⚠️

Warning

This is the documentation for the old GraphQL Yoga v2.
We recommend upgrading to the latest GraphQL Yoga v5. Migrate to GraphQL Yoga v5.

Integration with Nest

NestJS is a progressive Node.js framework for building efficient, reliable and scalable server-side applications.

GraphQL Yoga provides its own NestJS GraphQL Driver that supports building standalone GraphQL APIs and Federation GraphQL APIs (Gateway and Services).

Standalone GraphQL API

Installation

Terminal


yarn add @graphql-yoga/nestjs @nestjs/graphql

Terminal


npm install @graphql-yoga/nestjs @nestjs/graphql

Terminal


pnpm add @graphql-yoga/nestjs @nestjs/graphql

💡

For the setup of a new Nest project, please make sure to read the Nest GraphQL documentation .

Schema-First Approach

With the following Nest project structure:


- src/
  - cats/
    - cats.graphql
    - cats.resolver.ts
    - cats.module.ts
  - app.module.ts
  - main.ts

and the following .graphql schema definition (and its associated resolvers):


type Query {
  cats: [Cat]
  cat(id: ID!): Cat
}
 
type Mutation {
  createCat(createCatInput: CreateCatInput): Cat
}
 
type Subscription {
  catCreated: Cat
}
 
type Owner {
  id: Int!
  name: String!
  age: Int
  cats: [Cat!]
}
 
type Cat {
  id: Int
  name: String
  age: Int
  owner: Owner
}
"""
Test comment
"""
input CreateCatInput {
  name: String
  age: Int
}

Our Yoga Nest GraphQL Module (app.module.ts) will be defined as follows:

app.module.ts


import { YogaDriver, YogaDriverConfig } from '@graphql-yoga/nestjs'
import { Module } from '@nestjs/common'
import { GraphQLModule } from '@nestjs/graphql'
import { CatsModule } from './cats/cats.module'
 
@Module({
  imports: [
    CatsModule,
    GraphQLModule.forRoot<YogaDriverConfig>({
      driver: YogaDriver,
      typePaths: ['./**/*.graphql'],
      installSubscriptionHandlers: true
    })
  ]
})
export class AppModule {}

Code-First Approach

The code-first approach generates the GraphQL Schema based on resolvers and models.

With the following example Recipe model:


import { Directive, Field, ID, ObjectType } from '@nestjs/graphql'
 
@ObjectType({ description: 'recipe ' })
export class Recipe {
  @Field((type) => ID)
  id: string
 
  @Directive('@upper')
  title: string
 
  @Field({ nullable: true })
  description?: string
 
  @Field()
  creationDate: Date
 
  @Field((type) => [String])
  ingredients: string[]
}

and the following resolvers:


@Resolver((of) => Recipe)
export class RecipesResolver {
  constructor(private readonly recipesService: RecipesService) {}
 
  // ...
 
  @Query((returns) => [Recipe])
  recipes(@Args() recipesArgs: RecipesArgs): Promise<Recipe[]> {
    return this.recipesService.findAll(recipesArgs)
  }
 
  // ...
}

Our Yoga Nest GraphQL Module (app.module.ts) will be defined as follows:

app.module.ts


import { YogaDriver, YogaDriverConfig } from '@graphql-yoga/nestjs'
import { Module } from '@nestjs/common'
import { GraphQLModule } from '@nestjs/graphql'
import { RecipesModule } from './recipes/recipes.module'
 
@Module({
  imports: [
    RecipesModule,
    GraphQLModule.forRoot<YogaDriverConfig>({
      driver: YogaDriver,
      autoSchemaFile: 'schema.gql'
    })
  ]
})
export class AppModule {}

Apollo Federation

Additionally, Yoga offers a separate driver called @graphql-yoga/nestjs-federation that supports building Apollo Federation Gateway and Services through the YogaGatewayDriver and YogaFederationDriver drivers.

A complete example is available in the repository .