🧭 Introduction:
As Laravel developers, we often start with simple controller methods. But as our applications scale, these methods start to do too much — validation, data manipulation, business logic, notifications, analytics, and more. This leads to fat controllers and bloated service classes, making our code harder to test, maintain, and scale.
This is where Laravel Pipelines come into play.
Pipelines provide a clean and powerful way to break down request logic into modular, sequential, and testable steps. Think of it as an assembly line: data enters, gets processed step-by-step, and exits clean and ready for the next stage.
Let’s explore how you can use this elegant pattern to build custom request workflows that are clean, testable, and built to scale.
🧠 What Is a Pipeline in Laravel?
A pipeline is a design pattern that allows you to send data through a series of steps (called “pipes”) that each perform an action and then pass the result to the next.
Laravel provides a native Pipeline class for this purpose. It’s typically used like this:
Each pipe is a class with a handle() method that takes in data and a closure. The data is manipulated or passed through as needed.
🎯 When to Use Pipelines
Use Laravel pipelines when:
- You have a multi-step process with linear logic
- Each step can be encapsulated in a class
- You want clarity, modularity, and testability
Common examples include:
- User registration
- Order processing
- CSV or Excel data imports
- Workflow engines
- AI prompt preprocessing
- Payment processing
🧩 Use Case: Custom User Registration Flow
Let’s say you’re building a custom user registration process. Your flow includes:
- Normalizing input
- Validating business rules
- Checking for banned IPs
- Creating the user
- Sending a welcome email
Instead of writing all this in your controller or service, you use a pipeline:
This approach improves readability (each step is listed clearly), modularity (steps can be reused), and testability (each pipe can be tested in isolation).
🔧 Defining Pipe Classes
Each pipe lives in App\Pipes and looks like this:
Example: NormalizeInput
Other pipe examples:
- ValidateBusinessRules: Validates input using Laravel’s validator.
- CheckBannedIp: Verifies the request IP isn’t blacklisted.
- CreateUser: Creates the user in the database.
- SendWelcomeEmail: Notifies the new user via email.
✅ Benefits of Using Pipelines
| Benefit | Why it Matters |
| Readability | Each step is explicitly defined and easy to understand |
| Separation of Concerns | Keeps each class focused on a single task |
| Testability | You can test each pipe independently |
| Flexibility | Easily add, remove, or reorder steps |
| Reusability | Pipes can be reused across other workflows |
🧪 Testing Pipelines
You can write unit tests for each pipe:
Or write integration tests for the full flow:
🔄 Dynamic or Conditional Pipelines
Pipelines can be built dynamically:
You can also store the pipe sequence in a config file or even a database — ideal for admin-configurable workflows.
🧱 Other Use Cases: Orders, Imports, AI
🛍 Order Processing
📥 Data Import
🧠 AI Prompt Processing
⚖️ Pipelines vs Middleware vs Events vs Jobs
| Feature | Pipeline | Middleware | Event Listeners | Jobs |
| Tied to HTTP? | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Async? | ❌ No (synchronous) | ❌ No | ❌ No (by default) | ✅ Yes (queued) |
| Ordered Steps? | ✅ Yes (strict order) | ✅ Yes | ❌ Unpredictable | ✅ With chained jobs |
| Best for… | Workflows, request logic | Routing filters | Reacting to actions | Heavy processing |
📈 Performance Tips
- Keep each pipe lean and focused
- Avoid multiple DB or network calls inside a single pipe
- Consider caching the pipeline result when appropriate
- For performance-critical workflows, benchmark before and after refactoring
📌 When Not to Use Pipelines
Avoid pipelines if:
- You only need one or two small actions
- The logic is deeply branching or conditional
- You need early exits or multiple return points (use a strategy pattern or events)
🧠 Final Thoughts
Laravel pipelines offer a unique blend of clarity, structure, and power. They’re ideal for backend workflows that need to scale, remain readable, and be reused across contexts.
Instead of stuffing everything into one controller or service, pipelines let you think in steps, build in modules, and test in isolation.