v5 (latest)FeaturesPersisted Operations

Persisted Operations

Persisted operations is a mechanism for preventing the execution of arbitrary GraphQL operation documents. By default, the persisted operations plugin follows the the APQ Specification for SENDING hashes to the server.

However, you can customize the protocol to comply to other implementations e.g. used by Relay persisted queries.

change this behavior by overriding the getPersistedOperationKey option to support Relay’s specification for example.

Quick Start

Persisted operations requires installing a separate package.

npm i @graphql-yoga/plugin-persisted-operations
Persisted operation setup
import { createServer } from 'node:http'
import { createSchema, createYoga } from 'graphql-yoga'
import { usePersistedOperations } from '@graphql-yoga/plugin-persisted-operations'
 
const store = {
  ecf4edb46db40b5132295c0291d62fb65d6759a9eedfa4d5d612dd5ec54a6b38: '{__typename}'
}
 
const yoga = createYoga({
  schema: createSchema({
    typeDefs: /* GraphQL */ `
      type Query {
        hello: String!
      }
    `
  }),
  plugins: [
    usePersistedOperations({
      getPersistedOperation(sha256Hash: string) {
        return store[sha256Hash]
      }
    })
  ]
})
 
const server = createServer(yoga)
server.listen(4000, () => {
  console.info('Server is running on http://localhost:4000/graphql')
})

Start your yoga server and send the following request.

Execute persisted GraphQL operation
curl -X POST -H 'Content-Type: application/json' http://localhost:4000/graphql \
  -d '{"extensions":{"persistedQuery":{"version":1,"sha256Hash":"ecf4edb46db40b5132295c0291d62fb65d6759a9eedfa4d5d612dd5ec54a6b38"}}}'
 
{"data":{"__typename":"Query"}}

As you can see, the persisted operations plugin is able to execute the operation without the need to send the full operation document.

If you now sent a normal GraphQL operation that is not within the store, it will be rejected.

Arbitary GraphQL operation
curl -X POST -H 'Content-Type: application/json' http://localhost:4000/graphql \
  -d '{"query": "{__typename}"}'
 
{"errors":[{"message":"PersistedQueryOnly"}]}

Extracting client operations

The recommended way of extracting the persisted operations from your client is to use GraphQL Code Generator.

You can learn more about persisted operations with the client preset on the GraphQL Code Generator documentation.

There is also a full code example using GraphQL Yoga available on GitHub.

For people not using the client-preset the is also the standalone graphql-codegen-persisted-query-ids plugin for extracting a map of persisted query ids and their corresponding GraphQL documents from your application/client-code in a JSON file.

Example map extracted by GraphQL Code Generator
{
  "ecf4edb46db40b5132295c0291d62fb65d6759a9eedfa4d5d612dd5ec54a6b38": "{__typename}",
  "c7a30a69b731d1af42a4ba02f2fa7a5771b6c44dcafb7c3e5fa4232c012bf5e7": "mutation {__typename}"
}

This map can then be used to persist the GraphQL documents in the server.

Use JSON file from filesystem as the persisted operation store
import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs'
import { createServer } from 'node:http'
import { createSchema, createYoga } from 'graphql-yoga'
import { usePersistedOperations } from '@graphql-yoga/plugin-persisted-operations'
 
const persistedOperations = JSON.parse(readFileSync('./persistedOperations.json', 'utf-8'))
 
const yoga = createYoga({
  schema: createSchema({
    typeDefs: /* GraphQL */ `
      type Query {
        hello: String!
      }
    `
  }),
  plugins: [
    usePersistedOperations({
      getPersistedOperation(key: string) {
        return persistedOperations[key]
      }
    })
  ]
})
 
const server = createServer(yoga)
server.listen(4000, () => {
  console.info('Server is running on http://localhost:4000/graphql')
})

Sending the hash from the client

The persisted operations plugin follows the the APQ Specification of Apollo for SENDING hashes to the server.

GraphQL clients such Apollo Client and Urql support that out of the box.

Urql and GraphQL Code Generator

When using the GraphQL Code Generator client preset together with urql, sending the hashes is straight-forward using the @urql/exchange-persisted package.

💡

When you are using the urql graph cache you need to ensure the __typename selections are added to your GraphQL documents selection set.

Please refer to the GraphQL Code Generator client preset documentation for normalized caches for more information.

Urql Client Configuration
import { cacheExchange, createClient } from '@urql/core'
import { persistedExchange } from '@urql/exchange-persisted'
 
const client = new createClient({
  url: 'YOUR_GRAPHQL_ENDPOINT',
  exchanges: [
    cacheExchange,
    persistedExchange({
      enforcePersistedQueries: true,
      enableForMutation: true,
      generateHash: async (_, document) => document['__meta__']['hash']
    })
  ]
})

More information on @urql/exchange-persisted on the the urql documentation)

Apollo Client and GraphQL Code Generator

When using the GraphQL Code Generator client preset together with Apollo Client, sending the hashes is straight-forward.

💡

When you are using the urql graph cache you need to ensure the __typename selections are added to your GraphQL documents selection set.

Please refer to the GraphQL Code Generator client preset documentation for normalized caches for more information.

Apollo Client Configuration
import { ApolloClient, HttpLink, InMemoryCache } from '@apollo/client'
import { createPersistedQueryLink } from '@apollo/client/link/persisted-queries'
 
const link = createPersistedQueryLink({
  generateHash: document => document['__meta__']['hash']
})
 
const client = new ApolloClient({
  cache: new InMemoryCache(),
  link: link.concat(new HttpLink({ uri: '/graphql' }))
})

More information on the Apollo Client documentation

Using parsed GraphQL documents as AST

You can reduce the amount of work the server has to do by using the parsed GraphQL documents as AST.

Use parsed GraphQL documents as AST
import { parse } from 'graphql'
import {
  PersistedOperationType,
  usePersistedOperations
} from '@graphql-yoga/plugin-persisted-operations'
 
const persistedOperations = {
  'my-key': parse(/* GraphQL */ `
    query {
      __typename
    }
  `)
}
 
const plugin = usePersistedOperations({
  getPersistedOperation(key: string) {
    return persistedOperations[key]
  }
})

Skipping validation of persisted operations

If you validate your persisted operations while building your store, we recommend to skip the validation on the server. So this will reduce the work done by the server and the latency of the requests.

Validate persisted operations
const plugin = usePersistedOperations({
  //...
  skipDocumentValidation: true
})

Using AST and skipping validations will reduce the amount of work the server has to do, so the requests will have less latency.

Allowing arbitrary GraphQL operations

Sometimes it is handy to allow non-persisted operations aside from the persisted ones. E.g. you want to allow developers to execute arbitrary GraphQL operations on your production server.

This can be achieved using the allowArbitraryOperations option.

Allow arbitrary GraphQL operations
const plugin = usePersistedOperations({
  allowArbitraryOperations: request =>
    request.headers.request.headers.get('x-allow-arbitrary-operations') === 'true'
})

Use this option with caution!

Using Relay’s Persisted Queries Specification

If you are using Relay’s Persisted Queries specification, you can configure the plugin like below;

Relay Persisted Queries example
import { createYoga, createSchema } from 'graphql-yoga'
import { createServer } from 'node:http'
import { usePersistedOperations } from '@graphql-yoga/plugin-persisted-operations'
 
const store = {
  ecf4edb46db40b5132295c0291d62fb65d6759a9eedfa4d5d612dd5ec54a6b38:
    '{__typename}'
}
 
const yoga = createYoga({
    schema: createSchema({
    typeDefs: /* GraphQL */ `
      type Query {
        hello: String!
      }
    `
  }),
  plugins: [
    usePersistedOperations({
      extractPersistedOperationId(params: GraphqlParams & { doc_id?: unknown }) {
        return typeof params.doc_id === 'string' ? params.doc_id : null
      }
      getPersistedOperation(key: string) {
        return store[key]
      },
    }),
  ],
})
 
const server = createServer(yoga)
server.listen(4000, () => {
    console.info('Server is running on http://localhost:4000/graphql')
})

Advanced persisted operation id Extraction from HTTP Request

You can extract the persisted operation id from the request using the extractPersistedOperationId

Query Parameters Recipe

Extract persisted operation id from query parameters
import { createServer } from 'node:http'
import { createSchema, createYoga } from 'graphql-yoga'
import { usePersistedOperations } from '@graphql-yoga/plugin-persisted-operations'
 
const store = {
  ecf4edb46db40b5132295c0291d62fb65d6759a9eedfa4d5d612dd5ec54a6b38: '{__typename}'
}
 
const yoga = createYoga({
  schema: createSchema({
    typeDefs: /* GraphQL */ `
      type Query {
        hello: String!
      }
    `
  }),
  plugins: [
    usePersistedOperations({
      getPersistedOperation(sha256Hash: string) {
        return store[sha256Hash]
      },
      extractPersistedOperationId(_params, request) {
        const url = new URL(request.url)
        return url.searchParams.get('id')
      }
    })
  ]
})
 
const server = createServer(yoga)
server.listen(4000, () => {
  console.info('Server is running on http://localhost:4000/graphql')
})

Header Recipe

You can also use the request headers to extract the persisted operation id.

Extract persisted operation id from headers
import { createServer } from 'node:http'
import { createSchema, createYoga } from 'graphql-yoga'
import { usePersistedOperations } from '@graphql-yoga/plugin-persisted-operations'
 
const store = {
  ecf4edb46db40b5132295c0291d62fb65d6759a9eedfa4d5d612dd5ec54a6b38: '{__typename}'
}
 
const yoga = createYoga({
  schema: createSchema({
    typeDefs: /* GraphQL */ `
      type Query {
        hello: String!
      }
    `
  }),
  plugins: [
    usePersistedOperations({
      getPersistedOperation(sha256Hash: string) {
        return store[sha256Hash]
      },
      extractPersistedOperationId(_params, request) {
        return request.headers.get('x-document-id')
      }
    })
  ]
})
 
const server = createServer(yoga)
server.listen(4000, () => {
  console.info('Server is running on http://localhost:4000/graphql')
})

Path Recipe

You can also the the request path to extract the persisted operation id. This requires you to also customize the GraphQL endpoint. The underlying implementation for the URL matching is powered by the URL Pattern API.

This combination is powerful as it allows you to use the persisted operation id as it can easily be combined with any type of HTTP proxy cache.

Extract persisted operation id from path
import { createServer } from 'node:http'
import { createSchema, createYoga } from 'graphql-yoga'
import { usePersistedOperations } from '@graphql-yoga/plugin-persisted-operations'
 
const store = {
  ecf4edb46db40b5132295c0291d62fb65d6759a9eedfa4d5d612dd5ec54a6b38: '{__typename}'
}
 
const yoga = createYoga({
  graphqlEndpoint: '/graphql/:document_id?',
  schema: createSchema({
    typeDefs: /* GraphQL */ `
      type Query {
        hello: String!
      }
    `
  }),
  plugins: [
    usePersistedOperations({
      getPersistedOperation(sha256Hash: string) {
        return store[sha256Hash]
      },
      extractPersistedOperationId(_params, request) {
        return request.url.split('/graphql/').pop() ?? null
      }
    })
  ]
})
 
const server = createServer(yoga)
server.listen(4000, () => {
  console.info('Server is running on http://localhost:4000/graphql')
})

Using an external Persisted Operation Store

As a project grows the amount of GraphQL Clients and GraphQL Operations can grow a lot. At some point it might become impractible to store all persisted operations in memory.

In such a scenario you can use an external persisted operation store.

You can return a Promise from the getPersistedOperation function and call any database or external service to retrieve the persisted operation.

💡

For the best performance a mixture of an LRU in-memory store and external persisted operation store is recommended.

Use external persisted operation store
import { createServer } from 'node:http'
import { createYoga } from 'graphql-yoga'
import { usePersistedOperations } from '@graphql-yoga/plugin-persisted-operations'
 
const yoga = createYoga({
  plugins: [
    usePersistedOperations({
      async getPersistedOperation(key: string) {
        return await fetch(`https://localhost:9999/document/${key}`).then(res => res.json())
      }
    })
  ]
})
 
const server = createServer(yoga)
server.listen(4000, () => {
  console.info('Server is running on http://localhost:4000/graphql')
})

Using multiple Persisted Operation Stores

You can vary the persisted operations store you read from by switching based on the request.

An example of this may be to use request headers.

Use parsed GraphQL documents as AST
import { parse } from 'graphql'
import {
  PersistedOperationType,
  usePersistedOperations
} from '@graphql-yoga/plugin-persisted-operations'
 
const persistedOperationsStores = {
  ClientOne: {
    'my-key': parse(/* GraphQL */ `
      query {
        __typename
      }
    `)
  }
}
 
const plugin = usePersistedOperations({
  getPersistedOperation(key: string, request: Request) {
    const store = persistedOperationsStores[request.headers.get('client-name')]
    return (store && store[key]) || null
  }
})

Customize errors

This plugin can throw three different types of errors::

  • PersistedOperationNotFound: The persisted operation cannot be found.
  • PersistedOperationKeyNotFound: The persistence key cannot be extracted from the request.
  • PersistedOperationOnly: An arbitrary operation is rejected because only persisted operations are allowed.

Each error can be customized to change the HTTP status or add a translation message ID, for example.

Customize errors
import { createServer } from 'node:http'
import { createYoga } from 'graphql-yoga'
import { usePersistedOperations } from '@graphql-yoga/plugin-persisted-operations'
import { CustomErrorClass } from './custom-error-class'
 
const yoga = createYoga({
  plugins: [
    usePersistedOperations({
      customErrors: {
        // You can change the error message
        notFound: 'Not Found',
        // Or customize the error with a GraphqlError options object, allowing you to add extensions
        keyNotFound: {
          message: 'Key Not Found',
          extensions: {
            http: {
              status: 404
            }
          }
        },
        // Or customize with a factory function allowing you to use your own error class or format
        persistedQueryOnly: () => {
          return new CustomErrorClass('Only Persisted Operations are allowed')
        }
      }
    })
  ]
})
 
const server = createServer(yoga)
server.listen(4000, () => {
  console.info('Server is running on http://localhost:4000/graphql')
})
Response CachingAutomatic Persisted Queries