The error message “Target class [UserController] does not exist” indicates that Laravel cannot locate the specified controller class when attempting to route a request.

In my case:

// UserController.php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class UserController extends Controller
{
    public function index(){
        return "hello world";
    }
}

In the UserController, we have defined an index method that returns a simple string response.

// web.php
use App\Http\Controllers\UserController;

Route::get('/users', 'UserController@index');

In the routes/web.php file, we have defined a route to handle requests to “/users” by invoking the index method of the UserController.

Solution: To resolve the “Target class does not exist” error, we need to ensure that Laravel can locate the UserController class.

Solution 1: Using PHP Callable Syntax

// web.php
use App\Http\Controllers\UserController;

Route::get('/users', [UserController::class, 'index']);

This approach specifies the UserController class using PHP callable syntax, ensuring that Laravel can locate the class without any issues.

Solution 2: Using String Syntax

// web.php
Route::get('/users', 'App\Http\Controllers\UserController@index');