Why Global middleware in Laravel? - Purpose & Use Cases

The Big Idea

What if you could add one rule that works everywhere without repeating yourself?

The Scenario

Imagine you have to check if every user is logged in before they access any page on your website. You try to add this check inside every single page's code manually.

The Problem

Manually adding the same login check everywhere is tiring, easy to forget, and if you want to change the check later, you must update every page. This wastes time and causes bugs.

The Solution

Global middleware lets you write the login check once and automatically runs it before every page request. This keeps your code clean and consistent without repeating yourself.

Before vs After

✗ Before

if (!userIsLoggedIn()) { redirectToLogin(); } // repeated in every controller method

✓ After

// Define global middleware that runs before all requests
class CheckLogin {
    public function handle($request, $next) {
        if (!userIsLoggedIn()) {
            return redirect('login');
        }
        return $next($request);
    }
}

What It Enables

Global middleware makes it easy to apply rules or actions across your whole app with one simple setup.

Real Life Example

Every time someone visits your site, global middleware can check if they are logged in and redirect them to login if not, without writing that logic on every page.

Key Takeaways

Manual checks everywhere cause repeated code and bugs.

Global middleware runs code before every request automatically.

This keeps your app secure and your code clean.