GraphQL Apollo Server Example
Notes:
- Sometimes you have to delete the dist/ directory and generate to get the latest typings in your editor
This example shows how to implement a GraphQL server with TypeScript based on Prisma Client, apollo-server and GraphQL Nexus. It is based on a SQLite database, you can find the database file with some dummy data at ./prisma/dev.db
.
How to use
1. Download example & install dependencies
Clone this repository:
git clone git@github.com:prisma/prisma-examples.git --depth=1
Install npm dependencies:
cd prisma-examples/typescript/graphql-apollo-server
npm install
Note that this also generates Prisma Client JS into node_modules/@prisma/client
via a postinstall
hook of the @prisma/client
package from your package.json
.
2. Start the GraphQL server
Launch your GraphQL server with this command:
npm run dev
Navigate to http://localhost:4000 in your browser to explore the API of your GraphQL server in a GraphQL Playground.
Using the GraphQL API
The schema that specifies the API operations of your GraphQL server is defined in ./schema.graphql
. Below are a number of operations that you can send to the API using the GraphQL Playground.
Feel free to adjust any operation by adding or removing fields. The GraphQL Playground helps you with its auto-completion and query validation features.
Retrieve all published posts and their authors
query {
feed {
id
title
content
published
author {
id
name
email
}
}
}
See more API operations
Create a new user
mutation {
signupUser(data: { name: "Sarah", email: "sarah@prisma.io" }) {
id
}
}
Create a new draft
mutation {
createDraft(
title: "Join the Prisma Slack"
content: "https://slack.prisma.io"
authorEmail: "alice@prisma.io"
) {
id
published
}
}
Publish an existing draft
mutation {
publish(id: __POST_ID__) {
id
published
}
}
Note: You need to replace the
__POST_ID__
-placeholder with an actualid
from aPost
item. You can find one e.g. using thefilterPosts
-query.
Search for posts with a specific title or content
{
filterPosts(searchString: "graphql") {
id
title
content
published
author {
id
name
email
}
}
}
Retrieve a single post
{
post(where: { id: __POST_ID__ }) {
id
title
content
published
author {
id
name
email
}
}
}
Note: You need to replace the
__POST_ID__
-placeholder with an actualid
from aPost
item. You can find one e.g. using thefilterPosts
-query.
Delete a post
mutation {
deleteOnePost(where: { id: __POST_ID__ }) {
id
}
}
Note: You need to replace the
__POST_ID__
-placeholder with an actualid
from aPost
item. You can find one e.g. using thefilterPosts
-query.
Evolving the app
Evolving the application typically requires four subsequent steps:
- Migrating the database schema using SQL
- Updating your Prisma schema by introspecting the database with
prisma introspect
- Generating Prisma Client to match the new database schema with
prisma generate
- Using the updated Prisma Client in your application code
For the following example scenario, assume you want to add a "profile" feature to the app where users can create a profile and write a short bio about themselves.
1. Change your database schema using SQL
The first step would be to add a new table, e.g. called Profile
, to the database. In SQLite, you can do so by running the following SQL statement:
CREATE TABLE "Profile" (
"id" INTEGER NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
"bio" TEXT,
"user" TEXT NOT NULL UNIQUE REFERENCES "User"(id) ON DELETE SET NULL
);
To run the SQL statement against the database, you can use the sqlite3
CLI in your terminal, e.g.:
sqlite3 dev.db \
'CREATE TABLE "Profile" (
"id" INTEGER NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
"bio" TEXT,
"user" TEXT NOT NULL UNIQUE REFERENCES "User"(id) ON DELETE SET NULL
);'
Note that we're adding a unique constraint to the foreign key on user
, this means we're expressing a 1:1 relationship between User
and Profile
, i.e.: "one user has one profile".
While your database now is already aware of the new table, you're not yet able to perform any operations against it using Prisma Client. The next two steps will update the Prisma Client API to include operations against the new Profile
table.
2. Introspect your database
The Prisma schema is the foundation for the generated Prisma Client API. Therefore, you first need to make sure the new Profile
table is represented in it as well. The easiest way to do so is by introspecting your database:
npx prisma introspect
Note: You're using npx to run Prisma 2 CLI that's listed as a development dependency in
package.json
. Alternatively, you can install the CLI globally usingnpm install -g @prisma/cli
. When using Yarn, you can run:yarn prisma dev
.
The introspect
command updates your schema.prisma
file. It now includes the Profile
model and its 1:1 relation to User
:
model Post {
author User?
content String?
id Int @id
published Boolean @default(false)
title String
}
model User {
email String @unique
id Int @id
name String?
post Post[]
profile Profile?
}
model Profile {
bio String?
id Int @id
user User
}
3. Generate Prisma Client
With the updated Prisma schema, you can now also update the Prisma Client API with the following command:
npx prisma generate
This command updated the Prisma Client API in node_modules/@prisma/client
.
4. Use the updated Prisma Client in your application code
Profile
operations via nexus-prisma
Option A: Expose With the nexus-prisma
package, you can expose the new Profile
model in the API like so:
// ... as before
const User = objectType({
name: 'User',
definition(t) {
t.model.id()
t.model.name()
t.model.email()
t.model.posts({
pagination: false,
})
+ t.model.profile()
},
})
// ... as before
+const Profile = objectType({
+ name: 'Profile',
+ definition(t) {
+ t.model.id()
+ t.model.bio()
+ t.model.user()
+ },
+})
// ... as before
export const schema = makeSchema({
+ types: [Query, Mutation, Post, User, Profile],
// ... as before
}
PrismaClient
instance directly
Option B: Use the As the Prisma Client API was updated, you can now also invoke "raw" operations via prisma.profile
directly.
Create a new profile for an existing user
const profile = await prisma.profile.create({
data: {
bio: 'Hello World',
user: {
connect: { email: 'alice@prisma.io' },
},
},
})
Create a new user with a new profile
const user = await prisma.user.create({
data: {
email: 'john@prisma.io',
name: 'John',
profile: {
create: {
bio: 'Hello World',
},
},
},
})
Update the profile of an existing user
const userWithUpdatedProfile = await prisma.user.update({
where: { email: 'alice@prisma.io' },
data: {
profile: {
update: {
bio: 'Hello Friends',
},
},
},
})
Next steps
- Read the holistic, step-by-step Prisma Framework tutorial
- Check out the Prisma Framework docs (e.g. for data modeling, relations or the Prisma Client API)
- Share your feedback in the
prisma2-preview
channel on the Prisma Slack - Create issues and ask questions on GitHub
- Track Prisma 2's progress on
isprisma2ready.com