Laravel 8 Route not Defined Error Caused by Auth Middleware - authentication

Question

I am attempting to access a route defined in my routes/web.php file:
Route::get('/dashboard', [ConsoleController::class, 'dashboard'])->middleware('auth');
I am not logged in. The Authenticate.php middleware file attempts to redirect me back to the login page:
class Authenticate extends Middleware
{
protected function redirectTo($request)
{
if (! $request->expectsJson()) {
return route('');
}
}
}
I have also tried using return route('/'); in the Authenticate.php middleware.
My routes/web.php file has a default route which works fine if I go to the page manually:
Route::get('/', [ConsoleController::class, 'loginForm'])->middleware('guest');
However, the Authenticate.php is causing the following error:
Symfony\Component\Routing\Exception\RouteNotFoundException
Route [] not defined.
http://localhost:8888/dashboard
And it points to the following line of code:
public function route($name, $parameters = [], $absolute = true)
{
if (! is_null($route = $this->routes->getByName($name))) {
return $this->toRoute($route, $parameters, $absolute);
}
throw new RouteNotFoundException("Route [{$name}] not defined.");
}
I have found many similar posts on and off Stack Overflow, but none of those solutions have helped.
Am I naming my default route wrong? Can I not use this route in my Authenticate.php middleware? Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Issue is, you are using route() method of Laravel, which expect route name as a parameter but you are passing actual url.
In your routes/web.php file, add name to your route as
Route::get('/dashboard', [ConsoleController::class, 'dashboard'])->middleware('auth')->name('dashboard');
Then in your Authenticate middleware file,
class Authenticate extends Middleware
{
protected function redirectTo($request)
{
if (! $request->expectsJson()) {
return route('dashboard');
}
}
}