GraphQL

Appwrite supports multiple protocols for accessing the platform, including REST, GraphQL, and Realtime.

The GraphQL API allows you to query and mutate any resource type on the Appwrite platform through the endpoint /v1/graphql. Every endpoint available through REST is available through GraphQL, except for OAuth.

Requests

Although every query executes through the same endpoint, there are multiple ways to make a GraphQL request. All requests, however, share a common structure.

GraphQL model parameters

In Appwrite's GraphQL API, all internal model parameters are prefixed with _ instead of $ because $ is reserved by GraphQL.

For example, $collectionId in the REST API would be referenced as _collectionId in the GraphQL API.

GET requests

You can execute a GraphQL query via a GET request, passing a query and optionally operationName and variables as query parameters.

POST requests

There are multiple ways to make a GraphQL POST request, differentiated by content type.

{
    "query": "",
    "operationName": "",
    "variables": {}
}

[
    {
        "query": "",
        "operationName": "",
        "variables": {}
    }
]

query GetAccount {
    accountGet {
        _id
        email
    }
}

Multipart form data

The multipart/form-data content type can be used to upload files via GraphQL. In this case, the form data must include the following parts in addition to the files to upload.

Responses

A response to a GraphQL request will have the following structure:

The data object will contain a map of requested field names to their results. If no data is returned, the object will not be present in the response.

The errors array will contain error objects, each with their own message and path. The path will contain the field key that is null due to the error. If no errors occur, the array will not be present in the response.

Authentication

GraphQL authenticates using Appwrite accounts and sessions. Both accounts and sessions can be created with GraphQL using the accountCreate, accountCreateEmailPasswordSession, accountCreateAnonymousSession, or accountCreatePhoneToken mutations.

More information and examples of authenticating users can be found in the dedicated authentication guide.

GraphQL vs REST

There are two main features that make GraphQL appealing when compared to the REST API: selection sets and query batching.

Selection sets

Selection sets can be used to tell a GraphQL API exactly which fields of a particular resource you would like to receive in the response. The server will respond with only those fields, nothing more, nothing less. This gives you full control over what data comes into your application.

For example, to retrieve only the email of a currently authenticated user, you could query the accountGet field, passing only email as the field selection set.

query GetAccount {
    accountGet {
        _id
        email
    }
}

Given this query, the GraphQL API will respond with:

{
    "data": {
        "accountGet": {
            "_id": "...",
            "email": "..."
        }
    }
}

This can be a useful feature for performance, network efficiency, and app responsiveness. As the processing happens on the server, the bandwidth consumed for the request can be dramatically reduced.

Query batching

GraphQL allows sending multiple queries or mutations in the same request. There are two different ways to batch queries. The simplest way is to include multiple fields in a single query or mutation.

query GetAccountAndLocale {
    accountGet {
        _id
        email
    }
    localeGet {
        ip
    }
}

If both field executions succeed, the response will contain a data key for each field, containing the values of the selected fields.

{
    "data": {
        "accountGet": {
            "_id": "...",
            "email": "..."
        },
        "localeGet": {
            "ip": "..."
        }
    }
}

If there was no authenticated user, the accountGet field would fail to resolve. In such a case the value of the data key for that field will be null, and an object will be added to the errors array instead.

{
    "data": {
        "accountGet": null,
        "localeGet": {
            "ip": "...",
            "country": "..."
        }
    },
    "errors": [
        {
            "message": "User (role: guest) missing scope (account)",
            "path": ["accountGet"]
        }
    ]
}

Batching with a single query or mutation has some down-sides. You cannot mix and match queries and mutations within the same request unless you provide an operationName, in which case you can only execute one query per request.

Additionally, all variables must be passed in the same object, which can be cumbersome and hard to maintain.

The second way to batch is to pass an array of queries or mutations in the request. In this way, you can execute queries and mutations and keep variables separated for each.

[
    {
        "query": "query GetAccount { accountGet{ email } }",
    },
    {
        "query": "query GetLocale { localeGet { ip } }"
    }
]

This allows you to execute complex actions in a single network request.

SDK usage

Appwrite SDKs also support GraphQL in addition to the REST services.

import { Client, Graphql } from "appwrite";

const client = new Client()
    .setEndpoint('https://cloud.appwrite.io/v1') // Your Appwrite Endpoint
    .setProject('<PROJECT_ID>');                // Your project ID

const graphql = new Graphql(client);

const mutation = graphql.mutation({
    query: `mutation CreateAccount(
        $email: String!,
        $password: String!,
        $name: String
    ) {
        accountCreate(
            email: $email,
            password: $password,
            name: $name,
            userId: "unique()"
        ) {
            _id
        }
    }`,
    variables: {
        email: '...',
        password: '...',
        name: '...'
    }
});

mutation.then(response => {
    console.log(response);
}).catch(error => {
    console.log(error);
});