Using GraphQL with Node.js

Create a basic Express server

First we create a basic server in Node using Express:

import express from "express";

app.get("/", (req, res) => {
  res.send("Graph QL test project");
});

app.listen(8080, () =>
  console.log("Running server on port localhost:8080/graphql")
);

Add GraphQL as middlewear

Next we introduce GraphQL as a piece of Node.js middlewear, with the app.use() method.

import { graphqlHTTP } from "express-graphql";

app.use(
  "/graphql",
  graphqlHTTP({
    schema: schema,
    rootValue: resolvers,
    graphiql: true,
  })
);
  • schema is a reference to our GraphQL schema - the structure of the fields that define our server.
  • rootValue is a reference to our resolvers.
  • graphiql is the GUI tool that will be served from the GraphQL endpoint at localhost:8080/graphql. This tool enables us to interrogate our data using the defined schema and see what data we would get back from frontend queries.
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