apollographql/apollo-server

★ 13,936TypeScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 3/5Setup · moderate

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((Apollo Server))
    What it does
      Build GraphQL APIs
      Single endpoint
      Schema definition
    Use Cases
      Standalone server
      Express middleware
      Federated subgraph
    Tech Stack
      TypeScript
      Node.js
      GraphQL
    Getting Started
      npm install
      Apollo Sandbox
      Browser testing

mindmap root((Apollo Server)) What it does Build GraphQL APIs Single endpoint Schema definition Use Cases Standalone server Express middleware Federated subgraph Tech Stack TypeScript Node.js GraphQL Getting Started npm install Apollo Sandbox Browser testing

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Build a GraphQL API for your web app where clients request exactly the data fields they need in one request.

USE CASE 2

Add GraphQL support to an existing Express server without replacing your current REST routes.

USE CASE 3

Create a subgraph service that contributes part of a larger federated GraphQL API assembled from multiple smaller services.

Tech stack

TypeScriptJavaScriptGraphQLNode.jsExpress

Getting it running

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Requires Node.js and npm, you also need to define your own schema and resolvers before the server does anything useful.

In plain English

Apollo Server is an open-source JavaScript and TypeScript library for building GraphQL APIs. GraphQL is an approach to building web APIs where, instead of having many separate URL endpoints each returning fixed data, you define a single schema describing all the data your application can provide, and clients ask for exactly the fields they need in one request. Apollo Server implements that approach on the server side, handling the incoming queries and calling your own code to fetch the actual data. You can use Apollo Server in a few different ways. The simplest is as a standalone server where it handles all the HTTP details for you: you install the package, define your schema and the functions that return data for each field, and the server is ready to run. It also works as middleware inside an existing web application built with frameworks like Express, which is popular for Node.js projects, letting you add GraphQL to an app that already does other things. A third use case is in larger federated architectures. GraphQL Federation is a pattern where a single public GraphQL API is assembled from multiple smaller services, each owning a piece of the overall schema. Apollo Server can act either as one of those smaller services (called a subgraph) or as the gateway that combines them all. When you start the server for the first time, it opens Apollo Sandbox, a browser-based tool for writing and testing queries against your API. This makes development easier because you can explore the schema and run test queries without any separate tooling. The package is written in TypeScript, works with any GraphQL client (not just Apollo's own client library), and is compatible with any data source. Installation is through npm, and the README includes complete working code examples for both the standalone and Express setups. Full documentation lives on the Apollo website.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

Set up an Apollo Server standalone server with a schema for a todo list app, including queries to list todos and mutations to add and delete them.

Prompt 2

Show me how to add Apollo Server as middleware to my existing Express app so I can keep my REST endpoints and add GraphQL alongside them.

Prompt 3

Help me define resolvers in Apollo Server that fetch data from a PostgreSQL database for each GraphQL field in my schema.

Prompt 4

Write an Apollo Server subgraph schema for a user profile service that will join a federated GraphQL API with a shared gateway.

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