Drupal Routing and Controllers

When to use

• The user is writing a Drupal controller that returns a render array or a JSON/redirect response.
• The user wants to define a Drupal route in routing.yml that maps a path to a controller method.
• The user needs to restrict a Drupal route by permission, role, or a custom access check.

When NOT to use

• Do not hand-roll a controller route when JSON:API or the REST module already exposes the entity the client needs.
• Do not write a route and controller when editors only need a static content page that a node or Views can provide.

Core guidance