Introduction to GraphQL Code Generator#

GraphQL Code Generator is a tool for generating code out of a GraphQL schema and GraphQL operations (query / mutation / subscription).

You can use GraphQL Code Generator in many development environments - it can integrate with your project, or just act as a utility tool.

When developers use GraphQL, they often need a way to integrate the GraphQL language (called GraphQL SDL) with their development platform (for example: if you are working in a TypeScript project, you can generate typings based on your GraphQL schema or operations, to leverage type-safety).

GraphQL Code Generator was built to address exactly that. By analyzing and parsing the GraphQL schema and operations, GraphQL Code Generator can output code at a wide variety of formats, based on pre-defined plugins or based on custom user-defined ones.

Regardless of the language/environment that you're using, GraphQL Code Generator got you covered.

Integration example with TypeScript#

Codegen flow example

For example, given the following GraphQL schema:

# schema.graphql

type Author {
  id: Int!
  firstName: String!
  lastName: String!
  posts(findTitle: String): [Post]
}

type Post {
  id: Int!
  title: String!
  author: Author!
}

type Query {
  posts: [Post]
}

And with the following codegen.yml configuration file:

# codegen.yml
schema: schema.graphql
generates:
  types.ts:
    plugins:
      - @graphql-codegen/typescript

So now, GraphQL Code Generator, with the @graphql-codegen/typescript plugin can generate the following TypeScript typings file:

export type Maybe<T> = T | null
export type InputMaybe<T> = Maybe<T>

// ...

/** All built-in and custom scalars, mapped to their actual values */
export type Scalars = {
  ID: string
  String: string
  Boolean: boolean
  Int: number
  Float: number
}

export type Author = {
  __typename?: 'Author'
  id: Scalars['Int']
  firstName: Scalars['String']
  lastName: Scalars['String']
  posts?: Maybe<Array<Maybe<Post>>>
}

export type AuthorPostsArgs = {
  findTitle?: InputMaybe<Scalars['String']>
}

export type Post = {
  __typename?: 'Post'
  id: Scalars['Int']
  title: Scalars['String']
  author: Author
}

export type Query = {
  __typename?: 'Query'
  posts?: Maybe<Array<Maybe<Post>>>
}

What's next?#

Start by installing GraphQL Code Generator in your project, and use the basic plugins to generate some code.

You can go over the list of available plugins and find more plugins that matches your needs.

If you are having issues, you can reach us this the following:

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