Resources

A Resource is the declarative unit that links an Eloquent model to the admin: index/create/edit/show, fields, table, actions, auth — everything emerges from a single PHP class.

The minimum

php artisan arqel:resource Post --with-policy

Generates app/Arqel/Resources/PostResource.php:

namespace App\Arqel\Resources;

use App\Models\Post;
use Arqel\Core\Resources\Resource;
use Arqel\Fields\FieldFactory as Field;

final class PostResource extends Resource
{
    protected static string $model = Post::class;
    protected static ?string $navigationIcon = 'document-text';

    public function fields(): array
    {
        return [
            Field::text('title')->required()->maxLength(200),
            Field::slug('slug')->fromField('title')->required(),
            Field::textarea('body')->rows(8),
        ];
    }
}

From there Arqel derives:

• Panel slug (PostResource → posts)
• Routes: arqel.resources.{index,create,store,show,edit,update,destroy}
• Sidebar entry with the "Posts" label
• Index page with auto-derived columns
• Create/edit forms with the fields above
• Inertia pages rendered by @arqel-dev/ui components

Naming conventions

Property	Default	Override
$slug	derived from name (PostResource → posts)	protected static ?string $slug = 'articles'
$label	"Post"	protected static ?string $label = 'Article'
$pluralLabel	"Posts"	protected static ?string $pluralLabel = 'Articles'
$navigationIcon	null	'document-text' (lucide-react ID)
$navigationGroup	null	'Content' (groups in the sidebar)
$navigationSort	null	int for ordering
$recordTitleAttribute	'name' or 'title'	'subject'

Lifecycle hooks

Override protected hooks in your subclass — Arqel calls them around save/delete:

final class PostResource extends Resource
{
    protected static string $model = Post::class;

    protected function beforeSave(Model $record, array $data): void
    {
        $record->user_id = auth()->id();
    }

    protected function afterCreate(Model $record): void
    {
        Notification::send($record->user, new PostPublished($record));
    }
}

Available hooks:

• beforeCreate(Model $record, array $data) / afterCreate(Model $record)
• beforeUpdate(Model $record, array $data) / afterUpdate(Model $record)
• beforeSave(Model $record, array $data) / afterSave(Model $record) — fire on both create and update
• beforeDelete(Model $record) / afterDelete(Model $record) — afterDelete only runs if delete() returned truthy

recordTitle and recordSubtitle

How to display a record's name/identifier (breadcrumbs, confirmation modals, etc.):

public function recordTitle(Model $record): string
{
    return $record->title;
}

public function recordSubtitle(Model $record): ?string
{
    return $record->author?->name;
}

Default: uses $recordTitleAttribute ('title'/'name').

indexQuery — scoping the listing

public function indexQuery(Builder $query): Builder
{
    return $query->where('user_id', auth()->id())->latest();
}

Applies only to the index. Edit/show stay unscoped (use Policies for real auth).

Table and Actions

The table() and actions() methods are optional — Arqel falls back to automatic derivation when absent:

public function table(): Table
{
    return Table::make()
        ->columns([
            TextColumn::make('title')->sortable()->searchable(),
            BadgeColumn::make('status')->colors([
                'draft' => 'gray',
                'published' => 'green',
            ]),
            DateColumn::make('created_at')->displayFormat('d/m/Y H:i'),
        ])
        ->filters([
            SelectFilter::make('status')->options([...]),
        ])
        ->actions([Actions::edit(), Actions::delete()]);
}

public function actions(): array
{
    return [
        Actions::edit(),
        Actions::delete()->visible(fn ($record) => $record->status !== 'published'),
    ];
}

See Tables & Forms and Actions.

Resource::runCreate/runUpdate/runDelete

These are the public orchestrators called by ResourceController. You rarely call them directly — they exist for feature tests and for custom controllers that reuse the hook logic:

$resource = new PostResource();
$post = $resource->runCreate(['title' => 'Hello', 'slug' => 'hello']);
$resource->runUpdate($post, ['title' => 'Hello world']);
$resource->runDelete($post);

These methods fire the full hook pipeline (beforeSave → beforeCreate → fill+save → afterCreate → afterSave).

Anti-patterns

• Overriding __construct — Arqel instantiates Resources via the container; keep the default constructor
• Business logic in fields() — that method should be declarative. Side effects belong in hooks
• Forgetting --with-policy — without a policy, Gate::denies falls back to "silently allow"; OK in dev, dangerous in prod

Next steps

• Fields — catalog of the 21 inputs
• Actions — buttons and bulk operations
• Auth — Policies + field-level auth