npx skills add ...
npx skills add apollographql/skills --skill apollo-server
npx skills add apollographql/skills --skill apollo-server
Guide for building GraphQL servers with Apollo Server 5.x. Use this skill when: (1) setting up a new Apollo Server project, (2) writing resolvers or defining GraphQL schemas, (3) implementing authentication or authorization, (4) creating plugins or custom data sources, (5) troubleshooting Apollo Server errors or performance issues.
Apollo Server is an open-source GraphQL server that works with any GraphQL schema. Apollo Server 5 is framework-agnostic and runs standalone or integrates with Express, Fastify, and serverless environments.
For Express integration:
Standalone (Recommended for prototyping):
The standalone server is great for prototyping, but for production services, we recommend integrating Apollo Server with a more fully-featured web framework such as Express, Koa, or Fastify. Swapping from the standalone server to a web framework later is straightforward.
Express:
Int - 32-bit integerFloat - Double-precision floating-pointString - UTF-8 stringBoolean - true/falseID - Unique identifier (serialized as String)Resolvers follow the signature: (parent, args, contextValue, info)
Context is created per-request and passed to all resolvers.
Detailed documentation for specific topics:
@defer and @stream for large responsesGraphQLError from graphql package for errorsstartStandaloneServer for prototyping onlyconst resolvers = {
Query: {
books: () => [
{ title: "The Great Gatsby", author: "F. Scott Fitzgerald" },
{ title: "1984", author: "George Orwell" },
],
},
};import { ApolloServer } from "@apollo/server";
import { startStandaloneServer } from "@apollo/server/standalone";
const server = new ApolloServer({ typeDefs, resolvers });
const { url } = await startStandaloneServer(server, {
listen: { port: 4000 },
});
console.log(`Server ready at ${url}`);import { ApolloServer } from "@apollo/server";
import { expressMiddleware } from "@as-integrations/express5";
import { ApolloServerPluginDrainHttpServer } from "@apollo/server/plugin/drainHttpServer";
import express from "express";
import http from "http";
import cors from "cors";
const app = express();
const httpServer = http.createServer(app);
const server = new ApolloServer({
typeDefs,
resolvers,
plugins: [ApolloServerPluginDrainHttpServer({ httpServer })],
});
await server.start();
app.use(
"/graphql",
cors(),
express.json(),
expressMiddleware(server, {
context: async ({ req }) => ({ token: req.headers.authorization }),
}),
);
await new Promise<void>((resolve) => httpServer.listen({ port: 4000 }, resolve));
console.log("Server ready at http://localhost:4000/graphql");type User {
id: ID!
name: String!
email: String
posts: [Post!]!
}
type Post {
id: ID!
title: String!
content: String
author: User!
}
input CreatePostInput {
title: String!
content: String
}
type Query {
user(id: ID!): User
users: [User!]!
}
type Mutation {
createPost(input: CreatePostInput!): Post!
}enum Status {
DRAFT
PUBLISHED
ARCHIVED
}
interface Node {
id: ID!
}
type Article implements Node {
id: ID!
title: String!
}const resolvers = {
Query: {
user: async (_, { id }, { dataSources }) => {
return dataSources.usersAPI.getUser(id);
},
},
User: {
posts: async (parent, _, { dataSources }) => {
return dataSources.postsAPI.getPostsByAuthor(parent.id);
},
},
Mutation: {
createPost: async (_, { input }, { dataSources, user }) => {
if (!user) throw new GraphQLError("Not authenticated");
return dataSources.postsAPI.create({ ...input, authorId: user.id });
},
},
};interface MyContext {
token?: string;
user?: User;
dataSources: {
usersAPI: UsersDataSource;
postsAPI: PostsDataSource;
};
}
const server = new ApolloServer<MyContext>({
typeDefs,
resolvers,
});
// Standalone
const { url } = await startStandaloneServer(server, {
context: async ({ req }) => ({
token: req.headers.authorization || "",
user: await getUser(req.headers.authorization || ""),
dataSources: {
usersAPI: new UsersDataSource(),
postsAPI: new PostsDataSource(),
},
}),
});
// Express middleware
expressMiddleware(server, {
context: async ({ req, res }) => ({
token: req.headers.authorization,
user: await getUser(req.headers.authorization),
dataSources: {
usersAPI: new UsersDataSource(),
postsAPI: new PostsDataSource(),
},
}),
});