Problem:
Recently, while developing a feature to update resources in my Laravel app, I faced an unexpected issue: the create functionality, which had been working previously, suddenly stopped functioning. When I tried accessing the jobs/create route, it led to a 404 page, even though my unit tests confirmed that the route existed and the functionality was correctly implemented.
Confused, I spent two days troubleshooting. I experimented with various solutions found online and even tried suggestions from AI tools, but nothing resolved the issue. The 404 persisted.
Solution:
Finally, a thought popped up to my mind: Laravel processes routes in a top-to-bottom order. Perhaps some routes I’d recently added were causing a conflict with the create route.
To test this, I moved the create route to the top of my route group in the web.php. And just like that, it worked! The 404 error disappeared, and the route functioned as expected.
Why This Worked:
Laravel’s routing system processes routes sequentially, which means that if two routes conflict, the first one defined will take precedence. In my case, a recently added route was intercepting requests intended for jobs/create. By moving the create route to the top, Laravel reached it first, resolving the conflict.
Hope this post will save someone time, someday!
Happy coding 🙂