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For an end-to-end walkthrough that wires up AnimalResource + all five controllers with auth and pagination, see the Resource CRUD how-to. When resources don’t fit, use the manual CRUD how-to instead.

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What Is a Resource?

In Apivalk, a resource is a concrete subclass of AbstractResource that describes one domain entity:
  • its properties — including the identifier, declared as a regular property in init();
  • which properties are excluded from a given mode (e.g. hide the identifier from create request bodies, hide weight from list responses);
  • the filters and sortings list endpoints expose;
  • the OpenAPI tags for grouping.
One resource declaration powers five controllers — Create, View, Update, Delete, List — and the matching response envelopes. The framework derives request validation, response shapes, and OpenAPI documentation from that single source of truth.

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Why Use Resources?

Without resources, building a full CRUD surface for one entity means authoring ~15 classes: five controllers, five request classes with property documentation, and five response classes. Resources collapse that to one resource class plus five thin controller subclasses. Benefits:
  • Zero duplicate documentation: identifier, properties, filters, and sortings are declared once.
  • Built-in validation: RequestValidationMiddleware validates body, path, filters, and sort fields — all derived from the resource.
  • Built-in OpenAPI: request and response schemas are emitted for all five modes automatically.
  • Shared response envelopes: ResourceCreated/View/Updated/Deleted/ListResponse wrap the data key and pagination envelope for you.
  • Nested URLs: because each controller declares its own buildRoute(), any URL structure is possible — including /users/{user_uuid}/authenticators/{authenticator_uuid}.

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Big Picture

AbstractResource (your declaration)
   ├─ init() + addProperty()   ── identifier + body fields; response fields on all modes
   ├─ excludeFromMode($mode)   ── per-mode field visibility
   ├─ availableFilters()       ── list endpoint query params
   ├─ availableSortings()      ── order_by fields
   └─ tags()                   ── OpenAPI grouping

    ▲
    │ paired with one of
    │
Abstract{Create,View,Update,Delete,List}ResourceController
   ├─ buildRoute()       ── explicit: your URL, method, auth, filters, sortings, pagination
   ├─ getRequestClass()  ── always ResourceRequest
   ├─ getResponseClasses ── mode-specific Resource*Response
   └─ __invoke()         ── your business logic (only thing you implement)

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Learn More

Defining a Resource

How to subclass AbstractResource: identifier, properties, filters, sortings, per-mode exclusions.

Resource Controllers

The five CRUD controller bases, explicit buildRoute(), and nested resource patterns.

Resource Responses

The five pre-built response envelopes and how to attach pagination.