Routing

In web applications, such as Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source, routing is the act of providing data from a URL request to the appropriate class for processing. Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source routing uses the following flow:

Request processing

`FrontController` class

The FrontController class class searches through a list of routers, provided by the RouterList class, until it matches one that can process a request. When the FrontController finds a matching router, it dispatches the request to an action class returned by the router.

If the FrontController cannot find a router to process a request, it uses the default router.

Router class

The Router class matches a request to an action class that processes the request.

The following tables show the core routers that come with Magento:

frontend area routers:

Name	Sort order	Description
robots	10	Matches request to the `robots.txt` file
urlrewrite	20	Matches requests with URL defined in the database
standard	30	The standard router
cms	60	Matches requests for CMS pages
default	100	The default router

adminhtml area routers:

Name	Sort order	Description
admin	10	Matches requests in the Admin area
default	100	The default router for the Admin area

Standard router

A URL that uses the standard router has the following format:

<store-url>/<store-code>/<front-name>/<controller-name>/<action-name>
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<store-url>/<store-code>/<front-name>/<controller-name>/<action-name>

Where:

<store-url> - specifies the base URL for the application instance
<store-code> - specifies the store context
<front-name> - specifies the frontName of the FrontController to use (for example, [routesxml])
<controller-name> - specifies the name of the controller
<action-name> - specifies the action class to execute on the controller class

The standard router parses this URL format and matches it to the correct controller and action.

Default router

The DefaultRouter class, is the last router that the application checks during the routing process. Requests that reach this point often contain invalid URLs that previous routers cannot handle.

The application uses the default NoRouteHandler to process these requests, but you can write your own no-route handler by implementing the NoRouteHandlerInterface.

Custom routers

Create an implementation of RouterInterface to create a custom router, and define the match() function in this class to use your own route matching logic.

If you need route configuration data, use the Route Config class.

To add your custom router to the list of routers for the FrontController, add the following entry in your module's frontend/di.xml file:

<type name="Magento\Framework\App\RouterList">
    <arguments>
        <argument name="routerList" xsi:type="array">
            <item name="%name%" xsi:type="array">
                <item name="class" xsi:type="string">%classpath%</item>
                <item name="disable" xsi:type="boolean">false</item>
                <item name="sortOrder" xsi:type="string">%sortorder%</item>
            </item>
        </argument>
    </arguments>
</type>
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<type name="Magento\Framework\App\RouterList">
    <arguments>
        <argument name="routerList" xsi:type="array">
            <item name="%name%" xsi:type="array">
                <item name="class" xsi:type="string">%classpath%</item>
                <item name="disable" xsi:type="boolean">false</item>
                <item name="sortOrder" xsi:type="string">%sortorder%</item>
            </item>
        </argument>
    </arguments>
</type>

Where:

%name% - The unique name of your router in Magento.
%classpath% - The path to your router class. Example: Magento\Robots\Controller\Router
%sortorder% - The sort order of this entry in the router list.

`routes.xml`

The routes.xml file maps which module to use for a URL with a specific frontName and area. The location of the routes.xml file in a module, either etc/frontend or etc/adminhtml, specifies where those routes are active.

The content of this file uses the following format:

<config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:App/etc/routes.xsd">
    <router id="%routerId%">
        <route id="%routeId%" frontName="%frontName%">
            <module name="%moduleName%"/>
        </route>
    </router>
</config>
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<config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:App/etc/routes.xsd">
    <router id="%routerId%">
        <route id="%routeId%" frontName="%frontName%">
            <module name="%moduleName%"/>
        </route>
    </router>
</config>

Where:

%routerId - specifies the name of the router in Magento. See the reference tables in the Router class section.
%routeId% - specifies the unique node id for this route in Magento, is also the first segment of its associated layout handle XML filename (routeId_controller_action.xml).
%frontName% - specifies the first segment after the base URL of a request.
%moduleName% - specifies the name of your module.

For more details, see routes.xsd.

Before and after parameters

You can add a before or after parameter in the module entry to override or extend routes in existing modules.

Example: routes.xml:

<config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:App/etc/routes.xsd">
    <router id="standard">
        <route id="customer">
            <module name="ExampleCorp_RoutingExample" before="Magento_Customer" />
        </route>
    </router>
</config>
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<config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:App/etc/routes.xsd">
    <router id="standard">
        <route id="customer">
            <module name="ExampleCorp_RoutingExample" before="Magento_Customer" />
        </route>
    </router>
</config>

This configuration tells the FrontController to look for actions in the ExampleCorp_RoutingExample module before searching in the Magento_Customer module. If app/code/ExampleCorp/RoutingExample/Controller/Account/Login.php exists, it will use that file for processing the login route instead of the original class.

Action class

Action classes are implementations of the ActionInterface that a router returns on matched requests. The execute() function in these classes contain the logic for dispatching requests.

Each Action should implement one or more Magento\Framework\App\Action\HttpHTTP MethodActionInterface to declare which HTTP request methods it can process. The most common ones are:

\Magento\Framework\App\Action\HttpDeleteActionInterface
\Magento\Framework\App\Action\HttpGetActionInterface
\Magento\Framework\App\Action\HttpPostActionInterface
\Magento\Framework\App\Action\HttpPutActionInterface

The application has a form key validation in place for all POST non-AJAX requests - if your Action doesn't need that validation or you want to modify it you can implement CsrfAwareActionInterface.

If you need to forward a request to another action in your class, use the Forward::forward(string $action) method.

Example:

<?php
declare(strict_types=1);

namespace ExampleCorp\RoutingExample\Controller\Index;

use Magento\Framework\App\Action\HttpGetActionInterface;
use Magento\Framework\Controller\Result\Forward;
use Magento\Framework\Controller\Result\ForwardFactory;

/**
 * Class Index
 */
class Index implements HttpGetActionInterface
{
    /**
     * @var ForwardFactory
     */
    private $forwardFactory;

    /**
     * @param ForwardFactory $forwardFactory
     */
    public function __construct(
        ForwardFactory $forwardFactory
    ) {
        $this->forwardFactory = $forwardFactory;
    }

    /**
     * @inheritdoc
     */
    public function execute()
    {
        /** @var Forward $forward */
        $forward = $this->forwardFactory->create();
        return $forward->forward('defaultNoRoute');
    }
}
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<?php
declare(strict_types=1);

namespace ExampleCorp\RoutingExample\Controller\Index;

use Magento\Framework\App\Action\HttpGetActionInterface;
use Magento\Framework\Controller\Result\Forward;
use Magento\Framework\Controller\Result\ForwardFactory;

/**
 * Class Index
 */
class Index implements HttpGetActionInterface
{
    /**
     * @var ForwardFactory
     */
    private $forwardFactory;

    /**
     * @param ForwardFactory $forwardFactory
     */
    public function __construct(
        ForwardFactory $forwardFactory
    ) {
        $this->forwardFactory = $forwardFactory;
    }

    /**
     * @inheritdoc
     */
    public function execute()
    {
        /** @var Forward $forward */
        $forward = $this->forwardFactory->create();
        return $forward->forward('defaultNoRoute');
    }
}

Use the ActionFactory in your router to create an instance of an Action class.

Action class should return a result object.

Result object

Name	Description
`json`	Sets `Content-Type:application/json` in the header and returns a json encoded representation of an array with data
`raw`	Returns the data as it's been set. Does not set a `Content-Type` in the header
`redirect`	Creates an external redirect, which the browser follows and requests a new url
`forward`	Internally calls the execute method of another action class and does not trigger a new request from the browser. The URL stays the same
`layout`	View result. You can use a generic layout response to render any kind of layout. The layout comprises a response body from its layout elements and sets it to the HTTP response
`page`	View result. Encapsulates page type, page configuration, and imposes certain layout handles. `page` triggers `layout.xml` to render into HTML

Example of routing usage

Declaring a new route:

File: ExampleCorp/RoutingExample/etc/frontend/routes.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:App/etc/routes.xsd">
    <router id="standard">
        <route id="routing" frontName="routing">
            <module name="ExampleCorp_RoutingExample" />
        </route>
    </router>
</config>
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<?xml version="1.0"?>

<config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:App/etc/routes.xsd">
    <router id="standard">
        <route id="routing" frontName="routing">
            <module name="ExampleCorp_RoutingExample" />
        </route>
    </router>
</config>

Declaring the layout handler for our new route:

File: ExampleCorp/RoutingExample/view/frontend/layout/routing_index_index.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<page xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:View/Layout/etc/page_configuration.xsd">
    <body>
        <referenceBlock name="page.main.title">
            <action method="setPageTitle">
                <argument translate="true" name="title" xsi:type="string">Routing Page</argument>
            </action>
        </referenceBlock>
    </body>
</page>
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<?xml version="1.0"?>

<page xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:View/Layout/etc/page_configuration.xsd">
    <body>
        <referenceBlock name="page.main.title">
            <action method="setPageTitle">
                <argument translate="true" name="title" xsi:type="string">Routing Page</argument>
            </action>
        </referenceBlock>
    </body>
</page>

Defining a new custom router:

File: ExampleCorp/RoutingExample/etc/frontend/di.xml

<type name="Magento\Framework\App\RouterList">
    <arguments>
        <argument name="routerList" xsi:type="array">
            <item name="routingExample" xsi:type="array">
                <item name="class" xsi:type="string">ExampleCorp\RoutingExample\Controller\Router</item>
                <item name="disable" xsi:type="boolean">false</item>
                <item name="sortOrder" xsi:type="string">40</item>
            </item>
        </argument>
    </arguments>
</type>
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<type name="Magento\Framework\App\RouterList">
    <arguments>
        <argument name="routerList" xsi:type="array">
            <item name="routingExample" xsi:type="array">
                <item name="class" xsi:type="string">ExampleCorp\RoutingExample\Controller\Router</item>
                <item name="disable" xsi:type="boolean">false</item>
                <item name="sortOrder" xsi:type="string">40</item>
            </item>
        </argument>
    </arguments>
</type>

Creating the controller that will handle the routing route and will get the parameters passed by our router.

File: ExampleCorp/RoutingExample/Controller/Index/Index.php

<?php
declare(strict_types=1);

namespace ExampleCorp\RoutingExample\Controller\Index;

use Magento\Framework\App\Action\HttpGetActionInterface;
use Magento\Framework\App\RequestInterface;
use Magento\Framework\View\Result\Page;
use Magento\Framework\View\Result\PageFactory;

/**
 * Class Index
 */
class Index implements HttpGetActionInterface
{
    /**
     * @var PageFactory
     */
    private $pageFactory;

    /**
      * @var RequestInterface
      */
    private $request;

    /**
     * @param PageFactory $pageFactory
     * @param RequestInterface $request
     */
    public function __construct(PageFactory $pageFactory, RequestInterface $request)
    {
        $this->pageFactory = $pageFactory;
        $this->request = $request;
    }

    /**
     * @inheritdoc
     */
    public function execute()
    {
        // Get the params that were passed from our Router
        $firstParam = $this->request->getParam('first_param', null);
        $secondParam = $this->request->getParam('second_param', null);

        return $this->pageFactory->create();
    }
}
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<?php
declare(strict_types=1);

namespace ExampleCorp\RoutingExample\Controller\Index;

use Magento\Framework\App\Action\HttpGetActionInterface;
use Magento\Framework\App\RequestInterface;
use Magento\Framework\View\Result\Page;
use Magento\Framework\View\Result\PageFactory;

/**
 * Class Index
 */
class Index implements HttpGetActionInterface
{
    /**
     * @var PageFactory
     */
    private $pageFactory;

    /**
      * @var RequestInterface
      */
    private $request;

    /**
     * @param PageFactory $pageFactory
     * @param RequestInterface $request
     */
    public function __construct(PageFactory $pageFactory, RequestInterface $request)
    {
        $this->pageFactory = $pageFactory;
        $this->request = $request;
    }

    /**
     * @inheritdoc
     */
    public function execute()
    {
        // Get the params that were passed from our Router
        $firstParam = $this->request->getParam('first_param', null);
        $secondParam = $this->request->getParam('second_param', null);

        return $this->pageFactory->create();
    }
}

In the end, let's create the router class, that will match the custom route name learning with the existing routing route.

File: ExampleCorp/RoutingExample/Controller/Router.php

<?php
declare(strict_types=1);

namespace ExampleCorp\RoutingExample\Controller;

use Magento\Framework\App\Action\Forward;
use Magento\Framework\App\ActionFactory;
use Magento\Framework\App\ActionInterface;
use Magento\Framework\App\RequestInterface;
use Magento\Framework\App\ResponseInterface;
use Magento\Framework\App\RouterInterface;

/**
 * Class Router
 */
class Router implements RouterInterface
{
    /**
     * @var ActionFactory
     */
    private $actionFactory;

    /**
     * @var ResponseInterface
     */
    private $response;

    /**
     * Router constructor.
     *
     * @param ActionFactory $actionFactory
     * @param ResponseInterface $response
     */
    public function __construct(
        ActionFactory $actionFactory,
        ResponseInterface $response
    ) {
        $this->actionFactory = $actionFactory;
        $this->response = $response;
    }

    /**
     * @param RequestInterface $request
     * @return ActionInterface|null
     */
    public function match(RequestInterface $request): ?ActionInterface
    {
        $identifier = trim($request->getPathInfo(), '/');

        if (strpos($identifier, 'learning') !== false) {
            $request->setModuleName('routing');
            $request->setControllerName('index');
            $request->setActionName('index');
            $request->setParams([
                'first_param' => 'first_value',
                'second_param' => 'second_value'
            ]);

            return $this->actionFactory->create(Forward::class, ['request' => $request]);
        }

        return null;
    }
}
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<?php
declare(strict_types=1);

namespace ExampleCorp\RoutingExample\Controller;

use Magento\Framework\App\Action\Forward;
use Magento\Framework\App\ActionFactory;
use Magento\Framework\App\ActionInterface;
use Magento\Framework\App\RequestInterface;
use Magento\Framework\App\ResponseInterface;
use Magento\Framework\App\RouterInterface;

/**
 * Class Router
 */
class Router implements RouterInterface
{
    /**
     * @var ActionFactory
     */
    private $actionFactory;

    /**
     * @var ResponseInterface
     */
    private $response;

    /**
     * Router constructor.
     *
     * @param ActionFactory $actionFactory
     * @param ResponseInterface $response
     */
    public function __construct(
        ActionFactory $actionFactory,
        ResponseInterface $response
    ) {
        $this->actionFactory = $actionFactory;
        $this->response = $response;
    }

    /**
     * @param RequestInterface $request
     * @return ActionInterface|null
     */
    public function match(RequestInterface $request): ?ActionInterface
    {
        $identifier = trim($request->getPathInfo(), '/');

        if (strpos($identifier, 'learning') !== false) {
            $request->setModuleName('routing');
            $request->setControllerName('index');
            $request->setActionName('index');
            $request->setParams([
                'first_param' => 'first_value',
                'second_param' => 'second_value'
            ]);

            return $this->actionFactory->create(Forward::class, ['request' => $request]);
        }

        return null;
    }
}

As a result, by accessing the http://site.com/learning route, the http://site.com/routing/index/index route is loaded.

Routing Result

Declaring the new route as Page Type

After creating a new route routing/index/index, it is a good practice to give more control on it for the admin. By creating a new Page Type, the admin can manage the content of this page using widgets.

Defining a new page type:

etc/frontend/page_types.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<page_types xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:View/Layout/etc/page_types.xsd">
    <type id="routing_index_index" label="Routing Page"/>
</page_types>
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<?xml version="1.0"?>
<page_types xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:View/Layout/etc/page_types.xsd">
    <type id="routing_index_index" label="Routing Page"/>
</page_types>