Terminable middleware in Laravel - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Create a Terminable Middleware in Laravel

📖 Scenario: You are building a Laravel web application that needs to log the time taken to handle each HTTP request. You want to create middleware that runs both before and after the response is sent to the browser.

🎯 Goal: Build a terminable middleware in Laravel that logs the request start time before the request is handled and logs the total time taken after the response is sent.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a middleware class named LogRequestTime

Add a property startTime to store the request start time

Implement the handle method to set startTime and pass the request to the next middleware

Implement the terminate method to calculate and log the total time taken

Register the middleware in app/Http/Kernel.php under the $middleware array

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Logging request times helps monitor application performance and identify slow requests in real web applications.

💼 Career

Understanding terminable middleware is important for Laravel developers to run code after responses, useful for logging, cleanup, and analytics.

1

Create the middleware class with a startTime property

Create a middleware class named LogRequestTime in the app/Http/Middleware directory. Add a public property called startTime to store the request start time.

Laravel

<?php

namespace App\Http\Middleware;

class LogRequestTime
{
    // Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Define a class with a public property named startTime.

2

Add the handle method to set startTime and pass the request

Inside the LogRequestTime class, add a public method handle that accepts $request and Closure $next. Set $this->startTime to the current time using microtime(true). Then return $next($request).

Laravel

<?php

namespace App\Http\Middleware;

class LogRequestTime
{
    public $startTime;

    // Add the handle method below
    // Your code here
}

Need a hint?

The handle method runs before the request is processed. Use microtime(true) to get the current time.

3

Add the terminate method to log the total time taken

Add a public method terminate to the LogRequestTime class that accepts $request and $response. Calculate the total time by subtracting $this->startTime from the current time using microtime(true). Use Laravel's logger() helper to log the message: 'Request took ' . $totalTime . ' seconds.'.

Laravel

startTime = microtime(true);
        return $next($request);
    }

    // Add the terminate method below
    // Your code here
}

Need a hint?

The terminate method runs after the response is sent. Use it to log the total time.

4

Register the LogRequestTime middleware in app/Http/Kernel.php

Open app/Http/Kernel.php. Add \App\Http\Middleware\LogRequestTime::class to the $middleware array to register it as global middleware.

Laravel

<?php

namespace App\Http;

use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Kernel as HttpKernel;

class Kernel extends HttpKernel
{
    protected $middleware = [
        // Add the LogRequestTime middleware below
        // Your code here
    ];
}

Need a hint?

Register the middleware globally by adding it to the $middleware array in the Kernel class.