Policy Classes

Policy Classes in Laravel encapsulate authorization logic for specific models or resources. They provide a clean and organized way to define permissions and ensure your application enforces these rules consistently.

Origin

Policies were introduced as part of Laravel's authorization system to separate business logic from controllers, adhering to the Single Responsibility Principle.

Why are they important?

1. Centralized Authorization Logic: Keeps permissions organized and reusable.
2. Cleaner Controllers: Offloads authorization checks from controllers.
3. Customizable Rules: Allows fine-grained control over user actions.

Best Practices

1. Use php artisan make:policy: Generate policy classes using Laravel's artisan command.
2. Map Policies to Models: Register policies in the AuthServiceProvider.
3. Follow SRP (Single Responsibility Principle): Keep policies focused on authorization logic only.

Example in Action

To create a policy for a Post model:

php artisan make:policy PostPolicy

In PostPolicy, define methods like:

public function update(User $user, Post $post)
{
    return $user->id === $post->user_id;
}

Register the policy in AuthServiceProvider:

protected $policies = [
    Post::class => PostPolicy::class,
];

In a controller, use the policy:

$this->authorize('update', $post);

This approach ensures authorization rules are reusable and centralized.