GraphQL Joke API

Best practices for implementing graphQL based on a joke API example in node.js.

Getting Started

Installing dependencies

Install the dependencies by running the following command from the terminal in the directory of the project.

$ yarn

Development

Run the server in development on linux using the following command

$ npm run start

Note: Do not forget to set the following environmental variables of your PostgresQL db before starting the server:

• DB_PASSWORD: The password of the database
• DB_DATABASE: The name of the database

When running the node server in development Nodemon will be turned on. Nodemon will watch for any file changes in the project and automatically restart the server.

Production

To compile the files run the command:

$ npm run build

Next, start the production server using the command:

$ npm run serve

Note: Do not forget to set the following environmental variables of your PostgresQL db before starting the server:

• DB_HOST: The host address of the database
• DB_USER: The user of the database
• DB_PASSWORD: The password of the database
• DB_DATABASE: The name of the database

The GraphQL API

The examples queries below assume that the server is running in development on port 3000.

Writing queries

The graphQL API can be accessed by under the path /. The query is contained in the query-string of the request.

http://localhost:3000/?query={query}

GraphiQL

In addition, you can also use GraphiQL for writing queries in an IDE environment. GraphiQL can be accessed using the URL path /graphiql

http://localhost:3000/graphiql