Executing Queries

Using Facade Method

Query execution is a complex process involving multiple steps, including query parsing, validating and finally executing against your schema.

graphql-php provides a convenient facade for this process in class GraphQL\GraphQL:

use GraphQL\GraphQL;

$result = GraphQL::executeQuery(
    $schema,
    $queryString,
    $rootValue = null,
    $context = null,
    $variableValues = null,
    $operationName = null,
    $fieldResolver = null,
    $validationRules = null
);

It returns an instance of GraphQL\Executor\ExecutionResult which can be easily converted to array:

$serializableResult = $result->toArray();

Returned array contains data and errors keys, as described by the GraphQL spec. This array is suitable for further serialization (e.g. using json_encode). See also the section on error handling and formatting.

Method arguments

Description of executeQuery method arguments:

Argument	Type	Notes
schema	GraphQL\Type\Schema	Required. Instance of your application Schema
queryString	string or GraphQL\Language\AST\DocumentNode	Required. Actual GraphQL query string to be parsed, validated and executed. If you parse query elsewhere before executing - pass corresponding AST document here to avoid new parsing.
rootValue	mixed	Any value that represents a root of your data graph. It is passed as the 1st argument to field resolvers of Query type. Can be omitted or set to null if actual root values are fetched by Query type itself.
context	mixed	Any value that holds information shared between all field resolvers. Most often they use it to pass currently logged in user, locale details, etc. It will be available as the 3rd argument in all field resolvers. (see section on Field Definitions for reference) graphql-php never modifies this value and passes it as is to all underlying resolvers.
variableValues	array	Map of variable values passed along with query string. See section on query variables on official GraphQL website. Note that while variableValues must be an associative array, the values inside it can be nested using \stdClass if desired.
operationName	string	Allows the caller to specify which operation in queryString will be run, in cases where queryString contains multiple top-level operations.
fieldResolver	callable	A resolver function to use when one is not provided by the schema. If not provided, the default field resolver is used.
validationRules	array	A set of rules for query validation step. The default value is all available rules. Empty array would allow skipping query validation (may be convenient for persisted queries which are validated before persisting and assumed valid during execution)

Using Server

If you are building HTTP GraphQL API, you may prefer our Standard Server (compatible with express-graphql). It supports more features out of the box, including parsing HTTP requests, producing a spec-compliant response; batched queries; persisted queries.

Usage example (with plain PHP):

use GraphQL\Server\StandardServer;

$server = new StandardServer([/* server options, see below */]);
$server->handleRequest(); // parses PHP globals and emits response

Server also supports PSR-7 request/response interfaces:

use GraphQL\Server\StandardServer;
use GraphQL\Executor\ExecutionResult;
use Psr\Http\Message\RequestInterface;
use Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface;
use Psr\Http\Message\StreamInterface;

/** @var RequestInterface $psrRequest */
/** @var ResponseInterface $psrResponse */
/** @var StreamInterface $psrBodyStream */
$server = new StandardServer([/* server options, see below */]);
$psrResponse = $server->processPsrRequest($psrRequest, $psrResponse, $psrBodyStream);


// Alternatively create PSR-7 response yourself:

/** @var ExecutionResult|ExecutionResult[] $result */
$result = $server->executePsrRequest($psrRequest);
$jsonResult = json_encode($result, JSON_THROW_ON_ERROR);
$psrResponse = new SomePsr7ResponseImplementation($jsonResult );

PSR-7 is useful when you want to integrate the server into existing framework:

• PSR-7 for Laravel
• Symfony PSR-7 Bridge
• Slim
• Laminas Mezzio

Server configuration options

Argument	Type	Notes
schema	Schema	Required. Instance of your application Schema
rootValue	mixed	Any value that represents a root of your data graph. It is passed as the 1st argument to field resolvers of Query type. Can be omitted or set to null if actual root values are fetched by Query type itself.
context	mixed	Any value that holds information shared between all field resolvers. Most often they use it to pass currently logged in user, locale details, etc. It will be available as the 3rd argument in all field resolvers. (see section on Field Definitions for reference) graphql-php never modifies this value and passes it as is to all underlying resolvers.
fieldResolver	callable	A resolver function to use when one is not provided by the schema. If not provided, the default field resolver is used.
validationRules	array or callable	A set of rules for query validation step. The default value is all available rules. The empty array would allow skipping query validation (may be convenient for persisted queries which are validated before persisting and assumed valid during execution). Pass callable to return different validation rules for different queries (e.g. empty array for persisted query and a full list of rules for regular queries). When passed, it is expected to have the following signature: function (OperationParams $params, DocumentNode $node, $operationType): array
queryBatching	bool	Flag indicating whether this server supports query batching (apollo-style). Defaults to false
debugFlag	int	Debug flags. See docs on error debugging (flag values are the same).
persistedQueryLoader	callable	A function which is called to fetch actual query when server encounters a queryId. The server does not implement persistence part (which you will have to build on your own), but it allows you to execute queries which were persisted previously. Expected function signature: function ($queryId, OperationParams $params) Function is expected to return query string or parsed DocumentNode Read more about persisted queries.
errorFormatter	callable	Custom error formatter. See error handling docs.
errorsHandler	callable	Custom errors handler. See error handling docs.
promiseAdapter	PromiseAdapter	Required for Async PHP only.

Using config class

If you prefer fluid interface for config with autocomplete in IDE and static time validation, use GraphQL\Server\ServerConfig instead of an array:

use GraphQL\Server\ServerConfig;
use GraphQL\Server\StandardServer;

$config = ServerConfig::create()
    ->setSchema($schema)
    ->setErrorFormatter($myFormatter)
    ->setDebugFlag($debug)
;

$server = new StandardServer($config);

Query batching

Standard Server supports query batching (apollo-style).

One of the major benefits of Server over a sequence of executeQuery() calls is that Deferred resolvers won't be isolated in queries. So for example following batch will require single DB request (if user field is deferred):

[
  {
    "query": "{user(id: 1) { id }}"
  },
  {
    "query": "{user(id: 2) { id }}"
  },
  {
    "query": "{user(id: 3) { id }}"
  }
]

To enable query batching, pass queryBatching option in server config:

use GraphQL\Server\StandardServer;

$server = new StandardServer([
    'queryBatching' => true
]);

Custom Validation Rules

Before execution, a query is validated using a set of standard rules defined by the GraphQL spec. It is possible to override standard set of rules globally or per execution.

Add rules globally:

use GraphQL\Validator\Rules;
use GraphQL\Validator\DocumentValidator;

// Add to standard set of rules globally:
DocumentValidator::addRule(new Rules\DisableIntrospection());

Custom rules per execution:

use GraphQL\GraphQL;
use GraphQL\Validator\Rules;

$myValidationRules = array_merge(
    GraphQL::getStandardValidationRules(),
    [
        new Rules\QueryComplexity(100),
        new Rules\DisableIntrospection()
    ]
);

$result = GraphQL::executeQuery(
    $schema,
    $queryString,
    $rootValue = null,
    $context = null,
    $variableValues = null,
    $operationName = null,
    $fieldResolver = null,
    $myValidationRules // <-- this will override global validation rules for this request
);

Or with a standard server:

use GraphQL\Server\StandardServer;

$server = new StandardServer([
    'validationRules' => $myValidationRules
]);