graphql-typed-client

A tool that generates a strongly typed client library for any GraphQL endpoint. The client allows writing GraphQL queries as plain JS objects (with type safety, awesome code completion experience, custom scalar type mapping, type guards and more)

Chain request syntax

Raw request syntax

The request above is then converted to the GraphQL query and variables

query Query($v1: String!, $v2: SearchType!, $v3: Int) {
  search(query: $v1, type: $v2, first: $v3) {
    nodes {
      ...f3
    }
  }
}
fragment f1 on User {
  name
}
fragment f2 on Organization {
  name
}
fragment f3 on Repository {
  name
  owner {
    ...f1
    ...f2
  }
}

{ "v1": "graphql", "v2": "REPOSITORY", "v3": 5 }

Install

yarn global add graphql-typed-client # needed for the CLI to work globally 
yarn add graphql-typed-client # needed for the generated client to work

Generate the client

To generate the client, use the CLI tool

generate-graphql-client

Usage: generate-graphql-client [options]
 
Options:
  -o, --output <./myClient>                    output directory
  -e, --endpoint <http://example.com/graphql>  GraphQL endpoint
  -p, --post                                   use POST for introspection query
  -s, --schema <./*.graphql>                   glob pattern to match GraphQL schema definition files
  -f, --fetcher <./schemaFetcher.js>           path to introspection query fetcher file
  -c, --config <./myConfig.js>                 path to config file
  -v, --verbose                                verbose output
  -h, --help                                   output usage information

If your endpoint is able to respond to introspection query without authentication, provide the endpoint option (use post option to use POST request)

generate-graphql-client -e http://example.com/graphql -o myClient
 
# or using POST 
generate-graphql-client -e http://example.com/graphql -p -o myClient

If your endpoint requires authentication or maybe some custom headers, use fetcher option to provide a custom fetcher function. We will pass fetch and qs instances to your function for convenience, but you can use anything you like to fetch the introspection query

generate-graphql-client -f customFetcher.js -o myClient

// customFetcher.js
 
module.exports = function(query, fetch, qs) {
  return fetch(`https://api.github.com/graphql?${qs.stringify({ query: query })}`, {
    headers: {
      Authorization: 'bearer YOUR_GITHUB_API_TOKEN',
    },
  }).then(r => r.json())
}

If instead of making a query to some endpoint, you just want to use a GraphQL schema definition, use schema option

generate-graphql-client -s mySchema.graphql -o myClient
 
# or 
generate-graphql-client -s *.graphql -o myClient
 
# this will also work 
generate-graphql-client -s "type User { name: String } type Query { users: [User] }" -o myClient

Alternatively, you can use a JS or JSON config file to define how you want the client to be generated. Also, using the config file you can define more than one client.

The config file should contain an object or an array of objects, each representing a client to be generated. Object fields are named the same way as the CLI arguments described above + options field for passing various parsing/generation options (see config.ts to learn more)

generate-graphql-client -c myConfig.js

// myConfig.js
 
module.exports = [
  {
    schema: 'type Query { hello: String }',
    output: 'clients/simpleClient',
  },
  {
    schema: 'schemas/**/*.graphql',
    output: 'clients/clientFromSchema',
  },
  {
    endpoint: 'http://example.com/graphql',
    post: true,
    output: 'clients/exampleClient',
  },
  {
    fetcher: 'customFetcher.js',
    output: 'clients/customClient',
  },
  {
    fetcher: (query, fetch, qs) =>
      fetch(`https://api.github.com/graphql?${qs.stringify({ query })}`, {
        headers: {
          Authorization: 'bearer YOUR_GITHUB_API_TOKEN',
        },
      }).then(r => r.json()),
    output: 'clients/githubClient',
  },
]

Create the client instance

To create the client instance, you have to call createClient() function that was generated with the client

If you want to execute Queries and Mutations, provide a fetcher function.

Just like with the fetcher that can be used for client generation, we will pass fetch and qs instances inside for convenience, but the function can be implemented in any way you want

If you want to execute Subscriptions, provide subscriptionCreatorOptions object with uri and options fields, where options are ClientOptions passed down to subscriptions-transport-ws (reconnect and lazy options are already enabled by default)

// myClient.js
 
import { createClient } from './clients/myClient/createClient'
 
export const myClient = createClient({
  fetcher: ({ query, variables }, fetch, qs) =>
    fetch(`http://example.com/graphql?${qs.stringify({ query, variables })}`, {
      headers: {
        Authorization: 'bearer MY_TOKEN',
      },
    }).then(r => r.json()),
  subscriptionCreatorOptions: {
    uri: 'wss://example.com/graphql-subscriptions',
    options: {
      connectionParams: {
        token: 'MY_TOKEN',
      },
    },
  },
})

Making GraphQL requests in JS

Raw request syntax

The format for the request object is visually similar to an actual GraphQL query, so something like

query({
  user: [{ id: 'USER_ID' }, {
      username: 1,
      email: 1,
      on_AdminUser: {
        isSuperAdmin: 1,
      },
  }],
})

is easily recognizable as

query {
  user(id: "USER_ID") {
    username
    email
    ... on AdminUser {
      isSuperAdmin
    }
  }
}

Here are the rules governing the format:

fields with scalar types are written as

name: 1 or name: true
fields with object types are written as JS objects

user: { name: 1 }
fields that have arguments are written as arrays with argument object and the field selection

user: [{ id: 'USER_ID' }, { name: 1 }]
- if the field has arguments, but the return type is scalar, just pass the array with argument object
  
  userCount: [{ status: 'active' }]
- if all the arguments for the field are optional, you can omit the array and just pass the field selection
  
  friend: { name: 1 } is the same as friend: [{}, { name: 1 }]
fields with union or interface types can have fragments defined on them to select fields of a specific type

on_AdminUser: { superAdmin: 1 }
additionally, there is a special __scalar field, that can be included in the field selection to automatically include all scalar fields from an object/interface type (excluding __typename, which you have to request manually if you need it)

user: { __scalar: 1 }

Here is an example request object, showing all possible field types

myClient.query({
  user: [{ id: 'USER_ID' }, {
    username: 1,
    email: 1,
    wasEmployed: [{ recently: true }],
    friends: {
      username: 1,
      email: 1,
    },
    posts: [{ limit: 5 }, {
      __scalar: 1,
    }],
    pets: {
      name: 1,
      on_Cat: {
        eyeColor: 1,
      },
      on_Snake: {
        length: 1,
      },
    },
  }],
})

When executed, it will send the following GraphQL query and variables to the server

{ "v1": "USER_ID", "v2": true, "v3": 5 }

query($v1: ID!, $v2: Boolean, $v3: Int) {
  user(id: $v1) {
    username
    email
    wasEmployed(recently: $v2)
    friends {
      username
      email
    }
    posts(limit: $v3) {
      ...f1
    }
    pets {
      name
      ...f2
      ...f3
    }
  }
}
fragment f1 on Post {
  id
  title
  content
}
fragment f2 on Cat {
  eyeColor
}
fragment f3 on Snake {
  length
}

Chain request syntax

myClient.chain.query.user({ id: 'USER_ID' }).execute({
  username: 1,
  email: 1,
  on_AdminUser: {
    isSuperAdmin: 1,
  },
})
 
// execute() returns Promise<User> on query/mutation and Observable<User> on subscription

In the chain, each member refers to a GraphQL field going down the tree. Fields with arguments can be called like methods. You can continue the chain so long as the fields that are mentioned are object types or interfaces (not arrays, unions etc.). At any point, you can finish the chain by calling execute(fieldRequest, defaultValue). Calling execute() returns a Promise (for query/mutation) or an Observable (subscription) of type equal to the type of the last field in the chain. Unlike in raw request syntax, where GraphQL errors are just returned in the response, chain execution will throw an error if GraphQL endpoint responds with errors, empty data or empty value at the requested path when no defaultValue was provided.

Default value logic clarification

type User {
  status: String
}

const status = await myClient.chain.query.user({ id: 'USER_ID' }).status.execute()
// status is `String | null`, which means that if user with specified ID exists, any string or null
// are both considered valid
// but if the user with specified ID is not found, the Promise returned from `execute()`
// will throw an error
 
const status = await myClient.chain.query.user({ id: 'USER_ID' }).status.execute(1, 'default status')
// in this case, if the user with specified ID is not found, returned status will be 'default status'

Custom scalar type mapping

By default, all custom scalar types are generated as aliases to TypeScript's any

You can override this behavior by providing your own type mapper that will be used during the schema generation and applied to query responses

For example, let's say you have a custom Date type. To specify how this type should be serialized/deserialized, create a type mapper file (.ts or .js) somewhere in your app

// path/to/typeMapper.ts
 
import moment, { Moment } from 'moment'
 
export const typeMapper = {
  Date: {
    serialize: (date: Moment) => date.toISOString(),
    deserialize: (date: string) => moment(date),
  },
}

Add typeMapper option to client generation config

module.exports = {
  endpoint: 'http://example.com/graphql',
  output: 'clients/myClient',
  options: { typeMapper: { location: 'path/to/typeMapper', types: ['Date'] } },
}

Now, all fields of Date type in query responses will be automatically deserialized, and the return type of the deserialize() function is going to be used as the definition for Date in generated TypeScript (enabling correct code completion and type checking). All query variables of Date type and input object types that have Date fields will be automatically serialized before sending.

myClient
  .query({
    // `activatedAfter` is a `Date` argument, so now it accepts `Moment` instances
    user: [{ id: 'USER_ID', activatedAfter: moment('1999-01-01') }, {
      name: 1,
      birthday: 1,
    }],
  })
  .then(result => {
    if (!result.data) return
    const user = result.data.user
 
    // moment's methods are now available for `birthday` field in the response
    console.log(user.birthday.startOf('day').toISOString())
  })

Type guards

Additionally, Typescript type guard functions are generated for every object, interface and union type in your schema

import { isCat, isSnake } from './clients/testClient/schema'
 
myClient
  .query({
    pet: [{ id: 'PET_ID' }, {
      name: 1,
      on_Cat: { eyeColor: 1 },
      on_Snake: { length: 1 },
    }],
  })
  .then(result => {
    if (!result.data) return
    const pet = result.data.pet
 
    console.log(pet.name) // pet type is abstract type Pet, so you only get access to shared fields
 
    if (isCat(pet)) {
      console.log(pet.eyeColor) // pet type is Cat, so you get access to fields of the specific type
    } else if (isSnake(pet)) {
      console.log(pet.length) // same here
    }
  })

Notes on type annotation generation

all known Scalar types are converted to their Typescript counterparts
all unknown Scalar types are converted to type aliases for any unless type mapper is provided
all Enum types are converted to Typescript enums, so you can import and use them in your code (even if you're not using Typescript)

Notes on subscriptions

The generated client uses Apollo's subscriptions-transport-ws for executing Subscriptions

Subscriptions are wrapped in RxJs' Observable which is chained to the SubscriptionClient so that a connection is opened when you subscribe to the first subscription, shared among all subscriptions and closed when you unsubscribe from the last one.