Route caching in Laravel

Introduction

Route caching makes your Laravel app faster by storing all routes in a file. This way, Laravel doesn't have to find routes every time someone visits your site.

When your app has many routes and you want to speed up loading times.

Before deploying your Laravel app to a live server to improve performance.

When you have finished adding or changing routes and want to save them for quick access.

If you want to reduce the time Laravel spends reading route files on each request.

Syntax

Laravel

php artisan route:cache
php artisan route:clear

php artisan route:cache creates the route cache file.

php artisan route:clear removes the cached routes if you want to update them.

Examples

This command caches all your routes into a single file for faster loading.

Laravel

php artisan route:cache

This command clears the cached routes so you can refresh them after changes.

Laravel

php artisan route:clear

Sample Program

This example shows two simple routes. After running php artisan route:cache, Laravel stores these routes for faster access.

Laravel

<?php

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;

Route::get('/', function () {
    return 'Welcome to the homepage!';
});

Route::get('/about', function () {
    return 'About us page';
});

// After defining routes, run in terminal:
// php artisan route:cache
// Then visit '/' or '/about' to see the cached routes in action.

Important Notes

Route caching only works if all your routes are defined in route files and do not use closures with dependencies.

If you add or change routes, always run php artisan route:clear before caching again.

Route caching is best for production, not during development when routes change often.

Summary

Route caching speeds up your Laravel app by storing routes in a file.

Use php artisan route:cache to create the cache and php artisan route:clear to remove it.

Remember to clear and recache routes after changes to keep them updated.