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Controller Usage Guide

Use generated controllers as thin Express adapters. Keep persistence, relation loading, cache policy, and soft-delete rules in services and models. Preferred CRUD flow:
  • controllers delegate to service methods
  • services use User.find(...), User.create(...), loaded-instance update(...); save(), and explicit User.deleteById(...) / User.restoreById(...)
  • controllers should not introduce their own persistence logic

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Generate a controller

eloquent make:controller User
eloquent make:controller User --soft
eloquent make:controller User --test

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Generated methods

  • index()
  • show()
  • store()
  • update()
  • destroy()
  • restore() when generated with --soft

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Express route wiring

import express from "express";
import { UserController } from "./app/controllers/UserController";

const app = express();
app.use(express.json());

const controller = new UserController();

app.get("/users", controller.index.bind(controller));
app.get("/users/:id", controller.show.bind(controller));
app.post("/users", controller.store.bind(controller));
app.put("/users/:id", controller.update.bind(controller));
app.delete("/users/:id", controller.destroy.bind(controller));
app.patch("/users/:id/restore", controller.restore.bind(controller));
Only add the restore route when the controller was generated with --soft.

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Mixin-aware behavior

Controllers do not own mixins. They consume model/service behavior that comes from the composed model stack.

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Soft deletes

If the model supports soft deletes, keep destroy() as soft delete and expose restore() from the controller. Recommended service shape behind the controller: 
async destroy(id: number | string) {
  return User.deleteById(id);
}

async restore(id: number | string) {
  return User.restoreById(id);
}
Use one schema declaration, not both: 
deleted_at: column("softDeletes")
or: 
softDeletes: mixin("SoftDeletes")

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Serialization

If the model uses hidden/appended fields, prefer toObject() before res.json(...).

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Eager loading and cache

  • Keep relation loading in the service layer.
  • Keep cache logic in the service layer.

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Driver note

The controller contract is the same for SQL and Mongo models. Keep driver branching out of route handlers.