product\CreateProduct;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class ProductController extends Controller
{
    public function store(Request $request, CreateProduct $createProduct)
    {
        $validated = $request->validate([
            'name' => 'required|string',
            'price' => 'required|numeric',
        ]);

        $product = $createProduct->handle($validated);

        return response()->json([
            'message' => 'Product created successfully!',
            'product' => $product
        ], 201);
    }
}

Optional: Add Form Request for Validation

Create a form request to move validation logic out too.

php artisan make:request StoreProductRequest

Update it:

// app/Http/Requests/StoreProductRequest.php

public function rules(): array
{
    return [
        'name' => 'required|string',
        'price' => 'required|numeric',
    ];
}

Then your controller becomes super clean:

public function store(StoreProductRequest $request, CreateProduct $createProduct)
{
    $product = $createProduct->handle($request->validated());

    return response()->json([
        'message' => 'Product created!',
        'product' => $product
    ], 201);
}

Benefits Recap

✅ Controller: only handles HTTP layer
✅ Action: handles business logic
✅ Request: handles validation

This separation of concerns leads to cleaner, testable, and maintainable Laravel apps.

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