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GraphQL API style guide
This document outlines the style guide for GitLab's GraphQL API.
How GitLab implements GraphQL
We use the GraphQL Ruby gem written by Robert Mosolgo.
All GraphQL queries are directed to a single endpoint
(app/controllers/graphql_controller.rb#execute
),
which is exposed as an API endpoint at /api/graphql
.
Deep Dive
In March 2019, Nick Thomas hosted a Deep Dive (GitLab team members only: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/create-stage/issues/1
)
on GitLab's GraphQL API to share his domain specific knowledge
with anyone who may work in this part of the codebase in the future. You can find the
recording on YouTube, and the slides on
Google Slides
and in PDF.
Everything covered in this deep dive was accurate as of GitLab 11.9, and while specific
details may have changed since then, it should still serve as a good introduction.
GraphiQL
GraphiQL is an interactive GraphQL API explorer where you can play around with existing queries.
You can access it in any GitLab environment on https://<your-gitlab-site.com>/-/graphql-explorer
.
For example, the one for GitLab.com.
Authentication
Authentication happens through the GraphqlController
, right now this
uses the same authentication as the Rails application. So the session
can be shared.
It's also possible to add a private_token
to the query string, or
add a HTTP_PRIVATE_TOKEN
header.
Global IDs
GitLab's GraphQL API uses Global IDs (i.e: "gid://gitlab/MyObject/123"
)
and never database primary key IDs.
Global ID is a convention used for caching and fetching in client-side libraries.
See also:
We have a custom scalar type (Types::GlobalIDType
) which should be used as the
type of input and output arguments when the value is a GlobalID
. The benefits
of using this type instead of ID
are:
- it validates that the value is a
GlobalID
- it parses it into a
GlobalID
before passing it to user code - it can be parameterized on the type of the object (e.g.
GlobalIDType[Project]
) which offers even better validation and security.
Consider using this type for all new arguments and result types. Remember that
it is perfectly possible to parameterize this type with a concern or a
supertype, if you want to accept a wider range of objects (e.g.
GlobalIDType[Issuable]
vs GlobalIDType[Issue]
).
Types
We use a code-first schema, and we declare what type everything is in Ruby.
For example, app/graphql/types/issue_type.rb
:
graphql_name 'Issue'
field :iid, GraphQL::ID_TYPE, null: true
field :title, GraphQL::STRING_TYPE, null: true
# we also have a method here that we've defined, that extends `field`
markdown_field :title_html, null: true
field :description, GraphQL::STRING_TYPE, null: true
markdown_field :description_html, null: true
We give each type a name (in this case Issue
).
The iid
, title
and description
are scalar GraphQL types.
iid
is a GraphQL::ID_TYPE
, a special string type that signifies a unique ID.
title
and description
are regular GraphQL::STRING_TYPE
types.
When exposing a model through the GraphQL API, we do so by creating a
new type in app/graphql/types
. You can also declare custom GraphQL data types
for scalar data types (for example TimeType
).
When exposing properties in a type, make sure to keep the logic inside the definition as minimal as possible. Instead, consider moving any logic into a presenter:
class Types::MergeRequestType < BaseObject
present_using MergeRequestPresenter
name 'MergeRequest'
end
An existing presenter could be used, but it is also possible to create a new presenter specifically for GraphQL.
The presenter is initialized using the object resolved by a field, and the context.
Nullable fields
GraphQL allows fields to be "nullable" or "non-nullable". The former means
that null
may be returned instead of a value of the specified type. In
general, you should prefer using nullable fields to non-nullable ones, for
the following reasons:
- It's common for data to switch from required to not-required, and back again
- Even when there is no prospect of a field becoming optional, it may not be available at query time
- For instance, the
content
of a blob may need to be looked up from Gitaly - If the
content
is nullable, we can return a partial response, instead of failing the whole query
- For instance, the
- Changing from a non-nullable field to a nullable field is difficult with a versionless schema
Non-nullable fields should only be used when a field is required, very unlikely
to become optional in the future, and very easy to calculate. An example would
be id
fields.
A non-nullable GraphQL schema field is an object type followed by the exclamation point (bang) !
. Here's an example from the gitlab_schema.graphql
file:
id: ProjectID!
Here's an example of a non-nullable GraphQL array:
errors: [String!]!
Further reading:
- GraphQL Best Practices Guide.
- GraphQL documentation on Object types and fields.
- GraphQL Best Practices Guide
- Using nullability in GraphQL
Exposing Global IDs
In keeping with GitLab's use of Global IDs, always convert database primary key IDs into Global IDs when you expose them.
All fields named id
are
converted automatically
into the object's Global ID.
Fields that are not named id
need to be manually converted. We can do this using
Gitlab::GlobalID.build
,
or by calling #to_global_id
on an object that has mixed in the
GlobalID::Identification
module.
Using an example from
Types::Notes::DiscussionType
:
field :reply_id, GraphQL::ID_TYPE
def reply_id
::Gitlab::GlobalId.build(object, id: object.reply_id)
end
Connection types
TIP: Tip: For specifics on implementation, see Pagination implementation.
GraphQL uses cursor based pagination to expose collections of items. This provides the clients with a lot of flexibility while also allowing the backend to use different pagination models.
To expose a collection of resources we can use a connection type. This wraps the array with default pagination fields. For example a query for project-pipelines could look like this:
query($project_path: ID!) {
project(fullPath: $project_path) {
pipelines(first: 2) {
pageInfo {
hasNextPage
hasPreviousPage
}
edges {
cursor
node {
id
status
}
}
}
}
}
This would return the first 2 pipelines of a project and related pagination information, ordered by descending ID. The returned data would look like this:
{
"data": {
"project": {
"pipelines": {
"pageInfo": {
"hasNextPage": true,
"hasPreviousPage": false
},
"edges": [
{
"cursor": "Nzc=",
"node": {
"id": "gid://gitlab/Pipeline/77",
"status": "FAILED"
}
},
{
"cursor": "Njc=",
"node": {
"id": "gid://gitlab/Pipeline/67",
"status": "FAILED"
}
}
]
}
}
}
}
To get the next page, the cursor of the last known element could be passed:
query($project_path: ID!) {
project(fullPath: $project_path) {
pipelines(first: 2, after: "Njc=") {
pageInfo {
hasNextPage
hasPreviousPage
}
edges {
cursor
node {
id
status
}
}
}
}
}
To ensure that we get consistent ordering, we will append an ordering on the primary
key, in descending order. This is usually id
, so basically we will add order(id: :desc)
to the end of the relation. A primary key must be available on the underlying table.
Shortcut fields
Sometimes it can seem easy to implement a "shortcut field", having the resolver return the first of a collection if no parameters are passed. These "shortcut fields" are discouraged because they create maintenance overhead. They need to be kept in sync with their canonical field, and deprecated or modified if their canonical field changes. Use the functionality the framework provides unless there is a compelling reason to do otherwise.
For example, instead of latest_pipeline
, use pipelines(last: 1)
.
Exposing permissions for a type
To expose permissions the current user has on a resource, you can call
the expose_permissions
passing in a separate type representing the
permissions for the resource.
For example:
module Types
class MergeRequestType < BaseObject
expose_permissions Types::MergeRequestPermissionsType
end
end
The permission type inherits from BasePermissionType
which includes
some helper methods, that allow exposing permissions as non-nullable
booleans:
class MergeRequestPermissionsType < BasePermissionType
present_using MergeRequestPresenter
graphql_name 'MergeRequestPermissions'
abilities :admin_merge_request, :update_merge_request, :create_note
ability_field :resolve_note,
description: 'Indicates the user can resolve discussions on the merge request'
permission_field :push_to_source_branch, method: :can_push_to_source_branch?
end
permission_field
: Will act the same asgraphql-ruby
'sfield
method but setting a default description and type and making them non-nullable. These options can still be overridden by adding them as arguments.ability_field
: Expose an ability defined in our policies. This behaves the same way aspermission_field
and the same arguments can be overridden.abilities
: Allows exposing several abilities defined in our policies at once. The fields for these will all have be non-nullable booleans with a default description.
Feature flags
Developers can add feature flags to GraphQL fields in the following ways:
- Add the
feature_flag
property to a field. This will allow the field to be hidden from the GraphQL schema when the flag is disabled. - Toggle the return value when resolving the field.
You can refer to these guidelines to decide which approach to use:
- If your field is experimental, and its name or type is subject to
change, use the
feature_flag
property. - If your field is stable and its definition will not change, even after the flag is removed, toggle the return value of the field instead. Note that all fields should be nullable anyway.
feature_flag
property
The feature_flag
property allows you to toggle the field's
visibility
within the GraphQL schema. This will remove the field from the schema
when the flag is disabled.
A description is appended to the field indicating that it is behind a feature flag.
CAUTION: Caution: If a client queries for the field when the feature flag is disabled, the query will fail. Consider this when toggling the visibility of the feature on or off on production.
The feature_flag
property does not allow the use of
feature gates based on actors.
This means that the feature flag cannot be toggled only for particular
projects, groups, or users, but instead can only be toggled globally for
everyone.
Example:
field :test_field, type: GraphQL::STRING_TYPE,
null: true,
description: 'Some test field',
feature_flag: :my_feature_flag
Toggle the value of a field
This method of using feature flags for fields is to toggle the return value of the field. This can be done in the resolver, in the type, or even in a model method, depending on your preference and situation.
When applying a feature flag to toggle the value of a field, the
description
of the field must:
- State that the value of the field can be toggled by a feature flag.
- Name the feature flag.
- State what the field will return when the feature flag is disabled (or enabled, if more appropriate).
Example:
field :foo, GraphQL::STRING_TYPE,
null: true,
description: 'Some test field. Will always return `null`' \
'if `my_feature_flag` feature flag is disabled'
def foo
object.foo unless Feature.enabled?(:my_feature_flag, object)
end
Deprecating fields and enum values
GitLab's GraphQL API is versionless, which means we maintain backwards compatibility with older versions of the API with every change. Rather than removing a field or enum value, we need to deprecate it instead. The deprecated parts of the schema can then be removed in a future release in accordance with GitLab's deprecation process.
Fields and enum values are deprecated using the deprecated
property.
The value of the property is a Hash
of:
reason
- Reason for the deprecation.milestone
- Milestone that the field was deprecated.
Example:
field :token, GraphQL::STRING_TYPE, null: true,
deprecated: { reason: 'Login via token has been removed', milestone: '10.0' },
description: 'Token for login'
The original description
of the things being deprecated should be maintained,
and should not be updated to mention the deprecation. Instead, the reason
will
be appended to the description
.
Deprecation reason style guide
Where the reason for deprecation is due to the field or enum value being
replaced, the reason
must be:
Use `otherFieldName`
Example:
field :designs, ::Types::DesignManagement::DesignCollectionType, null: true,
deprecated: { reason: 'Use `designCollection`', milestone: '10.0' },
description: 'The designs associated with this issue',
module Types
class TodoStateEnum < BaseEnum
value 'pending', deprecated: { reason: 'Use PENDING', milestone: '10.0' }
value 'done', deprecated: { reason: 'Use DONE', milestone: '10.0' }
value 'PENDING', value: 'pending'
value 'DONE', value: 'done'
end
end
If the field is not being replaced by another field, a descriptive
deprecation reason
should be given.
See also Aliasing and deprecating mutations.
Enums
GitLab GraphQL enums are defined in app/graphql/types
. When defining new enums, the
following rules apply:
- Values must be uppercase.
- Class names must end with the string
Enum
. - The
graphql_name
must not contain the stringEnum
.
For example:
module Types
class TrafficLightStateEnum < BaseEnum
graphql_name 'TrafficLightState'
description 'State of a traffic light'
value 'RED', description: 'Drivers must stop'
value 'YELLOW', description: 'Drivers must stop when it is safe to'
value 'GREEN', description: 'Drivers can start or keep driving'
end
end
If the enum will be used for a class property in Ruby that is not an uppercase string,
you can provide a value:
option that will adapt the uppercase value.
In the following example:
- GraphQL inputs of
OPENED
will be converted to'opened'
. - Ruby values of
'opened'
will be converted to"OPENED"
in GraphQL responses.
module Types
class EpicStateEnum < BaseEnum
graphql_name 'EpicState'
description 'State of a GitLab epic'
value 'OPENED', value: 'opened', description: 'An open Epic'
value 'CLOSED', value: 'closed', description: 'An closed Epic'
end
end
Enum values can be deprecated using the
deprecated
keyword.
Defining GraphQL enums dynamically from Rails enums
If your GraphQL enum is backed by a Rails enum, then consider using the Rails enum to dynamically define the GraphQL enum values. Doing so binds the GraphQL enum values to the Rails enum definition, so if values are ever added to the Rails enum then the GraphQL enum automatically reflects the change.
Example:
module Types
class IssuableSeverityEnum < BaseEnum
graphql_name 'IssuableSeverity'
description 'Incident severity'
::IssuableSeverity.severities.keys.each do |severity|
value severity.upcase, value: severity, description: "#{severity.titleize} severity"
end
end
end
JSON
When data to be returned by GraphQL is stored as
JSON, we should continue to use
GraphQL types whenever possible. Avoid using the GraphQL::Types::JSON
type unless
the JSON data returned is truly unstructured.
If the structure of the JSON data varies, but will be one of a set of known possible structures, use a union. An example of the use of a union for this purpose is !30129.
Field names can be mapped to hash data keys using the hash_key:
keyword if needed.
For example, given the following simple JSON data:
{
"title": "My chart",
"data": [
{ "x": 0, "y": 1 },
{ "x": 1, "y": 1 },
{ "x": 2, "y": 2 }
]
}
We can use GraphQL types like this:
module Types
class ChartType < BaseObject
field :title, GraphQL::STRING_TYPE, null: true, description: 'Title of the chart'
field :data, [Types::ChartDatumType], null: true, description: 'Data of the chart'
end
end
module Types
class ChartDatumType < BaseObject
field :x, GraphQL::INT_TYPE, null: true, description: 'X-axis value of the chart datum'
field :y, GraphQL::INT_TYPE, null: true, description: 'Y-axis value of the chart datum'
end
end
Descriptions
All fields and arguments must have descriptions.
A description of a field or argument is given using the description:
keyword. For example:
field :id, GraphQL::ID_TYPE, description: 'ID of the resource'
Descriptions of fields and arguments are viewable to users through:
Description style guide
To ensure consistency, the following should be followed whenever adding or updating descriptions:
- Mention the name of the resource in the description. Example:
'Labels of the issue'
(issue being the resource). - Use
"{x} of the {y}"
where possible. Example:'Title of the issue'
. Do not start descriptions withThe
. - Descriptions of
GraphQL::BOOLEAN_TYPE
fields should answer the question: "What does this field do?". Example:'Indicates project has a Git repository'
. - Always include the word
"timestamp"
when describing an argument or field of typeTypes::TimeType
. This lets the reader know that the format of the property will beTime
, rather than justDate
. - No
.
at end of strings.
Example:
field :id, GraphQL::ID_TYPE, description: 'ID of the Issue'
field :confidential, GraphQL::BOOLEAN_TYPE, description: 'Indicates the issue is confidential'
field :closed_at, Types::TimeType, description: 'Timestamp of when the issue was closed'
copy_field_description
helper
Sometimes we want to ensure that two descriptions will always be identical. For example, to keep a type field description the same as a mutation argument when they both represent the same property.
Instead of supplying a description, we can use the copy_field_description
helper,
passing it the type, and field name to copy the description of.
Example:
argument :title, GraphQL::STRING_TYPE,
required: false,
description: copy_field_description(Types::MergeRequestType, :title)
Authorization
Authorizations can be applied to both types and fields using the same abilities as in the Rails app.
If the:
- Currently authenticated user fails the authorization, the authorized
resource will be returned as
null
. - Resource is part of a collection, the collection will be filtered to exclude the objects that the user's authorization checks failed against.
Also see authorizing resources in a mutation.
TIP: Tip: Try to load only what the currently authenticated user is allowed to view with our existing finders first, without relying on authorization to filter the records. This minimizes database queries and unnecessary authorization checks of the loaded records.
Type authorization
Authorize a type by passing an ability to the authorize
method. All
fields with the same type will be authorized by checking that the
currently authenticated user has the required ability.
For example, the following authorization ensures that the currently
authenticated user can only see projects that they have the
read_project
ability for (so long as the project is returned in a
field that uses Types::ProjectType
):
module Types
class ProjectType < BaseObject
authorize :read_project
end
end
You can also authorize against multiple abilities, in which case all of the ability checks must pass.
For example, the following authorization ensures that the currently
authenticated user must have read_project
and another_ability
abilities to see a project:
module Types
class ProjectType < BaseObject
authorize [:read_project, :another_ability]
end
end
Field authorization
Fields can be authorized with the authorize
option.
For example, the following authorization ensures that the currently
authenticated user must have the owner_access
ability to see the
project:
module Types
class MyType < BaseObject
field :project, Types::ProjectType, null: true, resolver: Resolvers::ProjectResolver, authorize: :owner_access
end
end
Fields can also be authorized against multiple abilities, in which case
all of ability checks must pass. This requires explicitly
passing a block to field
:
module Types
class MyType < BaseObject
field :project, Types::ProjectType, null: true, resolver: Resolvers::ProjectResolver do
authorize [:owner_access, :another_ability]
end
end
end
If the field's type already has a particular authorization then there is no need to add that same authorization to the field.
Type and Field authorizations together
Authorizations are cumulative, so where authorizations are defined on a field, and also on the field's type, then the currently authenticated user would need to pass all ability checks.
In the following simplified example the currently authenticated user
would need both first_permission
and second_permission
abilities in
order to see the author of the issue.
class UserType
authorize :first_permission
end
class IssueType
field :author, UserType, authorize: :second_permission
end
Resolvers
We define how the application serves the response using resolvers
stored in the app/graphql/resolvers
directory.
The resolver provides the actual implementation logic for retrieving
the objects in question.
To find objects to display in a field, we can add resolvers to
app/graphql/resolvers
.
Arguments can be defined within the resolver in the same way as in a mutation. See the Mutation arguments section.
To limit the amount of queries performed, we can use BatchLoader
.
Correct use of Resolver#ready?
Resolvers have two public API methods as part of the framework: #ready?(**args)
and #resolve(**args)
.
We can use #ready?
to perform set-up, validation or early-return without invoking #resolve
.
Good reasons to use #ready?
include:
- validating mutually exclusive arguments (see validating arguments)
- Returning
Relation.none
if we know before-hand that no results are possible - Performing setup such as initializing instance variables (although consider lazily initialized methods for this)
Implementations of Resolver#ready?(**args)
should
return (Boolean, early_return_data)
as follows:
def ready?(**args)
[false, 'have this instead']
end
For this reason, whenever you call a resolver (mainly in tests - as framework
abstractions Resolvers should not be considered re-usable, finders are to be
preferred), remember to call the ready?
method and check the boolean flag
before calling resolve
! An example can be seen in our GraphQLHelpers
.
Look-Ahead
The full query is known in advance during execution, which means we can make use
of lookahead to optimize our
queries, and batch load associations we know we will need. Consider adding
lookahead support in your resolvers to avoid N+1
performance issues.
To enable support for common lookahead use-cases (pre-loading associations when
child fields are requested), you can
include LooksAhead
. For example:
# Assuming a model `MyThing` with attributes `[child_attribute, other_attribute, nested]`,
# where nested has an attribute named `included_attribute`.
class MyThingResolver < BaseResolver
include LooksAhead
# Rather than defining `resolve(**args)`, we implement: `resolve_with_lookahead(**args)`
def resolve_with_lookahead(**args)
apply_lookahead(MyThingFinder.new(current_user).execute)
end
# We list things that should always be preloaded:
# For example, if child_attribute is always needed (during authorization
# perhaps), then we can include it here.
def unconditional_includes
[:child_attribute]
end
# We list things that should be included if a certain field is selected:
def preloads
{
field_one: [:other_attribute],
field_two: [{ nested: [:included_attribute] }]
}
end
end
The final thing that is needed is that every field that uses this resolver needs to advertise the need for lookahead:
# in ParentType
field :my_things, MyThingType.connection_type, null: true,
extras: [:lookahead], # Necessary
resolver: MyThingResolver,
description: 'My things'
For an example of real world use, please
see ResolvesMergeRequests
.
Negated arguments
Negated filters can filter some resources (for example, find all issues that
have the bug
label, but don't have the bug2
label assigned). The not
argument is the preferred syntax to pass negated arguments:
issues(labelName: "bug", not: {labelName: "bug2"}) {
nodes {
id
title
}
}
To avoid duplicated argument definitions, you can place these arguments in a reusable module (or class, if the arguments are nested). Alternatively, you can consider to add a helper resolver method.
Pass a parent object into a child Presenter
Sometimes you need to access the resolved query parent in a child context to compute fields. Usually the parent is only
available in the Resolver
class as parent
.
To find the parent object in your Presenter
class:
-
Add the parent object to the GraphQL
context
from within your resolver'sresolve
method:def resolve(**args) context[:parent_object] = parent end
-
Declare that your fields require the
parent
field context. For example:# in ChildType field :computed_field, SomeType, null: true, method: :my_computing_method, extras: [:parent], # Necessary description: 'My field description'
-
Declare your field's method in your Presenter class and have it accept the
parent
keyword argument. This argument contains the parent GraphQL context, so you have to access the parent object withparent[:parent_object]
or whatever key you used in yourResolver
:# in ChildPresenter def my_computing_method(parent:) # do something with `parent[:parent_object]` here end
For an example of real-world use, check this MR that added scopedPath
and scopedUrl
to IterationPresenter
Mutations
Mutations are used to change any stored values, or to trigger actions. In the same way a GET-request should not modify data, we cannot modify data in a regular GraphQL-query. We can however in a mutation.
Building Mutations
Mutations are stored in app/graphql/mutations
, ideally grouped per
resources they are mutating, similar to our services. They should
inherit Mutations::BaseMutation
. The fields defined on the mutation
are returned as the result of the mutation.
Update mutation granularity
GitLab's service-oriented architecture means that most mutations call a Create, Delete, or Update
service, for example UpdateMergeRequestService
.
For Update mutations, a you might want to only update one aspect of an object, and thus only need a
fine-grained mutation, for example MergeRequest::SetWip
.
It's acceptable to have both fine-grained mutations and coarse-grained mutations, but be aware that too many fine-grained mutations can lead to organizational challenges in maintainability, code comprehensibility, and testing. Each mutation requires a new class, which can lead to technical debt. It also means the schema becomes very big, and we want users to easily navigate our schema. As each new mutation also needs tests (including slower request integration tests), adding mutations slows down the test suite.
To minimize changes:
- Use existing mutations, such as
MergeRequest::Update
, when available. - Expose existing services as a coarse-grained mutation.
When a fine-grained mutation might be more appropriate:
- Modifying a property that requires specific permissions or other specialized logic.
- Exposing a state-machine-like transition (locking issues, merging MRs, closing epics, etc).
- Accepting nested properties (where we accept properties for a child object).
- The semantics of the mutation can be expressed clearly and concisely.
See issue #233063 for further context.
Naming conventions
Each mutation must define a graphql_name
, which is the name of the mutation in the GraphQL schema.
Example:
class UserUpdateMutation < BaseMutation
graphql_name 'UserUpdate'
end
Our GraphQL mutation names are historically inconsistent, but new mutation names should follow the
convention '{Resource}{Action}'
or '{Resource}{Action}{Attribute}'
.
Mutations that create new resources should use the verb Create
.
Example:
CommitCreate
Mutations that update data should use:
- The verb
Update
. - A domain-specific verb like
Set
,Add
, orToggle
if more appropriate.
Examples:
EpicTreeReorder
IssueSetWeight
IssueUpdate
TodoMarkDone
Mutations that remove data should use:
- The verb
Delete
rather thanDestroy
. - A domain-specific verb like
Remove
if more appropriate.
Examples:
AwardEmojiRemove
NoteDelete
If you need advice for mutation naming, canvass the Slack #graphql
channel for feedback.
Arguments
Arguments for a mutation are defined using argument
.
Example:
argument :my_arg, GraphQL::STRING_TYPE,
required: true,
description: "A description of the argument"
Each GraphQL argument
defined will be passed to the #resolve
method
of a mutation as keyword arguments.
Example:
def resolve(my_arg:)
# Perform mutation ...
end
graphql-ruby
will automatically wrap up arguments into an
input type.
For example, the
mergeRequestSetWip
mutation
defines these arguments (some
through inheritance):
argument :project_path, GraphQL::ID_TYPE,
required: true,
description: "The project the merge request to mutate is in"
argument :iid, GraphQL::STRING_TYPE,
required: true,
description: "The iid of the merge request to mutate"
argument :wip,
GraphQL::BOOLEAN_TYPE,
required: false,
description: <<~DESC
Whether or not to set the merge request as a WIP.
If not passed, the value will be toggled.
DESC
These arguments automatically generate an input type called
MergeRequestSetWipInput
with the 3 arguments we specified and the
clientMutationId
.
Object identifier arguments
In keeping with GitLab's use of Global IDs, mutation arguments should use Global IDs to identify an object and never database primary key IDs.
Where an object has an iid
, prefer to use the full_path
or group_path
of its parent in combination with its iid
as arguments to identify an
object rather than its id
.
Fields
In the most common situations, a mutation would return 2 fields:
- The resource being modified
- A list of errors explaining why the action could not be performed. If the mutation succeeded, this list would be empty.
By inheriting any new mutations from Mutations::BaseMutation
the
errors
field is automatically added. A clientMutationId
field is
also added, this can be used by the client to identify the result of a
single mutation when multiple are performed within a single request.
The resolve
method
The resolve
method receives the mutation's arguments as keyword arguments.
From here, we can call the service that will modify the resource.
The resolve
method should then return a hash with the same field
names as defined on the mutation including an errors
array. For example,
the Mutations::MergeRequests::SetWip
defines a merge_request
field:
field :merge_request,
Types::MergeRequestType,
null: true,
description: "The merge request after mutation"
This means that the hash returned from resolve
in this mutation
should look like this:
{
# The merge request modified, this will be wrapped in the type
# defined on the field
merge_request: merge_request,
# An array of strings if the mutation failed after authorization.
# The `errors_on_object` helper collects `errors.full_messages`
errors: errors_on_object(merge_request)
}
Mounting the mutation
To make the mutation available it must be defined on the mutation
type that lives in graphql/types/mutation_types
. The
mount_mutation
helper method will define a field based on the
GraphQL-name of the mutation:
module Types
class MutationType < BaseObject
include Gitlab::Graphql::MountMutation
graphql_name "Mutation"
mount_mutation Mutations::MergeRequests::SetWip
end
end
Will generate a field called mergeRequestSetWip
that
Mutations::MergeRequests::SetWip
to be resolved.
Authorizing resources
To authorize resources inside a mutation, we first provide the required abilities on the mutation like this:
module Mutations
module MergeRequests
class SetWip < Base
graphql_name 'MergeRequestSetWip'
authorize :update_merge_request
end
end
end
We can then call authorize!
in the resolve
method, passing in the resource we
want to validate the abilities for.
Alternatively, we can add a find_object
method that will load the
object on the mutation. This would allow you to use the
authorized_find!
helper method.
When a user is not allowed to perform the action, or an object is not
found, we should raise a
Gitlab::Graphql::Errors::ResourceNotAvailable
error. Which will be
correctly rendered to the clients.
Errors in mutations
We encourage following the practice of errors as data for mutations, which distinguishes errors by who they are relevant to, defined by who can deal with them.
Key points:
- All mutation responses have an
errors
field. This should be populated on failure, and may be populated on success. - Consider who needs to see the error: the user or the developer.
- Clients should always request the
errors
field when performing mutations. - Errors may be reported to users either at
$root.errors
(top-level error) or at$root.data.mutationName.errors
(mutation errors). The location depends on what kind of error this is, and what information it holds.
Consider an example mutation doTheThing
that returns a response with
two fields: errors: [String]
, and thing: ThingType
. The specific nature of
the thing
itself is irrelevant to these examples, as we are considering the
errors.
There are three states a mutation response can be in:
Success
In the happy path, errors may be returned, along with the anticipated payload, but
if everything was successful, then errors
should be an empty array, since
there are no problems we need to inform the user of.
{
data: {
doTheThing: {
errors: [] // if successful, this array will generally be empty.
thing: { .. }
}
}
}
Failure (relevant to the user)
An error that affects the user occurred. We refer to these as mutation errors. In
this case there is typically no thing
to return:
{
data: {
doTheThing: {
errors: ["you cannot touch the thing"],
thing: null
}
}
}
Examples of this include:
- Model validation errors: the user may need to change the inputs.
- Permission errors: the user needs to know they cannot do this, they may need to request permission or sign in.
- Problems with application state that prevent the user's action, for example: merge conflicts, the resource was locked, and so on.
Ideally, we should prevent the user from getting this far, but if they do, they need to be told what is wrong, so they understand the reason for the failure and what they can do to achieve their intent, even if that is as simple as retrying the request.
It is possible to return recoverable errors alongside mutation data. For example, if a user uploads 10 files and 3 of them fail and the rest succeed, the errors for the failures can be made available to the user, alongside the information about the successes.
Failure (irrelevant to the user)
One or more non-recoverable errors can be returned at the top level. These
are things over which the user has little to no control, and should mainly
be system or programming problems, that a developer needs to know about.
In this case there is no data
:
{
errors: [
{"message": "argument error: expected an integer, got null"},
]
}
This is the result of raising an error during the mutation. In our implementation,
the messages of argument errors and validation errors are returned to the client, and all other
StandardError
instances are caught, logged and presented to the client with the message set to "Internal server error"
.
See GraphqlController
for details.
These represent programming errors, such as:
- A GraphQL syntax error, where an
Int
was passed instead of aString
, or a required argument was not present. - Errors in our schema, such as being unable to provide a value for a non-nullable field.
- System errors: for example, a Git storage exception, or database unavailability.
The user should not be able to cause such errors in regular usage. This category of errors should be treated as internal, and not shown to the user in specific detail.
We need to inform the user when the mutation fails, but we do not need to tell them why, since they cannot have caused it, and nothing they can do will fix it, although we may offer to retry the mutation.
Categorizing errors
When we write mutations, we need to be conscious about which of these two categories an error state falls into (and communicate about this with frontend developers to verify our assumptions). This means distinguishing the needs of the user from the needs of the client.
Never catch an error unless the user needs to know about it.
If the user does need to know about it, communicate with frontend developers to make sure the error information we are passing back is useful.
See also the frontend GraphQL guide.
Aliasing and deprecating mutations
The #mount_aliased_mutation
helper allows us to alias a mutation as
another name within MutationType
.
For example, to alias a mutation called FooMutation
as BarMutation
:
mount_aliased_mutation 'BarMutation', Mutations::FooMutation
This allows us to rename a mutation and continue to support the old name,
when coupled with the deprecated
argument.
Example:
mount_aliased_mutation 'UpdateFoo',
Mutations::Foo::Update,
deprecated: { reason: 'Use fooUpdate', milestone: '13.2' }
Deprecated mutations should be added to Types::DeprecatedMutations
and
tested for within the unit test of Types::MutationType
. The merge request
!34798
can be referred to as an example of this, including the method of testing
deprecated aliased mutations.
Deprecating EE mutations
EE mutations should follow the same process. For an example of the merge request process, read merge request !42588.
Pagination implementation
To learn more, visit GraphQL pagination.
Validating arguments
For validations of single arguments, use the
prepare
option
as normal.
Sometimes a mutation or resolver may accept a number of optional
arguments, but we still want to validate that at least one of the optional
arguments is provided. In this situation, consider using the #ready?
method within your mutation or resolver to provide the validation. The
#ready?
method will be called before any work is done within the
#resolve
method.
Example:
def ready?(**args)
if args.values_at(:body, :position).compact.blank?
raise Gitlab::Graphql::Errors::ArgumentError,
'body or position arguments are required'
end
# Always remember to call `#super`
super
end
In the future this may be able to be done using InputUnions
if
this RFC
is merged.
GitLab's custom scalars
Types::TimeType
Types::TimeType
must be used as the type for all fields and arguments that deal with Ruby
Time
and DateTime
objects.
The type is a custom scalar that:
- Converts Ruby's
Time
andDateTime
objects into standardized ISO-8601 formatted strings, when used as the type for our GraphQL fields. - Converts ISO-8601 formatted time strings into Ruby
Time
objects, when used as the type for our GraphQL arguments.
This allows our GraphQL API to have a standardized way that it presents time and handles time inputs.
Example:
field :created_at, Types::TimeType, null: true, description: 'Timestamp of when the issue was created'
Testing
full stack tests for a graphql query or mutation live in
spec/requests/api/graphql
.
When adding a query, the a working graphql query
shared example can
be used to test if the query renders valid results.
Using the GraphqlHelpers#all_graphql_fields_for
-helper, a query
including all available fields can be constructed. This makes it easy
to add a test rendering all possible fields for a query.
If you're adding a field to a query that supports pagination and sorting, visit Testing for details.
To test GraphQL mutation requests, GraphqlHelpers
provides 2
helpers: graphql_mutation
which takes the name of the mutation, and
a hash with the input for the mutation. This will return a struct with
a mutation query, and prepared variables.
This struct can then be passed to the post_graphql_mutation
helper,
that will post the request with the correct parameters, like a GraphQL
client would do.
To access the response of a mutation, the graphql_mutation_response
helper is available.
Using these helpers, we can build specs like this:
let(:mutation) do
graphql_mutation(
:merge_request_set_wip,
project_path: 'gitlab-org/gitlab-foss',
iid: '1',
wip: true
)
end
it 'returns a successful response' do
post_graphql_mutation(mutation, current_user: user)
expect(response).to have_gitlab_http_status(:success)
expect(graphql_mutation_response(:merge_request_set_wip)['errors']).to be_empty
end
Testing tips and tricks
-
Avoid false positives:
Authenticating a user with the
current_user:
argument forpost_graphql
generates more queries on the first request than on subsequent requests on that same user. If you are testing for N+1 queries using QueryRecorder, use a different user for each request.The below example shows how a test for avoiding N+1 queries should look:
RSpec.describe 'Query.project(fullPath).pipelines' do include GraphqlHelpers let(:project) { create(:project) } let(:query) do %( { project(fullPath: "#{project.full_path}") { pipelines { nodes { id } } } } ) end it 'avoids N+1 queries' do first_user = create(:user) second_user = create(:user) create(:ci_pipeline, project: project) control_count = ActiveRecord::QueryRecorder.new do post_graphql(query, current_user: first_user) end create(:ci_pipeline, project: project) expect do post_graphql(query, current_user: second_user) # use a different user to avoid a false positive from authentication queries end.not_to exceed_query_limit(control_count) end end
-
Mimic the folder structure of
app/graphql/types
:For example, tests for fields on
Types::Ci::PipelineType
inapp/graphql/types/ci/pipeline_type.rb
should live inspec/requests/api/graphql/ci/pipeline_spec.rb
regardless of the query being used to fetch the pipeline data.
Notes about Query flow and GraphQL infrastructure
GitLab's GraphQL infrastructure can be found in lib/gitlab/graphql
.
Instrumentation is functionality
that wraps around a query being executed. It is implemented as a module that uses the Instrumentation
class.
Example: Present
module Gitlab
module Graphql
module Present
#... some code above...
def self.use(schema_definition)
schema_definition.instrument(:field, ::Gitlab::Graphql::Present::Instrumentation.new)
end
end
end
end
A Query Analyzer contains a series of callbacks to validate queries before they are executed. Each field can pass through the analyzer, and the final value is also available to you.
Multiplex queries enable multiple queries to be sent in a single request. This reduces the number of requests sent to the server. (there are custom Multiplex Query Analyzers and Multiplex Instrumentation provided by GraphQL Ruby).
Query limits
Queries and mutations are limited by depth, complexity, and recursion to protect server resources from overly ambitious or malicious queries. These values can be set as defaults and overridden in specific queries as needed. The complexity values can be set per object as well, and the final query complexity is evaluated based on how many objects are being returned. This is useful for objects that are expensive (e.g. requiring Gitaly calls).
For example, a conditional complexity method in a resolver:
def self.resolver_complexity(args, child_complexity:)
complexity = super
complexity += 2 if args[:labelName]
complexity
end
More about complexity: GraphQL Ruby documentation.
Documentation and schema
Our schema is located at app/graphql/gitlab_schema.rb
.
See the schema reference for details.
This generated GraphQL documentation needs to be updated when the schema changes. For information on generating GraphQL documentation and schema files, see updating the schema documentation.
To help our readers, you should also add a new page to our GraphQL API documentation. For guidance, see the GraphQL API page.
Include a changelog entry
All client-facing changes must include a changelog entry.