📡 GraphQL Request Module

Easy Minimal GraphQL client integration with Nuxt.js.

Features

Most simple and lightweight GraphQL client.
Promise-based API (works with async / await).
Typescript support.
AST support.
GraphQL Loader support.

Setup

npx nuxi@latest module add graphql-request

For Nuxt2, use nuxt-graphql-request v6:


yarn add nuxt-graphql-request@v6 graphql --dev

nuxt.config.js

module.exports = {
  modules: ['nuxt-graphql-request'],

  build: {
    transpile: ['nuxt-graphql-request'],
  },

  graphql: {
    /**
     * An Object of your GraphQL clients
     */
    clients: {
      default: {
        /**
         * The client endpoint url
         */
        endpoint: 'https://swapi-graphql.netlify.com/.netlify/functions/index',
        /**
         * Per-client options overrides
         * See: https://github.com/prisma-labs/graphql-request#passing-more-options-to-fetch
         */
        options: {},
      },
      secondClient: {
        // ...client config
      },
      // ...your other clients
    },

    /**
     * Options
     * See: https://github.com/prisma-labs/graphql-request#passing-more-options-to-fetch
     */
    options: {
      method: 'get', // Default to `POST`
    },

    /**
     * Optional
     * default: false (this includes graphql-tag for node_modules folder)
     */
    includeNodeModules: true,
  },
};

Runtime Config

If you need to supply your endpoints at runtime, rather than build time, you can use the Runtime Config to provide your values:

nuxt.config.js

module.exports = {
  publicRuntimeConfig: {
    graphql: {
      clients: {
        default: {
          endpoint: '<client endpoint>',
        },
        secondClient: {
          endpoint: '<client endpoint>',
        },
        // ...more clients
      },
    },
  },
};

TypeScript

Type definitions should work out-of-the-box. You should already have Typescript set up to extend Nuxt's auto-generated config. If not, you can start here:

tsconfig.json

{
  "extends": "./.nuxt/tsconfig.json"
}

`useAsyncData`

<script setup>
import { gql } from 'nuxt-graphql-request/utils';

const { $graphql } = useNuxtApp();

const query = gql`
  query planets {
    allPlanets {
      planets {
        id
        name
      }
    }
  }
`;

const { data: planets } = await useAsyncData('planets', async () => {
  const data = await $graphql.default.request(query);
  return data.allPlanets.planets;
});
</script>

User-defined functions

<script setup>
import { gql } from 'nuxt-graphql-request/utils';

const { $graphql } = useNuxtApp();

const query = gql`
  query planets {
    allPlanets {
      planets {
        id
        name
      }
    }
  }
`;

const planets = ref([])

const fetchPlanets = () => {
  const data = await $graphql.default.request(query);
  planets.value = data.allPlanets.planets;
}
</script>

Store actions

import { defineStore } from 'pinia';
import { gql } from 'nuxt-graphql-request/utils';
import { useNuxtApp } from '#imports';

type Planet = { id: number; name: string };

export const useMainStore = defineStore('main', {
  state: () => ({
    planets: null as Planet[] | null,
  }),
  actions: {
    async fetchAllPlanets() {
      const query = gql`
        query planets {
          allPlanets {
            planets {
              id
              name
            }
          }
        }
      `;

      const data = await useNuxtApp().$graphql.default.request(query);
      this.planets = data.allPlanets.planets;
    },
  },
});

GraphQL Request Client

Examples from the official graphql-request library.

Authentication via HTTP header

nuxt.config.ts

export default defineNuxtConfig({
  graphql: {
    clients: {
      default: {
        endpoint: 'https://swapi-graphql.netlify.com/.netlify/functions/index',
        options: {
          headers: {
            authorization: 'Bearer MY_TOKEN',
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
});

Incrementally setting headers

If you want to set headers after the GraphQLClient has been initialised, you can use the setHeader() or setHeaders() functions.

const { $graphql } = useNuxtApp();

// Override all existing headers
$graphql.default.setHeaders({ authorization: 'Bearer MY_TOKEN' });

// Set a single header
$graphql.default.setHeader('authorization', 'Bearer MY_TOKEN');

Set endpoint

If you want to change the endpoint after the GraphQLClient has been initialised, you can use the setEndpoint() function.

const { $graphql } = useNuxtApp();

$graphql.default.setEndpoint(newEndpoint);

passing-headers-in-each-request

It is possible to pass custom headers for each request. request() and rawRequest() accept a header object as the third parameter

<script setup>
import { gql } from 'nuxt-graphql-request/utils';

const { $graphql } = useNuxtApp();

const requestHeaders = {
  authorization: 'Bearer MY_TOKEN',
};

const planets = ref();

const fetchSomething = async () => {
  const query = gql`
    query planets {
      allPlanets {
        planets {
          id
          name
        }
      }
    }
  `;

  // Overrides the clients headers with the passed values
  const data = await $graphql.default.request(query, {}, requestHeaders);
  planets.value = data.allPlanets.planets;
};
</script>

Passing more options to `fetch`

nuxt.config.ts

export default defineNuxtConfig({
  graphql: {
    clients: {
      default: {
        endpoint: 'https://swapi-graphql.netlify.com/.netlify/functions/index',
        options: {
          credentials: 'include',
          mode: 'cors',
        },
      },
    },
  },
});

Or using setHeaders / setHeader:

const { $graphql } = useNuxtApp();

// Set a single header
$graphql.default.setHeader('credentials', 'include');
$graphql.default.setHeader('mode', 'cors');

// Override all existing headers
$graphql.default.setHeaders({
  credentials: 'include',
  mode: 'cors',
});

Using GraphQL Document variables

<script setup>
import { gql } from 'nuxt-graphql-request/utils';

const { $graphql } = useNuxtApp();

const fetchSomething = async () => {
  const query = gql`
    query planets($first: Int) {
      allPlanets(first: $first) {
        planets {
          id
          name
        }
      }
    }
  `;

  const variables = { first: 10 };

  const planets = await this.$graphql.default.request(query, variables);
};
</script>

Error handling

<script setup>
import { gql } from 'nuxt-graphql-request/utils';

const { $graphql } = useNuxtApp();

const fetchSomething = async () => {
  const mutation = gql`
    mutation AddMovie($title: String!, $releaseDate: Int!) {
      insert_movies_one(object: { title: $title, releaseDate: $releaseDate }) {
        title
        releaseDate
      }
    }
  `;

  const variables = {
    title: 'Inception',
    releaseDate: 2010,
  };

  const data = await $graphql.default.request(mutation, variables);
};
</script>

GraphQL Mutations

<script setup>
import { gql } from 'nuxt-graphql-request/utils';

const { $graphql } = useNuxtApp();

const fetchSomething = async () => {
  const query = gql`
    {
      Movie(title: "Inception") {
        releaseDate
        actors {
          fullname # "Cannot query field 'fullname' on type 'Actor'. Did you mean 'name'?"
        }
      }
    }
  `;

  try {
    const data = await $graphql.default.request(query);
    console.log(JSON.stringify(data, undefined, 2));
  } catch (error) {
    console.error(JSON.stringify(error, undefined, 2));
    process.exit(1);
  }
};
</script>

Receiving a raw response

The request method will return the data or errors key from the response. If you need to access the extensions key you can use the rawRequest method:

import { gql } from 'nuxt-graphql-request/utils';

const { $graphql } = useNuxtApp();

const query = gql`
  query planets($first: Int) {
    allPlanets(first: $first) {
      planets {
        id
        name
      }
    }
  }
`;

const variables = { first: 10 };

const { data, errors, extensions, headers, status } = await $graphql.default.rawRequest(
  endpoint,
  query,
  variables
);
console.log(JSON.stringify({ data, errors, extensions, headers, status }, undefined, 2));

Batch queries

<script setup>
const { $graphql } = useNuxtApp();

const fetchSomething = async () => {
  const query1 = /* GraphQL */ `
    query ($id: ID!) {
      capsule(id: $id) {
        id
        landings
      }
    }
  `;

  const variables1 = {
    id: 'C105',
  };

  const query2 = /* GraphQL */ `
    {
      rockets(limit: 10) {
        active
      }
    }
  `;

  const query3 = /* GraphQL */ `
    query ($id: ID!) {
      core(id: $id) {
        id
        block
        original_launch
      }
    }
  `;

  const variables3 = {
    id: 'B1015',
  };

  try {
    const data = await $graphql.default.batchRequests([
      { document: query1, variables: variables1 },
      { document: query2 },
      { document: query3, variables: variables3 },
    ]);

    console.log(JSON.stringify(data, undefined, 2));
  } catch (error) {
    console.error(JSON.stringify(error, undefined, 2));
    process.exit(1);
  }
};
</script>

Cancellation

It is possible to cancel a request using an AbortController signal.

<script setup>
import { gql } from 'nuxt-graphql-request/utils';

const { $graphql } = useNuxtApp();

const fetchSomething = async () => {
  const query = gql`
    query planets {
      allPlanets {
        planets {
          id
          name
        }
      }
    }
  `;

  const abortController = new AbortController();

  const planets = await $graphql.default.request({
    document: query,
    signal: abortController.signal,
  });

  abortController.abort();
};
</script>

In Node environment, AbortController is supported since version v14.17.0. For Node.js v12 you can use abort-controller polyfill.

import 'abort-controller/polyfill';

const abortController = new AbortController();

Middleware

It's possible to use a middleware to pre-process any request or handle raw response.

Request & response middleware example (set actual auth token to each request & log request trace id if error caused):

function requestMiddleware(request: RequestInit) {
  const token = getToken();
  return {
    ...request,
    headers: { ...request.headers, 'x-auth-token': token },
  };
}

function responseMiddleware(response: Response<unknown>) {
  if (response.errors) {
    const traceId = response.headers.get('x-b3-traceid') || 'unknown';
    console.error(
      `[${traceId}] Request error:
        status ${response.status}
        details: ${response.errors}`
    );
  }
}

export default defineNuxtConfig({
  modules: ['nuxt-graphql-request'],

  graphql: {
    /**
     * An Object of your GraphQL clients
     */
    clients: {
      default: {
        /**
         * The client endpoint url
         */
        endpoint: 'https://swapi-graphql.netlify.com/.netlify/functions/index',
        /**
         * Per-client options overrides
         * See: https://github.com/prisma-labs/graphql-request#passing-more-options-to-fetch
         */
        options: {
          requestMiddleware: requestMiddleware,
          responseMiddleware: responseMiddleware,
        },
      },

      // ...your other clients
    },

    /**
     * Options
     * See: https://github.com/prisma-labs/graphql-request#passing-more-options-to-fetch
     */
    options: {
      method: 'get', // Default to `POST`
    },

    /**
     * Optional
     * default: false (this includes graphql-tag for node_modules folder)
     */
    includeNodeModules: true,
  },
});

FAQ

Why use `nuxt-graphql-request` over `@nuxtjs/apollo`?

Don't get me wrong, Apollo Client is great and well maintained by the vue / nuxt community, I used Apollo Client for 18months before switching to graphql-request.

However, as I am obsessed with performances, Apollo Client doesn't work for me at all:

I don't need another state management as the Vue ecosystem is enough (Vuex & Persisted data).
I don't need an extra ~120kb parsed in my app for fetching my data.
I don't need subscriptions as I use pusher.com, there are also alternatives for a WS client: http://github.com/lunchboxer/graphql-subscriptions-client

Why do I have to install `graphql`?

graphql-request uses a TypeScript type from the graphql package such that if you are using TypeScript to build your project and you are using graphql-request but don't have graphql installed TypeScript build will fail. Details here. If you are a JS user then you do not technically need to install graphql. However, if you use an IDE that picks up TS types even for JS (like VSCode) then it's still in your interest to install graphql so that you can benefit from enhanced type safety during development.