Batch HTTP Link

Batch multiple operations into a single HTTP request


Overview

The BatchHttpLink is a terminating link that batches an array of individual GraphQL operations into a single HTTP request that's sent to a single GraphQL endpoint.

JavaScript
1import { BatchHttpLink } from "@apollo/client/link/batch-http";
2
3const link = new BatchHttpLink({
4  uri: "http://localhost:4000/graphql",
5  batchMax: 5, // No more than 5 operations per batch
6  batchInterval: 20 // Wait no more than 20ms after first batched operation
7});

If you use BatchHttpLink instead of HttpLink as your terminating link, Apollo Client automatically batches executed GraphQL operations and transmits them to your server according to the batching options you provide.

Options

The BatchHttpLink constructor accepts a configuration object that supports the following options:

Name /
Type
Description
Batching options
batchMax
number
The maximum number of operations to include in a single batch.The default value is 10.
batchInterval
number
The maximum number of milliseconds to wait before sending each batched request. If batchMax operations are batched before batchInterval is reached, the request is sent immediately.The default value is 10.
batchDebounce
boolean
If true, the batchInterval timer is reset whenever an operation is added to the batch. In other words, the next batched request is not sent until either:
  • No operation is added for batchInterval milliseconds, or
  • batchMax is reached.
The default value is false.
batchKey
string
A function that accepts an operation and returns a string key, which uniquely names the batch the operation belongs to.See the default function
HTTP options
uri
String or Function
The URL of the GraphQL endpoint to send requests to. Can also be a function that accepts an Operation object and returns the string URL to use for that operation.The default value is /graphql.
includeExtensions
Boolean
If true, includes the extensions field in operations sent to your GraphQL endpoint.The default value is false.
fetch
Function
A function to use instead of calling the Fetch API directly when sending HTTP requests to your GraphQL endpoint. The function must conform to the signature of fetch.By default, the Fetch API is used unless it isn't available in your runtime environment.See Customizing fetch.
headers
Object
An object representing headers to include in every HTTP request, such as {Authentication: 'Bearer abc123'}.
preserveHeaderCase
Boolean
If set to true, header names won't be automatically normalized to lowercase. This allows for non-http-spec-compliant servers that might expect capitalized header names.The default value is false.
credentials
String
The credentials policy to use for each fetch call. Can be omit, include, or same-origin.
fetchOptions
Object
An object containing options to use for each call to fetch. If a particular option is not included in this object, the default value of that option is used.Note that if you set fetchOptions.method to GET, BatchHttpLink follows standard GraphQL HTTP GET encoding.See available options

Context

The batch HTTP link currently uses the context in two different ways, per batch and per query. The context fields below are used per batch and taken from the first operation in the batch.

OptionDescription
headersAn object representing values to be sent as headers on the request
credentialsA string representing the credentials policy you want for the fetch call
uriA string of the endpoint you want to fetch from
fetchOptionsAny overrides of the fetch options argument to pass to the fetch call
responseThis is the raw response from the fetch request after it is made

For each query, the http field is used to modify each individual query in the batch, such as persisted queries (see below).

Persisted queries

The batch HTTP link supports an advanced GraphQL feature called persisted queries. This allows you to not send the stringified query over the wire, but instead send some kind of identifier for the query. To support this you need to attach the id somewhere in the extensions field, and pass the following options to the context:

JavaScript
1operation.setContext({
2  http: {
3    includeExtensions: true,
4    includeQuery: false,
5  }
6})

From the context http object:

  • includeExtensions: Send the extensions object for this request.

  • includeQuery: Don't send the query field for this request.

See the http option fields for more information.

One way to use persisted queries is with apollo-link-persisted-queries and Apollo Server.

Custom fetching

See Customizing fetch.

Feedback

Edit on GitHub

Forums