Acorn routes

Acorn Routes

When to use

• Custom endpoints not mapped to WordPress content (forms, APIs, dashboards, webhooks)
• REST-style JSON endpoints with Laravel middleware, DI, and controller organization
• Frontend routes that render Blade views with Laravel Livewire
• Endpoints that need middleware chains (auth, rate-limit, CSRF)
• Route model binding with Eloquent models

When NOT to use

• Permalink-based content routing (posts, pages, archives) — WordPress template hierarchy
• Gutenberg REST endpoints — must stay on register_rest_route() for block editor
• Admin menus and settings pages — use add_menu_page() / add_submenu_page()
• URLs expected to participate in canonical redirects and SEO plugin hooks

Prerequisites

• Acorn installed in the theme
• RouteServiceProvider registered in config/app.php
• routes/web.php and/or routes/api.php present in the theme

RouteServiceProvider Setup

// app/Providers/RouteServiceProvider.php
namespace App\Providers;

use Illuminate\Foundation\Support\Providers\RouteServiceProvider as ServiceProvider;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;

class RouteServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
{
    public function boot(): void
    {
        $this->routes(function () {
            Route::middleware('web')
                ->group($this->app->basePath('routes/web.php'));

            Route::middleware('api')
                ->prefix('api')
                ->group($this->app->basePath('routes/api.php'));
        });
    }
}

Register in config/app.php:

'providers' => [
    // ...
    App\Providers\RouteServiceProvider::class,
],

Quick Start — Scripts

# Create a standard controller (PascalCase name required)
bash skills/acorn-routes/scripts/create-controller.sh HomeController

# Create a full resource controller (index/create/store/show/edit/update/destroy)
bash skills/acorn-routes/scripts/create-controller.sh ProjectController --resource

# Create an API controller (no create/edit HTML methods)
bash skills/acorn-routes/scripts/create-controller.sh ProjectController --api

# Create a single-action invokable controller
bash skills/acorn-routes/scripts/create-controller.sh ExportReportController --invokable

Script: scripts/create-controller.sh

Route Definitions

Basic Routes

// routes/web.php
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;
use App\Http\Controllers\ContactController;

Route::get('/contact', [ContactController::class, 'show'])->name('contact.show');
Route::post('/contact', [ContactController::class, 'submit'])->name('contact.submit');
Route::put('/profile/{user}', [ProfileController::class, 'update'])->name('profile.update');
Route::delete('/account/{user}', [AccountController::class, 'destroy'])->name('account.destroy');

Resource Routes

// Full resource: index, create, store, show, edit, update, destroy
Route::resource('projects', ProjectController::class);

// Partial resource
Route::resource('events', EventController::class)->only(['index', 'show']);
Route::resource('comments', CommentController::class)->except(['destroy']);

Route Groups

Route::prefix('admin')->middleware('auth')->group(function () {
    Route::get('/reports', [ReportController::class, 'index'])->name('admin.reports');
    Route::post('/reports/export', [ReportController::class, 'export'])->name('admin.reports.export');
});

Named Routes

Always name routes. Use route() helper in Blade and controllers — never hardcode URLs:

Route::get('/projects/{project:slug}', [ProjectController::class, 'show'])->name('projects.show');

// In controllers
return redirect()->route('projects.show', ['project' => $project->id]);

// In Blade
<a href="{{ route('projects.show', $project) }}">View</a>

Controllers

Controllers live in app/Http/Controllers/. See references/controllers.md for:

• Base controller setup
• Constructor injection patterns
• wp_set_current_user note (use in middleware, not constructors)
• Resource, API, and invokable controller full examples

Quick Example

class ProjectController extends Controller
{
    public function __construct(protected ProjectService $projects) {}

    public function index(): View
    {
        return view('projects.index', [
            'projects' => $this->projects->getPublished(),
        ]);
    }
}

Assets

Boilerplate templates with {{PLACEHOLDER}} tokens:

• controller-resource.php.tpl — All 7 REST methods. Replace {{CLASS_NAME}}, {{VIEW_PREFIX}}, {{ROUTE_PREFIX}}.
• controller-api.php.tpl — API controller (no create/edit). Replace {{CLASS_NAME}}.

Route Model Binding

When the route parameter name matches the type-hinted variable, Laravel resolves the model automatically:

Route::get('/projects/{project}', [ProjectController::class, 'show']);

// Controller
public function show(Project $project): View { /* $project auto-resolved */ }

Resolve by slug:

Route::get('/projects/{project:slug}', [ProjectController::class, 'show']);

See references/route-model-binding.md for:

• Scoped bindings for nested resources
• resolveRouteBinding() override
• WordPress post ID binding
• Missing model customization

Middleware

// Single route
Route::get('/dashboard', [DashboardController::class, 'index'])->middleware('auth');

// Group
Route::middleware(['auth', 'verified'])->group(function () {
    Route::resource('projects', ProjectController::class);
});

// With parameters
Route::post('/admin/users', [UserController::class, 'store'])->middleware('role:admin');

For creating custom middleware, see superpowers-sage:acorn-middleware.

See references/middleware-groups.md for:

• Named middleware aliases (Kernel setup)
• web vs api groups
• Middleware ordering rules

API Routes

// routes/api.php — automatically prefixed /api, stateless
Route::apiResource('projects', \App\Http\Controllers\Api\ProjectController::class);

Route::post('/webhooks/stripe', [StripeWebhookController::class, 'handle'])
    ->middleware('verify.stripe.signature');

See references/api-endpoints.md for:

• Full API controller structure with JsonResource
• EnsureJsonResponse middleware (Accept: application/json)
• Rate limiting with custom RateLimiter
• Token authentication middleware
• Versioned API setup

WordPress Coexistence

• Acorn routes take precedence when they match a URL — they bypass WP rewrite rules entirely.
• Prefix Acorn routes with /app/, /portal/, or /api/ to avoid colliding with WP content URLs.
• WordPress admin (/wp-admin/) and WP REST API (/wp-json/) are unaffected.
• No permalink flush needed — Acorn routes are not registered in WP's rewrite table.

Lando Commands

# List all routes with methods, URIs, controllers, names, middleware
lando acorn route:list

# Filter by path segment
lando acorn route:list --path=api

# Filter by HTTP method
lando acorn route:list --method=POST

# Cache routes for production (no closure routes allowed)
lando acorn route:cache

# Clear route cache (always do this during development)
lando acorn route:clear

Critical Rules

1. Always use routes/web.php or routes/api.php — never define Acorn routes in functions.php.
2. Use Route::middleware() for auth/access control — never add_action('init') or WP hooks on Acorn routes.
3. Check for WP rewrite conflicts with lando acorn route:list before deploying.
4. Never use closures in route files — they cannot be cached. Use controller classes.
5. Always name routes — ->name('resource.action') — so route() helper and redirects work.
6. Prefix Acorn routes to avoid colliding with WordPress page slugs and content URLs.
7. wp_set_current_user() belongs in auth middleware, not in controller constructors.

Verification

• Visit the route URL and confirm expected response (HTML or JSON) with correct status code.
• Run lando acorn route:list and verify the route has correct method, URI, controller, name, middleware.
• Test named routes: lando acorn tinker → route('route.name') returns the expected URL.

Failure modes

See references/troubleshooting.md for:

• 404 on a defined route
• Route conflicts with WP rewrite rules
• Middleware not firing
• Route model binding not resolving
• current_user_can() returning false in controllers
• CSRF token mismatches
• Route cache issues

References

Deep content loaded on demand — zero tokens until needed.

• controllers.md — Controller class structure, constructor injection, resource/API/invokable controllers, wp_set_current_user note for constructors.
• route-model-binding.md — Implicit and explicit binding, resolveRouteBinding(), WP post ID binding, scoped bindings.
• middleware-groups.md — Middleware assignment in routes, named middleware aliases, group wrapping, web/api groups, ordering.
• api-endpoints.md — JSON API responses, rate limiting, token auth, Accept: application/json detection, versioning.
• troubleshooting.md — 404 on Acorn routes, WP rewrite conflicts, middleware not firing, route cache, CSRF issues.

Escalation

• Route needs WordPress REST API (/wp-json/): use register_rest_route() — see superpowers-sage:wp-rest-api.
• Middleware not behaving: see superpowers-sage:acorn-middleware for Kernel setup and JWT.

Query First — MCP Integration

Before adding routes that reference controllers or post types, query:

execute-ability routes/list

Use real route slugs and controller names from the query. See sageing/references/mcp-query-patterns.md.