DDP-Apollo

DDP-Apollo leverages the power of DDP for GraphQL queries and subscriptions. Meteor developers do not need an HTTP server or extra websocket connection, because DDP offers all we need and has been well tested over time.

• DDP-Apollo is one of the easiest ways to get GraphQL running for Meteor developers
• Works with the Meteor accounts packages out of the box, giving a userId in your resolvers
• Method calls and collection hooks will have this.userId when called within your resolvers
• Doesn’t require an HTTP server to be setup, like with express, koa or hapi
• Supports GraphQL Subscriptions out-of-the-box
• Doesn’t require an extra websocket for GraphQL Subscriptions, because DDP already has a websocket
• Already have a server setup? Use DDPSubscriptionLink stand-alone for just Subscriptions support. Read more

Just another Apollo Link

Because it's "just another Apollo Link":

• It works with Apollo Dev Tools
• It's easy to combine with other Apollo Links
• It's front-end agnostic

Starter Kit

Checkout this starter kit to see Meteor, Apollo, DDP and React all work together.

Note: DDP-Apollo works with all front-ends, not just React

Contents

• Installation
• Client setup
  • Options
• Server setup
  • Options
  • Custom context
• GraphQL subscriptions
  • Setting up PubSub
  • Using DDP only for subscriptions
• Rate limiting GraphQL calls
• HTTP support
  • Installation
  • Client setup
  • Server setup
    • Options
• Sponsor

Installation

meteor add swydo:ddp-apollo

meteor npm install --save @apollo/client @swydo/apollo-link-ddp graphql

Client setup

All client code is in the @swydo/apollo-link-ddp npm package. It gives you a DDPLink for your Apollo Client. Creating an Apollo Client is the same as with any other Apollo Link.

// Choose any cache implementation, but we'll use InMemoryCache as an example
import { ApolloClient, InMemoryCache } from '@apollo/client';
import { DDPLink } from '@swydo/apollo-link-ddp';

export const client = new ApolloClient ({
  link: new DDPLink(),
  cache: new InMemoryCache()
});

Options

• connection: The DDP connection to use. Default Meteor.connection.
• method: The name of the method. Default __graphql.
• publication: The name of the publication. Default __graphql-subscriptions.
• ddpRetry: Retry failed DDP method calls. Default true. Switch off and use apollo-link-retry for more control.
• socket: Optionally pass a socket to listen to for messages. This makes it easy to integrate with non-Meteor DDP clients.

// Pass options to the DDPLink constructor
new DDPLink({
  connection: Meteor.connection
});

Server setup

The server will add a method and publication that will be used by the DDP Apollo Link.

import { schema } from './path/to/your/executable/schema';
import { setup } from 'meteor/swydo:ddp-apollo';

setup({
  schema,
  ...otherOptions
});

Options

• schema: The GraphQL schema. Default undefined. Required when no gateway is provided.
• gateway: An Apollo Gateway. Default undefined. Required when no schema is provided.
• context: A custom context. Either an object or a function returning an object. Optional.
• method: The name of the method. Default __graphql.
• publication: The name of the publication. Default __graphql-subscriptions.

Custom context

To modify or overrule the default context, you can pass a context object or function to the setup:

// As an object:
const context = {
  foo: 'bar'
}

// As a function, returning an object:
const context = (currentContext) => ({ ...currentContext, foo: 'bar' });

// As an async function, returning a promise with an object
const context = async (currentContext) => ({ ...currentContext, foo: await doAsyncStuff() });

setup({
  schema,
  context,
});

GraphQL subscriptions

Subscription support is baked into this package. Simply add the subscriptions to your schema and resolvers and everything works.

Note: Apollo Gateway does not yet support Subscriptions.

# schema.graphql
type Query {
  name: String
}

type Subscription {
  message: String
}

Setting up PubSub

meteor npm install --save graphql-subscriptions

import { PubSub } from 'graphql-subscriptions';

// The pubsub mechanism of your choice, for instance:
// - PubSub from graphql-subscriptions (in-memory, so not recommended for production)
// - RedisPubSub from graphql-redis-subscriptions
// - MQTTPubSub from graphql-mqtt-subscriptions
const pubsub = new PubSub();

export const resolvers = {
  Query: {
    name: () => 'bar',
  },
  Subscription: {
    message: {
      subscribe: () => pubsub.asyncIterator('SOMETHING_CHANGED'),
    },
  },
};

// Later you can publish updates like this:
pubsub.publish('SOMETHING_CHANGED', { message: 'hello world' });

See graphql-subscriptions package for more setup details and other pubsub mechanisms. It also explains why the default PubSub isn't meant for production.

Using DDP only for subscriptions

If you already have an HTTP server setup and you are looking to support GraphQL Subscriptions in your Meteor application, you can use the DDPSubscriptionLink stand-alone.

import { ApolloClient, InMemoryCache, HttpLink, split } from '@apollo/client';
import { DDPSubscriptionLink, isSubscription } from '@swydo/apollo-link-ddp';

const httpLink = new HttpLink({ uri: "/graphql" });
const subscriptionLink = new DDPSubscriptionLink();

const link = split(
  isSubscription,
  subscriptionLink,
  httpLink,
);

export const client = new ApolloClient ({
  link,
  cache: new InMemoryCache()
});

Rate limiting GraphQL calls

Meteor supports rate limiting for DDP calls. This means you can rate limit DDP-Apollo as well!

meteor add ddp-rate-limiter

import { DDPRateLimiter } from 'meteor/ddp-rate-limiter';

// Define a rule that matches graphql method calls.
const graphQLMethodCalls = {
  type: 'method',
  name: '__graphql'
};

// Add the rule, allowing up to 5 messages every 1000 milliseconds.
DDPRateLimiter.addRule(graphQLMethodCalls, 5, 1000);

See DDP Rate Limit documentation.

HTTP support

There can be reasons to use HTTP instead of a Meteor method. There is support for it built in, but it requires a little different setup than the DDP version.

Installation

We'll need the HTTP link from Apollo and body-parser on top of the default dependencies:

meteor npm install @apollo/client body-parser

Client setup

import { ApolloClient, InMemoryCache } from '@apollo/client';
// Use the MeteorLink instead of the DDPLink
// It uses HTTP for queries and Meteor subscriptions (DDP) for GraphQL subscriptions
import { MeteorLink } from '@swydo/apollo-link-ddp';

export const client = new ApolloClient ({
  link: new MeteorLink(),
  cache: new InMemoryCache()
});

Server setup

import { schema } from './path/to/your/executable/schema';
import { setupHttpEndpoint, createGraphQLPublication } from 'meteor/swydo:ddp-apollo';

setupHttpEndpoint({
  schema,
  ...otherOptions,
});

// For subscription support (not required)
createGraphQLPublication({ schema });

Options

• schema: The GraphQL schema. Default undefined. Required when no gateway is provided.
• gateway: An Apollo Gateway. Default undefined. Required when no schema is provided.
• context: A custom context. Either an object or a function returning an object. Optional.
• path: The name of the HTTP path. Default /graphql.
• engine: An Engine instance, in case you want monitoring on your HTTP endpoint. Optional.
• authMiddleware: Middleware to get a userId and set it on the request. Default meteorAuthMiddleware, using a login token.
• jsonParser: Custom JSON parser. Loads body-parser from your node_modules by default and uses .json().

Sponsor

Want to work with Meteor and GraphQL? Join the team!