apollo-server

---
name: apollo-server
description: >
license: MIT
---

# Apollo Server 5.x Guide

Apollo Server is an open-source GraphQL server that works with any GraphQL schema. Apollo Server 5 is framework-agnostic and runs standalone or integrates with Express, Fastify, and serverless environments.

## Quick Start

### Step 1: Install

```bash
npm install @apollo/server graphql
```

For Express integration:

```bash
npm install @apollo/server @as-integrations/express5 express graphql cors
```

### Step 2: Define Schema

```typescript
const typeDefs = `#graphql
  type Book {
    title: String
    author: String
  }

  type Query {
    books: [Book]
  }
`;
```

### Step 3: Write Resolvers

```typescript
const resolvers = {
  Query: {
    books: () => [
      { title: "The Great Gatsby", author: "F. Scott Fitzgerald" },
      { title: "1984", author: "George Orwell" },
    ],
  },
};
```

### Step 4: Start Server

**Standalone (Recommended for prototyping):**

The standalone server is great for prototyping, but for production services, we recommend integrating Apollo Server with a more fully-featured web framework such as Express, Koa, or Fastify. Swapping from the standalone server to a web framework later is straightforward.

```typescript
import { ApolloServer } from "@apollo/server";
import { startStandaloneServer } from "@apollo/server/standalone";

const server = new ApolloServer({ typeDefs, resolvers });

const { url } = await startStandaloneServer(server, {
  listen: { port: 4000 },
});

console.log(`Server ready at ${url}`);
```

**Express:**

```typescript
import { ApolloServer } from "@apollo/server";
import { expressMiddleware } from "@as-integrations/express5";
import { ApolloServerPluginDrainHttpServer } from "@apollo/server/plugin/drainHttpServer";
import express from "express";
import http from "http";
import cors from "cors";

const app = express();
const httpServer = http.createServer(app);

const server = new ApolloServer({
  typeDefs,
  resolvers,
  plugins: [ApolloServerPluginDrainHttpServer({ httpServer })],
});

await server.start();

app.use(
  "/graphql",
  cors(),
  express.json(),
  expressMiddleware(server, {
    context: async ({ req }) => ({ token: req.headers.authorization }),
  }),
);

await new Promise<void>((resolve) => httpServer.listen({ port: 4000 }, resolve));
console.log("Server ready at http://localhost:4000/graphql");
```

## Schema Definition

### Scalar Types

- `Int` - 32-bit integer
- `Float` - Double-precision floating-point
- `String` - UTF-8 string
- `Boolean` - true/false
- `ID` - Unique identifier (serialized as String)

### Type Definitions

```graphql
type User {
  id: ID!
  name: String!
  email: String
  posts: [Post!]!
}

type Post {
  id: ID!
  title: String!
  content: String
  author: User!
}

input CreatePostInput {
  title: String!
  content: String
}

type Query {
  user(id: ID!): User
  users: [User!]!
}

type Mutation {
  createPost(input: CreatePostInput!): Post!
}
```

### Enums and Interfaces

```graphql
enum Status {
  DRAFT
  PUBLISHED
  ARCHIVED
}

interface Node {
  id: ID!
}

type Article implements Node {
  id: ID!
  title: String!
}
```

## Resolvers Overview

Resolvers follow the signature: `(parent, args, contextValue, info)`

- **parent**: Result from parent resolver (root resolvers receive undefined)
- **args**: Arguments passed to the field
- **contextValue**: Shared context object (auth, dataSources, etc.)
- **info**: Field-specific info and schema details (rarely used)

```typescript
const resolvers = {
  Query: {
    user: async (_, { id }, { dataSources }) => {
      return dataSources.usersAPI.getUser(id);
    },
  },
  User: {
    posts: async (parent, _, { dataSources }) => {
      return dataSources.postsAPI.getPostsByAuthor(parent.id);
    },
  },
  Mutation: {
    createPost: async (_, { input }, { dataSources, user }) => {
      if (!user) throw new GraphQLError("Not authenticated");
      return dataSources.postsAPI.create({ ...input, authorId: user.id });
    },
  },
};
```

## Context Setup

Context is created per-request and passed to all resolvers.

```typescript
interface MyContext {
  token?: string;
  user?: User;
  dataSources: {
    usersAPI: UsersDataSource;
    postsAPI: PostsDataSource;
  };
}

const server = new ApolloServer<MyContext>({
  typeDefs,
  resolvers,
});

// Standalone
const { url } = await startStandaloneServer(server, {
  context: async ({ req }) => ({
    token: req.headers.authorization || "",
    user: await getUser(req.headers.authorization || ""),
    dataSources: {
      usersAPI: new UsersDataSource(),
      postsAPI: new PostsDataSource(),
    },
  }),
});

// Express middleware
expressMiddleware(server, {
  context: async ({ req, res }) => ({
    token: req.headers.authorization,
    user: await getUser(req.headers.authorization),
    dataSources: {
      usersAPI: new UsersDataSource(),
      postsAPI: new PostsDataSource(),
    },
  }),
});
```

## Reference Files

Detailed documentation for specific topics:

- [Resolvers](references/resolvers.md) - Resolver patterns and best practices
- [Context and Auth](references/context-and-auth.md) - Authentication and authorization
- [Plugins](references/plugins.md) - Server and request lifecycle hooks
- [Data Sources](references/data-sources.md) - RESTDataSource and DataLoader
- [Error Handling](references/error-handling.md) - GraphQLError and error formatting
- [Troubleshooting](references/troubleshooting.md) - Common issues and solutions

## Key Rules

### Schema Design

- Use **!** (non-null) for fields that always have values
- Prefer input types for mutations over inline arguments
- Use interfaces for polymorphic types
- Keep schema descriptions for documentation

### Resolver Best Practices

- Keep resolvers thin - delegate to services/data sources
- Always handle errors explicitly
- Use DataLoader for batching related queries
- Return partial data when possible (GraphQL's strength)

### Performance

- Use `@defer` and `@stream` for large responses
- Implement DataLoader to solve N+1 queries
- Consider persisted queries for production
- Use caching headers and CDN where appropriate

## Ground Rules

- ALWAYS use Apollo Server 5.x patterns (not v4 or earlier)
- ALWAYS type your context with TypeScript generics
- ALWAYS use `GraphQLError` from `graphql` package for errors
- NEVER expose stack traces in production errors
- PREFER `startStandaloneServer` for prototyping only
- USE an integration with a server framework like Express, Koa, Fastify, Next, etc. for production apps
- IMPLEMENT authentication in context, authorization in resolvers