gqtx VS graphql-ws

My favorites are Pothos and gqtx. In terms of documentation and adoption Pothos definitely wins over gqtx. You might also want to check out the "I'm struggling to find proper Graphql Stack" Reddit thread.

By now you get a lot of typesafety without the need to write any types manually or having to generate them on the on the server by using https://github.com/sikanhe/gqtx

There are multiple ways available of constructing a graphql schema. Usually, you can break down those into "SDL" First and "Code" First. A simple example of a Code First approach is the programmatic graphql.js API using `new GraphQLObjectType`. You define your schema with code. In an SDL First approach, you write your schema in the GraphQL SDL (as text) and define a resolver map. You can find some examples over here: https://graphql.org/graphql-js/constructing-types/ A lot of tooling has emerged of those two methods of building GraphQL schemas and you usually have to choose whether you wanna stick to Code First or SDL First. Tools like gqtx (https://github.com/sikanhe/gqtx), giraphql (https://github.com/hayes/giraphql), and nexus (https://github.com/graphql-nexus/nexus) are built around the Code First approach and improve the developer experience over the programmatic API form graphql.js by providing a more type-safe API when utilizing TypeScript. They ultimately all do the same, with slightly (more or less opinionated) different APIs. On the other hand tooling for SDL has also evolved. graphql-tools provides a more advanced interface over how you define the resolvers map and a lot of utilities for constructing your schema from SDL/resolver map partials distributed across different files (https://www.graphql-tools.com/docs/generate-schema/). Together, with graphql-codegen resolver type generation (https://www.graphql-code-generator.com/docs/plugins/typescript-resolvers) you can bring this to the next level if you are working with TypeScript and generate fully typed resolvers from the GraphQL SDL. You have to find out for yourself which approach is best suited for you. I have been using both on different projects and they both have benefits and trade-offs. My opinion is mostly based on the TypeScript developer experience. Code First seems to be the better pick for me if you have lots of computed fields that cannot be mapped 1:1 to the data sources, where you would have to add a lot of type resolver mappings configuration for codegen. With SDL I like that I have the feeling that I can write the schema faster and less clumsy, and the SDL is immediately readable. On Code First you, however, can still generate an SDL file from the coding schema. Maybe there is a niche open for an approach that combines Code and SDL First approaches. We will have to see what the future brings. Here are some more articles/threads regarding the topic: https://www.prisma.io/blog/the-problems-of-schema-first-graphql-development-x1mn4cb0tyl3 https://www.reddit.com/r/graphql/comments/fpkx7a/codefirst\_vs\_schemafirst\_development/ https://blog.logrocket.com/code-first-vs-schema-first-development-graphql/ Also, note that most GraphQL server/transports do or should not care about the way you construct your schema. E.g. the apollo-server docs show you only an SDL first way of constructing the schema (https://www.apollographql.com/docs/apollo-server/schema/schema/), but it is also possible to provide a schema instance(https://www.apollographql.com/docs/apollo-server/api/apollo-server/#schema). apollo-server defaults to advocating creating a schema with SDL (by using an old graphql-tools@4 version under the hood).

Tools like gqtx (https://github.com/sikanhe/gqtx), giraphql (https://github.com/hayes/giraphql), and nexus (https://github.com/graphql-nexus/nexus) are built around the Code First approach and improve the developer experience over the programmatic API form graphql.js by providing a more type-safe API when utilizing TypeScript. They ultimately all do the same, with slightly (more or less opinionated) different APIs.

If I can give you an additional tip: Think twice whether you actually need apollo-server. All you need is a way of constructing a schema, which you can either do with the graphql.js programmatic API, graphql-tools (https://www.graphql-tools.com/docs/generate-schema/), or type-safe code first schema builders such as https://giraphql.com/ or https://github.com/sikanhe/gqtx

You will also have to figure out which schema generation flow suits you best. E.g. you can use the programatic API from graphql-js, makeExecutableSchema from graphql-tools https://www.graphql-tools.com/docs/generate-schema/ or code schema builders like https://github.com/sikanhe/gqtx or https://github.com/hayes/giraphql

When using a GraphQL over Websocket protocol you can execute all operation kinds (query, mutation and subscription) over that transport as it is a bidirectional protocol.

The GraphQL over WebSocket solution definitely requires an additional library on the client for the complexity of the protocol (namely graphql-ws). The readme of that project describes how you can connect to a GraphQL over WebSocket compliant server.

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There is already a JavaScript implementation for server + client with support for multiplexing from the same maintainer of graphql-ws: graphql-sse

Actually WebSocket is not the only protocol for executing GraphQL subscriptions. There is also a graphql-over-sse protocol, which is much more lightweight, and uses Server Sent Events. A popular implementation of it is the graphql-sse library, which is maintained by the same person as graphql-ws. The setup and API of both libraries is pretty similar.

That said, I feel so close to success that I can't quite give up. I am using graphql-ws as I understand this to be the new standard implementation of GraphQL Subscriptions. However, of course, Apollo subscriptions have not been updated to implement this. So, looking at the Recipes over on the graphql-ws documentation I have found the guide for using Apollo client. However as I am new to Apollo, it is using a lot of terms I am unfamiliar with.

Okay but seriously, if you've fallen down the rabbit hole of Apollo docs pointing you towards one library (subscription-transport-ws) which then points you to another (graphql-ws) , and so on and so forth, then hopefully this helps pull you out.

The most common protocol used today for subscriptions is the Apollo websocket protocol.

GraphQL subscriptions are just web sockets. You can check graphql-ws package if you want something without Apollo dependency. Though I don't understand why you want to not depend on it in the first place.