Use middleware to adjust incoming request

Laravel's middlewares are a great way to transform incoming requests. For example, I decided to rename a model in my application; instead of bumping the API version for a breaking change, I simply convert those requests using the old reference.

class ConvertLicenseeIntoContact
{
     public function handle(Request $request, Closure $next)
     {
          if($request->json('licensee_id')) {
               $request->json()->set('contact_id', $request->json('licensee_id'));
          }
 
          return $next($request);
     }
}

Tip given by @Philo01