Request Object Bundle Laravel Package

Product Decisions This Supports

• Build vs. buy vs. borrow on input handling. This package is essentially a reference implementation of the "request object" (DTO) pattern — typed objects that carry and validate inbound request data instead of passing raw arrays or fat Request objects through controllers. It is most useful as an argument, not an artifact: it lets you demo the pattern cheaply and decide whether to standardize on it before investing engineering time in a homegrown abstraction.
• Controller/API contract hygiene. If your roadmap includes API-first work, partner integrations, or public endpoints, typed request objects give you a single place to define what a payload must look like — which makes API versioning, deprecation, and contract documentation materially easier to reason about as a PM.
• Validation defect reduction. Moving validation and input shaping out of controllers into one testable object reduces the "fat controller" class of bugs (missed validation, inconsistent error shapes, silent coercion). This is a quality decision you can tie to support-ticket volume and API error rates.
• Onboarding and team throughput. A small, legible pattern is faster for new engineers to adopt than a large framework with its own conventions. If your team is small and your domain is straightforward, a minimal request object may beat a feature-rich data-mapping library on cognitive overhead alone.
• Framework-fit due diligence. The package name (...-request-object-bundle) and repository layout read as a Symfony bundle, not a Laravel package — despite the Laravel/PHP framing. Before any roadmap commitment, confirm it actually targets your framework; a mismatch here is a hard blocker, not a detail.
• Spike scoping. The realistic decision this supports is "fund a 1–2 day spike to evaluate request objects," not "add a dependency to the platform." The spike output should be a pattern recommendation (adopt / adapt / reject), with this repo as one input.

When to Consider This Package

Consider it when:

• You want a minimal, readable reference for request-object semantics and explicitly do not want to pull in a heavier data-mapping dependency.
• The context is internal, low-blast-radius, and non-revenue-critical — an internal tool, a prototype, or a throwaway spike.
• Your team already works in the Symfony ecosystem (if it turns out to be a Symfony bundle) and the API surface is small enough to audit in an afternoon.
• You intend to vendor, pin, and wrap it behind an internal interface so it can be replaced without touching call sites.

Look elsewhere when — and note these are the default answers here:

• You need a Laravel-native solution. Prefer Laravel's own FormRequest + validated() DTOs, or a mature, actively maintained library such as Spatie's Laravel Data. For Symfony, native attribute-based request mapping removes the need for a third-party bundle entirely.
• Maintenance and support matter. 1 star, 0 dependents, a single maintainer, and no visible community is a clear abandonment/bus-factor signal. You have no leverage if a bug blocks a release and no security response path if a vulnerability appears.
• Supply-chain scrutiny applies. 0 dependents means essentially no third-party review; treat the code as unreviewed until someone on your team reads it end to end.
• You need depth. Serialization, nested/conditional validation, OpenAPI or schema generation, and error-format standardization are all out of scope for something described as "Simple RequestObject."
• You need documentation and examples. With this level of adoption, expect to read the source to learn the API — budget that time or skip it.

How to Pitch It (Stakeholders)

To executives: This is a low-cost experiment, not a platform bet. The idea worth testing — typed request objects instead of loose arrays — is a well-established pattern that tends to reduce validation bugs and speed up API changes. The package itself is a tiny, unproven open-source project (1 star, no downstream users, one maintainer), so we should not put it in production. Recommendation: a 1–2 day engineering spike to confirm the pattern's value for us, then adopt the pattern using a maintained library or a small internal implementation. Cost is negligible; the upside is a cleaner API surface and fewer input-validation defects.

To engineering: Borrow the pattern, not the dependency. Use this repo as a worked example of request-object design, verify framework fit (it reads as a Symfony bundle — confirm before we spend time on Laravel integration), and evaluate it against Laravel FormRequest-backed DTOs and Spatie Laravel Data. If we do adopt any of this code, vendor and pin it, keep it behind an internal interface, and review the source for security and error-handling behavior first. Success criteria for the spike: one representative endpoint refactored, with a before/after on validation coverage and test complexity.