graphql-patterns

GraphQL Patterns (Apollo + TypeScript)

Acknowledgement: Shared by Peter Bamuhigire, techguypeter.com, +256 784 464178.

Use When

Designing a new GraphQL API or migrating from REST
Building Apollo Server + TypeScript with typed resolvers and clients
Adopting Relay pagination, DataLoader, directive auth, or federation
Hardening a GraphQL service for production

Do Not Use When

Pure REST/gRPC — use api-design-first
Threat-modelling GraphQL against malicious input — load references/graphql-security.md first
Single canonical UI shape, CDN caching dominant — REST is simpler

Required Inputs

Domain entities + UI shapes; auth model (JWT/roles/tenants); federation needs; target clients and pagination style.

Workflow

Draft SDL against real UI shapes before resolvers.
Model relationships in the schema, not in resolvers.
Wire context (auth + loaders) before the first resolver.
Add depth + complexity validationRules before the first public client.
Add graphql-codegen to CI before the schema has a second consumer.
Ship with formatError masking production stack traces.

Quality Standards

Lists are [T!]! unless partial failure is legal.
Every mutation takes input: XxxInput! and returns a payload type.
Every resolver is pure: reads context, calls services/loaders, returns the schema shape.
Every relationship crossing uses DataLoader — no direct DB calls in nested resolvers.
Production always has depth limit, complexity limit, error masking.

Anti-Patterns

Monolithic schema.js/index.js; mixed auth patterns across resolvers; client-supplied userId trusted; introspection on with no cost analysis; bare throw new Error; String for dates.

Outputs

schema.graphql + operations + generated TS; Apollo Server bootstrap; per-request DataLoader factory; codegen.yml; security baseline (depth/complexity/introspection/CORS/helmet).

Evidence Produced

Category	Artifact	Format	Example
Correctness	GraphQL schema decision record	Markdown doc per `skill-composition-standards/references/adr-template.md` covering SDL design, resolver patterns, and N+1 mitigations	`docs/graphql/schema-adr.md`
Performance	Resolver performance budget	Markdown doc covering per-resolver latency budget and DataLoader strategy	`docs/graphql/resolver-budget.md`

References

Fullstack GraphQL (TS + Apollo + React); JavaScript Everywhere — Adam D. Scott (O'Reilly, 2020).
Apollo Server + Federation v2 docs; Relay cursor connection spec (relay.dev/graphql/connections.htm).
Companion skills: api-design-first, references/graphql-security.md, typescript-full-stack, nodejs-development.

Overview

GraphQL inverts REST: the client declares the shape, the server resolves. This kills endpoint proliferation at the cost of new problems (N+1, depth attacks, typed error plumbing). This skill prescribes a production-grade Apollo + TypeScript baseline that avoids those pitfalls by construction.

Cardinal rule: The schema is the contract. Design it first; every other layer derives from it.

1. Schema-First Design (SDL)

Order of work: UI shape → SDL types → DB model → resolvers. Never reverse this.

scalar DateTime

type Note {
  id: ID!
  content: String!
  author: User!
  createdAt: DateTime!
  favoritedBy: [User!]!
}

type User {
  id: ID!
  username: String!
  notes(first: Int = 20, after: String): NoteConnection!
}

input CreateNoteInput { content: String! }
type CreateNotePayload { note: Note, errors: [UserError!]! }
type UserError { field: String, message: String! }

type Query {
  me: User
  note(id: ID!): Note
}

type Mutation {
  createNote(input: CreateNoteInput!): CreateNotePayload!
}

Non-null rules:

Note! — never null. [Note!]! — list never null, no null elements (the default for collection queries).
[Note] only when partial results are legal.
Nullable-string like description: String is right when the domain allows absence; everywhere else a null is a latent bug.

Input types are mandatory once a mutation has >2 scalar args. Wrapping in an input lets you add fields later without changing the call site.

Mutation payload types never return the bare entity. Return CreateNotePayload { note, errors } so clients can surface validation errors as typed data (see §6).

Interface vs union:

interface when variants share fields: interface RepositoryOwner { login: String! } → User, Organization both implement.
union when variants share nothing: union SearchResult = Issue | PullRequest | Repository.

Clients discriminate with __typename + inline fragments — always request __typename on interface/union queries or Apollo client cache normalisation breaks.

Custom scalars — never String for dates. Bind graphql-iso-date's GraphQLDateTime to the DateTime scalar. The resolver then receives a real Date, not an unvalidated string.

2. Resolvers

Canonical signature: (parent, args, context, info) — parent from parent resolver, args schema-typed, context per-request (built once), info AST (use for projection/cost, never for routing).

Split resolvers per type. One file per Query.ts, Mutation.ts, Note.ts (relationships), User.ts, scalars.ts.

// src/resolvers/Note.ts
import { NoteResolvers } from '../__generated__/graphql';
export const Note: NoteResolvers = {
  author:      (note, _a, { loaders }) => loaders.userById.load(note.author_id),
  favoritedBy: (note, _a, { loaders }) => loaders.usersByNoteId.load(note.id),
};

Thin root resolvers, relationship resolvers on the type. Apollo calls relationship resolvers only when the client selects the field — this is what makes "pay only for what you select" real.

3. Context Construction (where auth + loaders live)

// src/context.ts
import { readJwt } from './auth';
import { makeLoaders } from './loaders';

export type Context = {
  user: { id: string; roles: string[] } | null;
  loaders: ReturnType<typeof makeLoaders>;
  db: Db;
};

export async function buildContext({ req }: { req: IncomingMessage }): Promise<Context> {
  const user = readJwt(req.headers.authorization);
  return { user, loaders: makeLoaders(db), db };
}

Decode the JWT exactly once, then every resolver reads context.user. Never trust args.userId.

4. N+1 and DataLoader

The problem: notes { author { username } } hits the DB once per note. Logs show SELECT user WHERE id = 1, ... = 2, ... = 2, ... = 3.

The fix: one DataLoader per join, per request.

// src/loaders.ts
import DataLoader from 'dataloader';

export function makeLoaders(db: Db) {
  return {
    userById: new DataLoader<string, User>(async (ids) => {
      const rows = await db.users.findByIds([...ids]);
      const map = new Map(rows.map((r) => [r.id, r]));
      return ids.map((id) => map.get(id)!); // ORDER MUST MATCH INPUT
    }),
    usersByNoteId: new DataLoader<string, User[]>(async (noteIds) => {
      const rows = await db.noteFavorites.findByNoteIds([...noteIds]);
      const grouped = groupBy(rows, 'noteId');
      return noteIds.map((id) => grouped[id] ?? []);
    }),
  };
}

Two rules: (1) the returned array must match the keys array by index; (2) the loader must be built per-request — sharing across requests leaks data between tenants.

Per-request caching is the second win. In circular traversals (notes → author → notes) the Map-backed cache means each userById.load('u1') hits the DB once.

When not to use DataLoader:

After a mutation that needs fresh data — call loaders.userById.clear(id) or bypass.
Non-ID-keyed lookups (filter + sort combinations) — the loader key space becomes combinatorial; prefer a thin service layer.
Multi-gigabyte value shapes — the Map blows heap; move caching to Redis.

DataLoader is a per-request optimisation. It does not replace HTTP or Redis caching.

5. Auth and Authz

JWT in the header, decoded once in context. Both web and mobile clients set Authorization: Bearer <token>. Never sessions for a public GraphQL API — they collapse under mobile clients.

Field-level authorisation — two patterns, pick one and hold it.

Code-based:

import { AuthenticationError, ForbiddenError } from 'apollo-server-errors';
export const Mutation: MutationResolvers = {
  deleteNote: async (_, { id }, { user, db }) => {
    if (!user) throw new AuthenticationError('Session invalid');
    const note = await db.notes.byId(id);
    if (String(note.author_id) !== user.id) throw new ForbiddenError('Not your note');
    await db.notes.delete(id);
    return { ok: true };
  },
};

Directive-based (declarative):

directive @auth(role: Role) on FIELD_DEFINITION | INPUT_FIELD_DEFINITION
type Mutation {
  publishNote(id: ID!, published: Boolean! @auth(role: ADMIN)): Note @auth
}

A custom @auth schema directive wraps defaultFieldResolver, inspects context.user.roles, and throws or proceeds. Put the directive implementation in one file; grep-readers see the rule on the field itself.

Pitfalls:

Mixing both patterns → some paths are checked twice, some missed.
AuthenticationError (unauthenticated) vs ForbiddenError (authenticated, not allowed) map to distinct UX — clients route on extensions.code.
Normalise email on signup (.trim().toLowerCase()). Hash passwords with bcrypt, 10+ salt rounds.

6. Pagination (Relay Cursor Connection)

Offset pagination is simple and scales poorly. Use cursors for production.

type NoteConnection {
  edges: [NoteEdge!]!
  nodes: [Note!]!
  pageInfo: PageInfo!
  totalCount: Int
}
type NoteEdge { cursor: String!, node: Note! }
type PageInfo {
  startCursor: String
  endCursor: String
  hasNextPage: Boolean!
  hasPreviousPage: Boolean!
}
type Query { feed(first: Int = 20, after: String): NoteConnection! }

// src/resolvers/Query.ts
export const Query: QueryResolvers = {
  feed: async (_, { first = 20, after }, { db }) => {
    const limit = Math.min(first!, 100);
    const rows = await db.notes.page({ after, limit: limit + 1 });
    const hasNextPage = rows.length > limit;
    if (hasNextPage) rows.pop();
    return {
      edges: rows.map((n) => ({ cursor: encode(n.id), node: n })),
      nodes: rows,
      pageInfo: {
        startCursor: rows.length ? encode(rows[0].id) : null,
        endCursor:   rows.length ? encode(rows.at(-1)!.id) : null,
        hasNextPage,
        hasPreviousPage: false,
      },
    };
  },
};

Cursors are opaque — base64-encode them so clients do not parse IDs and so you can change the underlying ordering without breaking anyone. totalCount is expensive on large tables — make it nullable and only compute when asked.

7. Error Handling

Apollo ships typed error classes: AuthenticationError, ForbiddenError, UserInputError, ApolloError. Each sets extensions.code to a stable machine-readable string (UNAUTHENTICATED, FORBIDDEN, BAD_USER_INPUT). Clients route on code, not on message.

import { UserInputError } from 'apollo-server-errors';
if (!email.includes('@')) throw new UserInputError('Invalid email', { field: 'email' });

Prefer errors-as-data for field-level validation. Return them in the payload type so the UI renders per-field messages without reading the top-level errors[]:

type CreateNotePayload { note: Note, errors: [UserError!]! }
type UserError { field: String, message: String!, code: String! }

Mask in production. Stack traces and upstream messages leak internals. Use formatError:

new ApolloServer({
  formatError: (err) => {
    logger.error(err);
    if (err.extensions?.code === 'INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR') {
      return new Error('Internal server error');
    }
    return err;
  },
});

8. Apollo Server Setup

import { ApolloServer } from '@apollo/server';
import { expressMiddleware } from '@apollo/server/express4';
import { ApolloServerPluginLandingPageProductionDefault } from '@apollo/server/plugin/landingPage/default';
import depthLimit from 'graphql-depth-limit';
import { createComplexityLimitRule } from 'graphql-validation-complexity';

const server = new ApolloServer<Context>({
  typeDefs, resolvers,
  introspection: process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production',
  validationRules: [
    depthLimit(7),
    createComplexityLimitRule(1000, { onCost: (c) => metrics.queryCost.observe(c) }),
  ],
  plugins: [ApolloServerPluginLandingPageProductionDefault()],
  formatError,
});
await server.start();
app.use('/graphql', helmet(), cors(corsOpts), express.json(), expressMiddleware(server, { context: buildContext }));

Middleware order matters: helmet → cors → json → Apollo. Validation rules run before execution — that is the correct layer for depth and complexity guards, not resolvers.

9. Subscriptions (graphql-ws)

Transport is graphql-ws (not deprecated subscriptions-transport-ws). Auth the connection_init frame, not every message.

useServer({
  schema,
  context: async (ctx) => {
    const user = readJwt(`Bearer ${ctx.connectionParams?.authToken}`);
    if (!user) throw new Error('unauthenticated');
    return { user, loaders: makeLoaders(db), db };
  },
}, new WebSocketServer({ server: httpServer, path: '/graphql' }));

Subscription: {
  noteAdded: {
    subscribe: withFilter(
      () => pubsub.asyncIterator('NOTE_ADDED'),
      (payload, _a, ctx) => payload.noteAdded.tenant_id === ctx.user.tenant_id,
    ),
  },
},

In a multi-node deploy use Redis-backed PubSub (graphql-redis-subscriptions) so events fan out across instances.

10. Federation v2

Apollo Federation v2 composes multiple subgraph schemas into one supergraph served by a router. Each team owns a subgraph.

# users subgraph
type User @key(fields: "id") {
  id: ID!
  username: String!
}

# notes subgraph — extends User with a shareable field
type Note @key(fields: "id") {
  id: ID!
  content: String!
  author: User!
}
type User @key(fields: "id") {
  id: ID! @external
  notes: [Note!]!
}

Directives to know:

@key(fields: "...") — identifies the entity; the router uses it to stitch.
@external — a field is declared here but owned elsewhere.
@shareable — the field can be resolved by multiple subgraphs (router picks one).
@requires(fields: "...") — this resolver needs fields from another subgraph before it can run.
@provides(fields: "...") — this resolver already returns fields from another subgraph, no need to fetch.

Entity resolution happens in the subgraph that owns the @key:

Query: {
  _entities: (_, { representations }, { loaders }) =>
    representations.map((rep) => loaders.userById.load(rep.id)),
},

Composition runs in CI (rover supergraph compose); the router (Apollo Router or @apollo/gateway) serves the composed schema. Do not write supergraph schemas by hand.

11. TypeScript End-to-End (graphql-codegen)

# codegen.yml
schema: src/schema.graphql
documents: 'src/**/*.graphql'
generates:
  src/__generated__/graphql.ts:
    plugins: [typescript, typescript-operations, typescript-resolvers]
    config: { contextType: '../context#Context', useIndexSignature: true }

typescript generates schema types. typescript-operations generates one type per query matching exactly the fields that query selects — the anti-hallucination safeguard. typescript-resolvers types the resolver maps against the schema. Add typescript-react-apollo on the client for typed useFeedQuery() hooks.

Run yarn generate on every schema/operation change; CI fails if generated files drift. Without this discipline, TypeScript silently lies.

12. File Uploads

Apollo Server 4 does not ship uploads — use graphql-upload-minimal with the multipart request spec.

app.use('/graphql', graphqlUploadExpress({ maxFileSize: 10_000_000, maxFiles: 3 }));
// scalar Upload; type Mutation { uploadAvatar(file: Upload!): String! }

Resolver receives { createReadStream, filename, mimetype }. Stream directly to S3 — never buffer the full file. Enforce size at middleware and reverse proxy. If binary traffic is heavy, keep a plain HTTP POST endpoint and let the mutation return only a reference.

13. Testing

Unit: resolvers are just functions — call them directly with a faked context. await Query.feed!({}, { first: 5 }, ctx as any, {} as any).

Integration: @apollo/server exposes server.executeOperation({ query, variables }, { contextValue }) to run the pipeline in-process — preferred over hitting HTTP.

Mocked schema via addMocksToSchema (@graphql-tools/mock) for frontend dev without a backend.

Schema snapshot tests — printSchema(schema) → golden file. Any accidental breaking change fails CI before a resolver runs.

14. Production Hardening

Mandatory for any public endpoint: depth limit (depthLimit(7)); complexity/cost analysis (graphql-cost-analysis — cap per request, record score for rate-limiting and metering); introspection off in production (GitLab's 2019 DoS was unlimited introspection); persisted queries (APQ + whitelist — reject unknown hashes in strict mode); timeouts (HTTP 30 s at proxy, resolver AbortController on downstream); disable batching array requests unless used (bypasses per-request rate limits); CORS allow-list — never *; helmet + TLS at the edge; tracing (OpenTelemetry → Jaeger/Tempo + Apollo Studio).

Load references/graphql-security.md for the adversarial checklist (alias/directive overloading, SSRF via argument fields, CSRF on mutations).

15. When Not to Use GraphQL

Single canonical client, HTTP caching dominates, no N+1 pain → REST is cheaper.
Heavy binary uploads or server-sent file streams → HTTP native.
Public API where CDN edge caching is business-critical → GraphQL's POST-only default defeats it.
One team, one service, <10 endpoints → the tooling weight does not pay back.

Hybrid default: GraphQL as a BFF over REST microservices — REST for webhooks and file upload, GraphQL for client-shaped reads of relational UIs. Pairs naturally with microservices-architecture, which owns the inter-service communication patterns.