Laravel 6.x Policy not being called after authorize (No Middleware) - php

Question

I am having some problems with Laravel 6 policies. I get 403 unauthorized all the time even though it should be a non-authenticated request.
Files:
api.php
Route::prefix('v2')
->group(function () {
Route::prefix('agencies')->group(function () {
Route::post('/', 'Api\AgencyController#store');
});
}
AgencyController.php
<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers\Api;
use App\Entities\Agency;
class AgencyController extends Controller {
public function store(AgencyRequest $request)
{
$this->authorize('create', Agency::class);
// Code that is never executed
}
}
AgencyPolicy.php
class AgencyPolicy
{
public function create(User $user)
{
\Log::info('hello?'); // This Log is never executed
return true;
}
}
AuthServiceProvider.php
class AuthServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
{
protected $policies = [
\App\Entities\Agency::class => \App\Policies\AgencyPolicy::class,
// Other policies
];
public function boot()
{
$this->registerPolicies();
Gate::before(function ($user) {
if ($user->hasRole(SuperAdmin::ROLE_NAME)) {
return true;
}
});
Passport::routes(null, ['prefix' => 'api/oauth']);
}
}
My code is identical to the documentation but nonetheless I keep getting 403 unauthorized, and for the life of me I cannot understand what is going on. All help will be appreciated.

Answer 1

As lagbox thankfully replied, the answer is in the documentation, that states:
By default, all gates and policies automatically return false if the incoming HTTP request was not initiated by an authenticated user. However, you may allow these authorization checks to pass through to your gates and policies by declaring an "optional" type-hint or supplying a null default value for the user argument definition:
Thus, my problem would be solved by using ?User in AgencyPolicy.php:
class AgencyPolicy
{
public function create(?User $user)
{
return true;
}
}
This solves the problem.