Requests

Form Requests are the validation entry point

Validate HTTP input with a Form Request class, not inline $request->validate() or Validator::make().

Extend App\Http\Requests\Request and declare rules in the protected $rules property — the base class returns it from rules(). When the request handles file uploads, extend ImageUploadRequest instead and call $request->handleImages($model) in the controller.

Always call parent::prepareForValidation()

ImageUploadRequest inherits prepareForValidation() from the ConvertsBase64ToFiles trait, which turns base64 payloads into UploadedFile instances before rules run.

If a child request overrides prepareForValidation(), it MUST call parent::prepareForValidation() — usually first. Forgetting it silently breaks base64 image uploads with no validation error to point at. This has bitten us before.