Laravel Route Label Documentation

A tiny Laravel package that lets you attach human‑friendly labels to your routes and use them in views via a helper or a Blade directive.

• Route macro: ->label('My Label') (supports string‑backed Enums)
• Localizing the label You can also pass a translatable string ->label(__('MyLabel')) or key ->label(__('routes.home')) for a label
• Helper: routeLabel('route.name') → label or route name fallback
• Blade directive: @routeLink('route.name') → <a href="/...">Label</a>
• Extended Blade directive: @routeLink('route.name', ['class' => 'btn', 'wire:navigate' => true]) → enhanced <a> tag with custom attributes
• Block Blade directives: @routeLinkStart('route.name', ['attributes']) ... @routeLinkEnd → for complex link content
• Blade component: <x-route-link route="route.name" />

Requirements

• PHP: 8.2, 8.3, 8.4
• Laravel: 10.x, 11.x, 12.x (Illuminate Support/View/Routing)

Installation

composer require milenmk/laravel-route-label

No further setup is needed (package discovery enabled) for basic usage.

Quick Start

1) Define routes with labels

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;

// Simple string label
Route::get('/users', [UserController::class, 'index'])
    ->name('users.index')
    ->label('Users');

// Dynamic label via closure
Route::get('/users/{user}/edit', [UserController::class, 'edit'])
    ->name('users.edit')
    ->label(fn($params) => "Edit {$params['user']->name}");

// Translation key
Route::get('/home', [HomeController::class, 'index'])
    ->name('home')
    ->label('trans:routes.home');

// String-backed Enum
enum RouteLabel: string { case Users = 'Users'; }
Route::get('/users', [UserController::class, 'index'])
    ->name('users.index')
    ->label(RouteLabel::Users);

You must call ->name() before ->label().

2) Use the label in Blade

Using the helper

<a href="{{ route('users.index') }}">{{ routeLabel('users.index') }}</a>
<a href="{{ route('users.edit', ['user' => $user]) }}">{{ routeLabel('users.edit', ['user' => $user]) }}</a>

Renders

<a href="/users">Users</a>
<a href="/users/1/edit">Edit John</a>

Using Blade directives

1. Simple directive

   @routeLink('users.index')
   

   Renders:

   <a href="/users">Users</a>
   

2. With additional attributes

   @routeLink('users.index', ['class' => 'btn btn-primary', 'wire:navigate' => true])
   

   Renders:

   <a href="/users" class="btn btn-primary" wire:navigate>Users</a>
   

3. With Alpine.js / complex attributes

   @routeLink('users.index', [
   'class' => 'menu-item',
   'x-data' => '{ open: false }',
   'x-show' => 'open',
   '@click' => 'open = !open'
   ])
   

   Renders:

   <a href="/users" class="menu-item" x-data="{ open: false }" x-show="open" @click="open = !open">Users</a>
   

Block directives for complex content

@routeLinkStart('home', ['class' => 'logo-link', 'wire:navigate' => true])
    <img class="logo" src="{{ asset('images/logo.png') }}" alt="Logo" />
    <span class="brand-name">{{ config('app.name') }}</span>
@routeLinkEnd

Renders

<a href="/" class="logo-link" wire:navigate>
    <img class="logo" src="/images/logo.png" alt="Logo" />
    <span class="brand-name">My App</span>
</a>

Another example with Alpine.js

@routeLinkStart('profile', [
    'class' => 'profile-link',
    'x-data' => '{ open: false }',
    '@click' => 'open = !open'
])
    <img class="avatar" src="{{ $user->avatar }}" alt="Profile" />
    <span class="name">{{ $user->name }}</span>
    <svg class="dropdown-icon" :class="open ? 'rotate-180' : ''">...</svg>
@routeLinkEnd

Renders

<a href="/profile" class="profile-link" x-data="{ open: false }" @click="open = !open">
    <img class="avatar" src="/avatar.jpg" alt="Profile" />
    <span class="name">John Doe</span>
    <svg class="dropdown-icon">...</svg>
</a>

3) Using the Blade component

<x-route-link route="users.index" class="btn btn-primary" />
<x-route-link route="users.edit" :params="['user' => $user]" />
<x-route-link route="home" />
<x-route-link route="users.index" :attributes="['wire:navigate' => true]" />

Renders

<a href="/users" class="btn btn-primary">Users</a>
<a href="/users/1/edit" class="text-blue-500 hover:underline">Edit John</a>
<a href="/" class="text-blue-500 hover:underline">Homepage</a>
<a href="/users" class="text-blue-500 hover:underline" wire:navigate>Users</a>

Boolean attributes (like wire:navigate) are added as attribute names only when set to true.

HTML is escaped by default, configurable via config/route-label.php.

Fallbacks: if a route has no label, the route name is used (missing_label_behavior).

Enum Support

You can use string-backed Enums for labels:

enum RouteLabel: string { case Users = 'Users'; }

Route::get('/users', [UserController::class, 'index'])
    ->name('users.index')
    ->label(RouteLabel::Users);

For route names (Laravel expects a string), pass the enum value:

enum RouteName: string { case UsersIndex = 'users.index'; }

Route::get('/users', [UserController::class, 'index'])
    ->name(RouteName::UsersIndex->value)
    ->label('Users');

The @routeLink() directive expects a string route name (not an Enum), because it internally calls route().

Helper Reference

• routeLabel(string|BackedEnum $name): ?string
  • Returns the route label if set.
  • Returns the route name when no label is set.
  • Returns null if the route does not exist.

Usage examples:

routeLabel('users.index');             // "Users" (if labeled), otherwise "users.index"
routeLabel(RouteName::UsersIndex);     // Works with string-backed Enum

In Blade:

{{ routeLabel('users.index') ?? 'Unknown route' }}

Configuration (Optional / Advanced)

Publish the config to customize defaults:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=route-label-config

• default_link_class → default CSS class for the Blade component
• escape_html → whether labels are escaped (true by default)
• missing_label_behavior → controls fallback when a label is missing

Basic usage does not require publishing the config.

Errors and Edge Cases

• Calling ->label() before ->name() will throw a LogicException.
• Passing a non string‑backed Enum to ->label() will throw an InvalidArgumentException.
• Unknown routes: routeLabel() returns null → use the null coalescing operator to provide a fallback.

Why use route labels?

• Consistency: keep link texts centralized alongside routes.
• Localization friendly: prepare for i18n by mapping names to labels.
• Cleaner views: no more hard‑coded strings scattered in templates.
• Dynamic content: closures allow runtime-generated labels (e.g., usernames).

Contributing

• Pull requests and issues are welcome at GitHub.
• Follow PSR‑12 requirements

Support My Work

If this package saves you time, you can support ongoing development:
👉 Become a Patron

Other Packages

Check out my other Laravel packages:

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• Laravel GDPR Exporter - GDPR-compliant data export functionality
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• Laravel Datatables and Forms - Easy to use package to create datatables and forms for Livewire components

License

This package is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

Disclaimer

This package is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or noninfringement. The author(s) make no guarantees regarding the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of the code, and shall not be held liable for any damages or losses arising from its use. Please ensure you thoroughly test this package in your environment before deploying it to production.