GraphQL Server for Express, Connect, Hapi, Koa, and more
Also supports: Restify, Micro, Azure Functions, AWS Lambda and Adonis Framework
Apollo Server is a community-maintained open-source GraphQL server. It works with pretty much all Node.js HTTP server frameworks, and we're happy to take PRs for more! Apollo Server works with any GraphQL schema built with GraphQL.js, so you can build your schema with that directly or with a convenience library such as graphql-tools.
Documentation
Principles
Apollo Server is built with the following principles in mind:
- By the community, for the community: Apollo Server's development is driven by the needs of developers
- Simplicity: by keeping things simple, Apollo Server is easier to use, easier to contribute to, and more secure
- Performance: Apollo Server is well-tested and production-ready - no modifications needed
Anyone is welcome to contribute to Apollo Server, just read CONTRIBUTING.md, take a look at the roadmap and make your first PR!
Getting started
Apollo Server is super easy to set up. Just npm install apollo-server-<variant>
, write a GraphQL schema, and then use one of the following snippets to get started. For more info, read the Apollo Server docs. To experiment a live example of Apollo Server, create an Apollo Launchpad. Downloading the pad will provide you a local Apollo Server project.
Installation
Just run npm install --save apollo-server-<variant>
and you're good to go!
where <variant>
is one of the following:
express
koa
hapi
restify
lambda
micro
azure-functions
adonis
Express
import express from 'express';
import bodyParser from 'body-parser';
import { graphqlExpress, graphiqlExpress } from 'apollo-server-express';
const myGraphQLSchema = // ... define or import your schema here!
const PORT = 3000;
const app = express();
// bodyParser is needed just for POST.
app.use('/graphql', bodyParser.json(), graphqlExpress({ schema: myGraphQLSchema }));
app.get('/graphiql', graphiqlExpress({ endpointURL: '/graphql' })); // if you want GraphiQL enabled
app.listen(PORT);
Connect
import connect from 'connect';
import bodyParser from 'body-parser';
import query from 'connect-query';
import { graphqlConnect } from 'apollo-server-express';
import http from 'http';
const PORT = 3000;
const app = connect();
// bodyParser is only needed for POST.
app.use('/graphql', bodyParser.json());
// query is only needed for GET.
app.use('/graphql', query());
app.use('/graphql', graphqlConnect({ schema: myGraphQLSchema }));
http.createServer(app).listen(PORT);
Hapi
Now with the Hapi plugins graphqlHapi
and graphiqlHapi
you can pass a route object that includes options to be applied to the route. The example below enables CORS on the /graphql
route.
The code below requires Hapi 17 or higher.
import Hapi from 'hapi';
import { graphqlHapi } from 'apollo-server-hapi';
const HOST = 'localhost';
const PORT = 3000;
async function StartServer() {
const server = new Hapi.server({
host: HOST,
port: PORT,
});
await server.register({
plugin: graphqlHapi,
options: {
path: '/graphql',
graphqlOptions: {
schema: myGraphQLSchema,
},
route: {
cors: true,
},
},
});
try {
await server.start();
} catch (err) {
console.log(`Error while starting server: ${err.message}`);
}
console.log(`Server running at: ${server.info.uri}`);
}
StartServer();
Koa
import koa from 'koa';
import koaRouter from 'koa-router';
import koaBody from 'koa-bodyparser';
import { graphqlKoa, graphiqlKoa } from 'apollo-server-koa';
const app = new koa();
const router = new koaRouter();
const PORT = 3000;
// koaBody is needed just for POST.
router.post('/graphql', koaBody(), graphqlKoa({ schema: myGraphQLSchema }));
router.get('/graphql', graphqlKoa({ schema: myGraphQLSchema }));
router.get('/graphiql', graphiqlKoa({ endpointURL: '/graphql' }));
app.use(router.routes());
app.use(router.allowedMethods());
app.listen(PORT);
Restify
import restify from 'restify';
import { graphqlRestify, graphiqlRestify } from 'apollo-server-restify';
const PORT = 3000;
const server = restify.createServer({
title: 'Apollo Server',
});
const graphQLOptions = { schema: myGraphQLSchema };
server.use(restify.plugins.bodyParser());
server.use(restify.plugins.queryParser());
server.post('/graphql', graphqlRestify(graphQLOptions));
server.get('/graphql', graphqlRestify(graphQLOptions));
server.get('/graphiql', graphiqlRestify({ endpointURL: '/graphql' }));
server.listen(PORT, () => console.log(`Listening on ${PORT}`));
AWS Lambda
Lambda function should be run with Node.js 4.3 or v6.1. Requires an API Gateway with Lambda Proxy Integration.
var server = require('apollo-server-lambda');
exports.handler = server.graphqlLambda({ schema: myGraphQLSchema });
ZEIT Micro
Requires the Micro module
const server = require('apollo-server-micro');
module.exports = server.microGraphql({ schema: myGraphQLSchema });
Adonis Framework
// start/routes.js
const { graphqlAdonis } = require('apollo-server-adonis');
const Route = use('Route');
Route.post('/graphql', graphqlAdonis({ schema: myGraphQLSchema }));
Route.get('/graphql', graphqlAdonis({ schema: myGraphQLSchema }));
Options
Apollo Server can be configured with an options object with the following fields:
- schema: the GraphQLSchema to be used
- context: the context value passed to resolvers during GraphQL execution
- rootValue: the value passed to the first resolve function
- formatError: a function to apply to every error before sending the response to clients
- validationRules: additional GraphQL validation rules to be applied to client-specified queries
- formatParams: a function applied for each query in a batch to format parameters before execution
- formatResponse: a function applied to each response after execution
- tracing: when set to true, collect and expose trace data in the Apollo Tracing format
- logFunction: a function called for logging events such as execution times
- fieldResolver: a custom default field resolver
- debug: a boolean that will print additional debug logging if execution errors occur
- cacheControl: when set to true, enable built-in support for Apollo Cache Control
All options except for schema
are optional.
Whitelisting
The formatParams
function can be used in combination with the OperationStore
to enable whitelisting.
const store = new OperationStore(Schema);
store.put('query testquery{ testString }');
graphqlOptions = {
schema: Schema,
formatParams(params) {
params['query'] = store.get(params.operationName);
return params;
},
};
express-graphql
Comparison with Both Apollo Server and express-graphql
are GraphQL servers for Node.js, built on top of the graphql-js
reference implementation, but there are a few key differences:
express-graphql
works with Express and Connect, Apollo Server supports Express, Connect, Hapi, Koa and Restify.- Compared to
express-graphql
, Apollo Server has a simpler interface and supports exactly one way of passing queries. - Apollo Server separates serving GraphiQL (an in-browser IDE for exploring GraphQL) from responding to GraphQL requests.
express-graphql
contains code for parsing HTTP request bodies, Apollo Server leaves that to standard packages like body-parser.- Apollo Server includes an
OperationStore
to easily manage whitelisting. - Apollo Server is built with TypeScript.
application/graphql requests
express-graphql
supports the application/graphql
Content-Type for requests, which is an alternative to application/json
request with only the query part sent as text. In the same way that we use bodyParser.json
to parse application/json
requests for apollo-server, we can use bodyParser.text
plus one extra step in order to also parse application/graphql
requests. Here's an example for Express:
import express from 'express';
import bodyParser from 'body-parser';
import { graphqlExpress } from 'apollo-server-express';
const myGraphQLSchema = // ... define or import your schema here!
const helperMiddleware = [
bodyParser.json(),
bodyParser.text({ type: 'application/graphql' }),
(req, res, next) => {
if (req.is('application/graphql')) {
req.body = { query: req.body };
}
next();
}
];
express()
.use('/graphql', ...helperMiddleware, graphqlExpress({ schema: myGraphQLSchema }))
.listen(3000);
Apollo Server Development
If you want to develop Apollo Server locally you must follow the following instructions:
-
Fork this repository
-
Install the Apollo Server project in your computer
git clone https://github.com/[your-user]/apollo-server
cd apollo-server
npm install
cd packages/apollo-server-<variant>/
npm link
- Install your local Apollo Server in other App
cd ~/myApp
npm link apollo-server-<variant>