Laravel: Redirecting user to a specific page after login

Introduction

When creating web applications using Laravel, it’s common to have scenarios where you need to direct your users to specific pages after they log in. Whether you’re managing a straightforward dashboard redirection or a complex situation that requires dynamic determination of the landing page, Laravel provides flexible and robust options to handle redirections. This tutorial will walk you through the steps to implement post-login redirections, exploring various methods and considering both the default authentication scaffolding and custom solutions.

Setting Up The Basics

Before you dive into the redirection process, you must ensure that your Laravel application is set with authentication routes and views. If you haven’t already, use the Laravel Breeze or Jetstream packages, which provide scaffolding for login, registration, email verification, and more. For this guide, we’ll assume you’re using Laravel Breeze.

composer require laravel/breeze --dev
php artisan breeze:install

Now, run your migrations and serve your application:

php artisan migrate
php artisan serve

Default Redirect with a RouteServiceProvider

Laravel performs post-login redirection to /home by default, specified in RouteServiceProvider.php. If you want to change this default behavior, adjust the HOME constant:

class RouteServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
{
    public const HOME = '/dashboard';
}

With this simple change, all authenticated users will be redirected to /dashboard after successfull login.

Custom Redirect Based on User Role

Often, based on the user’s role or another criterion, you need to redirect the user to a specific page. In such cases, you can customize the authenticated method in the LoginController.php.

protected function authenticated(Request $request, $user)
{
    if ($user->hasRole('admin')) {
        return redirect('/admin-dashboard');
    }

    return redirect('/user-dashboard');
}

By checking the user’s role, this method provides tailored redirection. Ensure that role-checking logic like hasRole is defined within your User model.

Using Middlewares for Redirection

For more complex scenarios, such as implementing multi-tenancy or complex access control rules, you might opt to handle redirection within a middleware. Here’s an example of a middleware that would redirect users after login:

public function handle($request, Closure $next, ...$guards)
{
    if (auth()->check()) {
        $user = auth()->user();

        if ($user->isAdmin()) {
            return redirect('/admin-section');
        }
    }

    return $next($request);
}

Remember to register your middleware in Kernel.php and assign it to the login route.

Dynamically Redirecting Users with Events

For complete control over the redirection process while maintaining clean separation of concerns, consider using Laravel’s event system. Create a listener that executes when the Illuminate\Auth\Events\Login event is triggered:

php artisan make:listener LoginRedirectListener --event=Login

This command generates a listener where you can define the redirection logic.

public function handle(Login $event)
{
    if ($event->user->isAdmin()) {
        return redirect('/administrator-area');
    }

    return redirect()->intended('/profile');
}

Add your listener to the $listen array in your EventServiceProvider. This way, redirection is handled every time a user logs in, tailored according to the logic you’ve defined.

Tips and Considerations

• Always clear your routes cache after making changes to your routes or Controller methods (php artisan route:clear).
• Utilize Laravel’s intended method when appropriate, to redirect to a URL session where users were attempting to access before being intercepted by authentication.
• When using events, ensure that your event listener doesn’t interrupt the login process unless that’s the intended behavior.

Conclusion

Redirecting users after logging in is an essential part of user experience in a Laravel application. By leveraging Laravel’s built-in features such as the RouteServiceProvider, Middlewares, and the Event system, developers can effortlessly define complex redirect strategies based on user roles, permissions, or other fully customizable criteria. Remember to keep redirection logic secure, test different scenarios, and keep your user experience consistent and intuitive.