GraphQL

DolphJS provides a seamless, out-of-the-box integration for GraphQL APIs through the official @dolphjs/graphql package, which is powered by Apollo Server under the hood.

Installation

To get started with GraphQL, install the required packages:

pnpm install @dolphjs/graphql graphql

If you plan to use a schema builder like type-graphql, you can install it alongside:

pnpm install type-graphql

Initializing a GraphQL Server

Unlike a standard REST API where you pass an array of routing components to the DolphFactory, for GraphQL applications you pass a configuration object containing your GraphQL schema and an optional context function.

src/server.ts

import { DolphFactory } from '@dolphjs/dolph';
import { buildSchema } from 'type-graphql';
import { UserResolver } from './resolvers/user.resolver';

async function bootstrap() {
  // Build your executable schema (using type-graphql as an example)
  const schema = await buildSchema({
    resolvers: [UserResolver],
  });

  // Initialize DolphJS with the GraphQL adapter config
  const dolph = new DolphFactory({
    graphql: true, // Enables the Apollo Server integration
    schema,
    context: ({ req, res }) => {
      // Return whatever you want to be accessible in your resolvers' context
      return {
        headers: req.headers,
        user: req.user
      };
    },
  });

  dolph.start();
}

bootstrap();

How It Works

When you pass { graphql: true } into the DolphFactory configuration, DolphJS automatically dynamically loads the @dolphjs/graphql package, spins up an Apollo Server instance using your schema and context, and applies it directly as middleware to the underlying Express engine. This means you don’t have to manually bootstrap Apollo Server—DolphJS handles the heavy lifting for you while still giving you full access to the Apollo context!