building-graphql-server

name	building-graphql-server
description	Build production-ready GraphQL servers with schema design, resolvers, and subscriptions. Use when building GraphQL APIs with schemas and resolvers. Trigger with phrases like "build GraphQL API", "create GraphQL server", or "setup GraphQL".
allowed-tools	Read, Write, Edit, Grep, Glob, Bash(api:graphql-*)
version	1.22.0
author	Jeremy Longshore <[e-mail]>
license	MIT
tags	["api","graphql","graphql-server"]
compatibility	Designed for Claude Code, also compatible with Codex and OpenClaw

Building GraphQL Server

Overview

Build production-ready GraphQL servers with SDL-first or code-first schema design, efficient resolver implementations with DataLoader batching, real-time subscriptions via WebSocket, and field-level authorization. Support Apollo Server, Yoga, Mercurius, and Strawberry across Node.js and Python runtimes.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ with Apollo Server/Yoga/Mercurius, or Python 3.10+ with Strawberry/Ariadne
• Database with ORM (Prisma, TypeORM, SQLAlchemy) for resolver data sources
• Redis for subscription pub/sub and DataLoader caching (production deployments)
• GraphQL client for testing: GraphiQL, Apollo Studio, or Insomnia
• graphql-codegen for TypeScript type generation from schema (recommended)

Instructions

1. Examine existing data models, database schemas, and business requirements using Read and Glob to determine the entity graph and relationship structure.
2. Design the GraphQL schema with type definitions, including Query, Mutation, and Subscription root types, input types for mutations, and connection types for paginated lists.
3. Implement resolvers for each field, using DataLoader to batch and deduplicate database queries for nested relationships (N+1 query prevention).
4. Add input validation on mutation arguments using custom scalars (DateTime, Email, URL) and directive-based validation (@constraint(minLength: 1, maxLength: 255)).
5. Implement field-level authorization using schema directives (@auth(requires: ADMIN)) or resolver middleware that checks user roles from the GraphQL context.
6. Configure query complexity analysis and depth limiting to prevent abusive queries (maximum depth of 7, maximum complexity score of 1000).
7. Set up real-time subscriptions using graphql-ws protocol over WebSocket with Redis pub/sub for multi-instance message distribution.
8. Generate TypeScript types from the schema using graphql-codegen to ensure type safety between schema definitions and resolver implementations.
9. Write integration tests using executeOperation for query/mutation testing and WebSocket client tests for subscription verification.

See ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/implementation.md for the full implementation guide.

Output

• ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/src/schema/ - GraphQL SDL type definitions organized by domain
• ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/src/resolvers/ - Resolver implementations per type with DataLoader integration