What is the name of the component or mechanism responsible for validating incoming requests in Laravel when processing specific routes?

In Laravel, the component typically used for validating incoming requests is the Form Request — a special class that extends Illuminate\Foundation\Http\FormRequest. It allows for centralized definition of validation and authorization rules for specific routes or controllers.

Example of usage:

// Create a request class
php artisan make:request StoreUserRequest

// In the StoreUserRequest class, define rules
public function rules()
{
    return [
        'name' => 'required|string|max:255',
        'email' => 'required|email|unique:users,email',
        'password' => 'required|min:8',
    ];
}

// In the controller, use this class in the method
public function store(StoreUserRequest $request)
{
    // If validation passes, data is available via $request
    User::create($request->validated());
}

Thus, Form Request is a mechanism responsible for validating incoming requests in Laravel.