Validation

Another axis on the request lifecycle — validating input. A FormRequest or $request->validate() builds a fresh Validator per request, and inside one passes() the same rule strings get parsed over and over.

What it does

Vanilla ValidationRuleParser::parse('max:255') → ['Max', ['255']] is a pure, context-free function of the rule string — but the framework recomputes it constantly. Validator::getRule() loops every rule of an attribute and parses each, and it's reached from many probes per validation (hasRule, isValidatable, requireParameterCount, the dependent-field checks…). So for a field with three rules, the same exploded strings are re-parsed on every probe — roughly O(rules²) parses per attribute within a single passes().

Grease\Validation\Validator memoizes that parse. The result is a pure function of the rule string with no invalidation trigger — no instance or config state feeds it — so the memo is static: shared across every validator the app builds, and warm for the worker's life under Octane. Non-string rules (arrays, Rule objects, closures, CompilableRules) have no stable key and parse live, exactly as vanilla.

Only the looped, multiply-called parse site (getRule) is overridden. validateAttribute's single parse-per-rule is left to the framework — overriding that long method to save one parse per rule isn't worth the version-fragility, and it isn't where the cost is.

Behaviour-identical, by test

Parity is the verdict, the error bag, and the message order, asserted against vanilla Illuminate\Validation\Validator across string rules, array-form rules, Rule objects and closures (the bypass path), dependent-field rules (confirmed, required_if), wildcards (items.*.id), repeated rule strings across attributes, and nullable/typed rules — plus the validated() payload on a passing case. See ValidatorParityTest.

What it's worth

Measured on Linux (benchmarks/validation_ab.php, opcache + JIT): −45.6% on a real six-field validation, end to end — the honest full-passes() delta, not an isolated parse loop. The win is large because getRule's re-parse is genuinely most of a simple-rule validation; for rules that do heavy work (regex, a database exists/unique lookup) the relative share is smaller while the absolute parse time removed is the same. This tier only does work on endpoints that actually validate.

Opt in

A provider rebind, like the event and config tiers — register it (deliberately not auto-discovered) and every validator the framework builds goes through the greased one:

// bootstrap/providers.php, or the providers array in config/app.php
Grease\Validation\GreaseValidationServiceProvider::class,

It points the validation Factory's resolver at the greased validator, so FormRequest validation, $request->validate(), and Validator::make() all flow through it — behaviour-identical, no other change required.