Laravel custom console command invoking constructor of all other custom commands

Question

I have a set of console commands registered in app/Console/Kernel.php. My Kernel.php looks like,

<?php

namespace App\Console;

use Illuminate\Console\Scheduling\Schedule;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Console\Kernel as ConsoleKernel;

class Kernel extends ConsoleKernel
{
    /**
     * The Artisan commands provided by your application.
     *
     * @var array
     */
    protected $commands = [
        Commands\ConsoleCommand1::class,
        Commands\ConsoleCommand2::class
    ];

    /**
     * Define the application's command schedule.
     *
     * @param  \Illuminate\Console\Scheduling\Schedule $schedule
     *
     * @return void
     */
    protected function schedule(Schedule $schedule)
    {
        // Some code
    }
}

The structure of console command class looks like,

<?php namespace App\Console\Commands;

use Illuminate\Console\Command;
use Dependancy;

class ConsoleCommand1 extends Command
{
    protected $signature = ‘console_command_1’;
    protected $description = ‘This is the description’;
    private $dependancy;

    public function __construct(Dependancy $dependancy)
    {
        parent::__construct();
        $this->dependancy = $dependancy;
    }

    public function handle()
    {
        // Some code
    }
}

Now the problem is, whenever I execute any of the console commands from the list, the constructor of the other one also getting executed with the actually executed one.

For example, if I execute "php artisan console_command_1", the constructor of both "php artisan console_command_1" and "php artisan console_command_2" are getting executed and vice versa. I actually want only the constructor of 'actually executed artisan command' to be invoked.

Is this the way Laravel console command is designed or I am doing something wrong? Any help is highly appreciated.

Answer 1

Yes, unfortunately this is the only way for Laravel to determine if an artisan command exists or not. Here are the two main things that happen when you run a command:

1. When you run an console command, the entry point is the artisan file located in the root of your project. That creates a kernel instance and calls the handle method on it passing along the received arguments (which are: the artisan command name and any additional arguments passed for it).

2. The kernel's handle method will run the artisan command and in order to do that it will need a console application instance (internally that is identified as Artisan), which will need to call resolveCommands to create a list of commands so it can check if the current command name is valid. That method will make a new instance of every command that is registered with the kernel (the ones you defined, as well as all the default ones loaded from the ArtisanServiceProvider).

---

So really, since in the Kernel you're registering the command via a class name reference:

Commands\ConsoleCommand1::class

And the command name is a protected property of that class:

protected $signature = ‘console_command_1’;

The only possible way to get a command name from a class is to create an instance of that class, thus all constructors are called for the entire command list to be created.