GraphQL Int53 Scalar Type

GraphQL Int53 is a scalar that matches the behavior of the Int type, but with a range from -(2**53 - 1) to 2**53 - 1. This corresponds to the safe integer range of an IEEE 754 double precision binary floating-point value.

It is meant as a direct alternative to GraphQL Int, which represents a signed 32‐bit numeric non‐fractional value and supports values with a range from -(2**31) to 2**31 - 1.

Why Does This Exist?

There are numerous places where integral values exceed 2 billion:

• fileSizeInBytes (files larger than 2 gigabytes)
• millisecondsSinceEpoch (such as JavaScript/Java Date.getDate())
• secondsSinceEpoch (after 2038, Year 2038 Problem)
• freeMemoryInBytes (RAM larger than 2 gigabytes)
• monetaryAmount (as defined by ISO 4217)
• databaseRowId (more than 2 billion database rows)
• youtubeVideoViewCount (currently over 20 videos have this)
• facebookMonthlyActiveUserCount (reaching over 2 billion)

These values could be represented by Float, but that would be confusing as they are integers, and would be inefficient in programming languages where there is a natural 64-bit integer type. They could also be represented by String, but that would mean an additional parsing and validation step. These values could also be represented by a 64-bit integer, but that would be problematic for JavaScript, Lua and other languages which use an IEEE 754 double precision binary floating-point value as their primary number type.

While somewhat unconventional, the 53-bit integer is a "least common denominator" type that can easily be supported by all programming languages.

Installation

npm install --save graphql-scalar-int53

Usage

import { graphql, buildSchema } from 'graphql';
import GraphQLInt53 from 'graphql-scalar-int53';

const schema = buildSchema(`
scalar Int53
type Query {
    output: Int53
    inputVariable(value: Int53): Int53
    inputLiteral(value: Int53): Int53
}
`);

const query = `
query ($value: Int53) {
    output
    inputVariable(value: $value)
    inputLiteral(value: 9876504321)
}
`;

const root = {
    output: 9876504322,
    inputVariable: ({value}) => value,
    inputLiteral: ({value}) => value,
}

graphql(schema, query, root, null, {value: 98765043223}).then(console.log);

// Outputs:
// { data:
//    { output: 9876504322,
//      inputVariable: 98765043223,
//      inputLiteral: 9876504321 } }