Codeigniter 4 - controllers won't work unless I add them directly to Routes.php - codeigniter

Question

Can anyone tell me:
Do I have to declare all of my controllers in Routes.php in Codeigniter 4?
I can't seem to get a controller to work unless I add it directly to the "Routes.php"
I have created my controllers properly and the Home controller is working after install and setup.
If I add the controller My_page.php :
<?php
namespace App\Controllers;
class My_page extends BaseController{
public function index(){
echo "Controller 'My_page' -> function index() ";
}
}
?>
I get a
: "404 - File Not Found
Sorry! Cannot seem to find the page you were looking for."
If I now add the controller to the rout - i.e.:
$routes->post('my_page', 'My_page::index');
Then my controller works properly and I get the "Controller 'My_page' -> function index() " when I visit www.mydomain.com/my_page
I have also tested:
www.mydomain.com/index.php/my_page
and this makes no difference.
I am using the .htaccess that comes with the download. I have updated the base URL to www.mydomain.com/
The documentation is confusing to me - https://www.codeigniter.com/user_guide/incoming/routing.html#setting-routing-rules ;
it sounds like they are saying have to declare all classes with routes?
Why are my controllers not working without declaring them specifically in Routes.php?
And am I misunderstanding 'setAutoRoute(true)' it also does not seem to work - I expect that I can turn this on and simply create my controllers pretty much like in CI3?

Answer 1

If you don't enable auto-routing you most certainly need to add all routes which you are allowing, anything else will fail with error 404. As #parttimeturtle mentioned - autoroute it is disabled by default since 4.2.
So in short - Yes, you need to add all controllers, their functions and the appropriate http methods. (That includes CLI routes as well)
You can use $route->add(), which will allow all http methods, it's however more secure to explicitly set them with their methods.