Router Quickstart
Run the router with GraphOS and Apollo-hosted subgraphs
Hello! This tutorial walks you through installing the router (GraphOS Router or Apollo Router Core) and running it in with GraphOS and some example Apollo-hosted subgraphs.
This quickstart helps you run a self-hosted instance of the router. If you create a cloud supergraph with Apollo GraphOS, Apollo provisions and hosts your supergraph's GraphOS Router for you.
Cloud supergraphs are recommended for organizations that don't need to host their router in their own infrastructure.
1. Download and extract the router binary
Download options
Automatic download (Linux, OSX, WSL)
If you have a bash-compatible terminal, you can download the latest version of the Apollo Router Core directly to your current directory with the following command:
1curl -sSL https://router.apollo.dev/download/nix/latest | shManual download
Go to the Apollo Router Core's GitHub Releases page and download the latest .tar.gz file that matches your system. Currently, tarballs are available for the following:
Linux (x86_64)
Linux (aarch64)
macOS (Apple Silicon)
Windows (x86_64)
If a tarball for your system or architecture isn't available, you can build and run the router from source . You can also open an issue on GitHub to request the addition of new architectures.
After downloading, extract the file by running the following from a new project directory, substituting the path to the tarball:
1tar -xf path/to/file.tar.gz --strip-components=1If you omit the --strip-components=1 option, the router executable is installed in a dist subdirectory.
Running the binary
You can now run the router from your project's root directory with the following command:
1./routerIf you do, you'll get output similar to the following:
1Apollo Router <version> // (c) Apollo Graph, Inc. // Licensed as ELv2 (https://go.apollo.dev/elv2)
2
3⚠️ The Apollo Router requires a composed supergraph schema at startup. ⚠️
4
5👉 DO ONE:
6
7 * Pass a local schema file with the '--supergraph' option:
8
9 $ ./router --supergraph <file_path>
10
11 * Fetch a registered schema from GraphOS by setting
12 these environment variables:
13
14 $ APOLLO_KEY="..." APOLLO_GRAPH_REF="..." ./router
15
16 For details, see the Apollo docs:
17 https://www.apollographql.com/docs/federation/managed-federation/setup
18
19🔬 TESTING THINGS OUT?
20
21 1. Download an example supergraph schema with Apollo-hosted subgraphs:
22
23 $ curl -L https://supergraph.demo.starstuff.dev/ > starstuff.graphql
24
25 2. Run the router in development mode with the supergraph schema:
26
27 $ ./router --dev --supergraph starstuff.graphqlThis is because router requires a supergraph schema and we aren't providing it one! Let's fix that.
2. Download the example supergraph schema
For this quickstart, we're using example Apollo-hosted subgraphs, along with an example supergraph schema that's composed from those subgraph schemas.
From your project's root directory, run the following:
1curl -sSL https://supergraph.demo.starstuff.dev/ > supergraph-schema.graphqlThis saves a supergraph-schema.graphql file with the following contents:
Click to expand
1schema
2 @link(url: "https://specs.apollo.dev/link/v1.0")
3 @link(url: "https://specs.apollo.dev/join/v0.3", for: EXECUTION) {
4 query: Query
5 mutation: Mutation
6}
7
8directive @join__enumValue(graph: join__Graph!) repeatable on ENUM_VALUE
9
10directive @join__field(
11 graph: join__Graph
12 requires: join__FieldSet
13 provides: join__FieldSet
14 type: String
15 external: Boolean
16 override: String
17 usedOverridden: Boolean
18) repeatable on FIELD_DEFINITION | INPUT_FIELD_DEFINITION
19
20directive @join__graph(name: String!, url: String!) on ENUM_VALUE
21
22directive @join__implements(
23 graph: join__Graph!
24 interface: String!
25) repeatable on OBJECT | INTERFACE
26
27directive @join__type(
28 graph: join__Graph!
29 key: join__FieldSet
30 extension: Boolean! = false
31 resolvable: Boolean! = true
32 isInterfaceObject: Boolean! = false
33) repeatable on OBJECT | INTERFACE | UNION | ENUM | INPUT_OBJECT | SCALAR
34
35directive @join__unionMember(
36 graph: join__Graph!
37 member: String!
38) repeatable on UNION
39
40directive @link(
41 url: String
42 as: String
43 for: link__Purpose
44 import: [link__Import]
45) repeatable on SCHEMA
46
47scalar join__FieldSet
48
49enum join__Graph {
50 ACCOUNTS
51 @join__graph(name: "accounts", url: "https://accounts.demo.starstuff.dev/")
52 INVENTORY
53 @join__graph(
54 name: "inventory"
55 url: "https://inventory.demo.starstuff.dev/"
56 )
57 PRODUCTS
58 @join__graph(name: "products", url: "https://products.demo.starstuff.dev/")
59 REVIEWS
60 @join__graph(name: "reviews", url: "https://reviews.demo.starstuff.dev/")
61}
62
63scalar link__Import
64
65enum link__Purpose {
66 """
67 `SECURITY` features provide metadata necessary to securely resolve fields.
68 """
69 SECURITY
70
71 """
72 `EXECUTION` features provide metadata necessary for operation execution.
73 """
74 EXECUTION
75}
76
77type Mutation @join__type(graph: PRODUCTS) @join__type(graph: REVIEWS) {
78 createProduct(upc: ID!, name: String): Product @join__field(graph: PRODUCTS)
79 createReview(upc: ID!, id: ID!, body: String): Review
80 @join__field(graph: REVIEWS)
81}
82
83type Product
84 @join__type(graph: ACCOUNTS, key: "upc", extension: true)
85 @join__type(graph: INVENTORY, key: "upc")
86 @join__type(graph: PRODUCTS, key: "upc")
87 @join__type(graph: REVIEWS, key: "upc") {
88 upc: String!
89 weight: Int
90 @join__field(graph: INVENTORY, external: true)
91 @join__field(graph: PRODUCTS)
92 price: Int
93 @join__field(graph: INVENTORY, external: true)
94 @join__field(graph: PRODUCTS)
95 inStock: Boolean @join__field(graph: INVENTORY)
96 shippingEstimate: Int @join__field(graph: INVENTORY, requires: "price weight")
97 name: String @join__field(graph: PRODUCTS)
98 reviews: [Review] @join__field(graph: REVIEWS)
99 reviewsForAuthor(authorID: ID!): [Review] @join__field(graph: REVIEWS)
100}
101
102type Query
103 @join__type(graph: ACCOUNTS)
104 @join__type(graph: INVENTORY)
105 @join__type(graph: PRODUCTS)
106 @join__type(graph: REVIEWS) {
107 me: User @join__field(graph: ACCOUNTS)
108 recommendedProducts: [Product] @join__field(graph: ACCOUNTS)
109 topProducts(first: Int = 5): [Product] @join__field(graph: PRODUCTS)
110}
111
112type Review @join__type(graph: REVIEWS, key: "id") {
113 id: ID!
114 body: String
115 author: User @join__field(graph: REVIEWS, provides: "username")
116 product: Product
117}
118
119type User
120 @join__type(graph: ACCOUNTS, key: "id")
121 @join__type(graph: REVIEWS, key: "id") {
122 id: ID!
123 name: String @join__field(graph: ACCOUNTS)
124 username: String
125 @join__field(graph: ACCOUNTS)
126 @join__field(graph: REVIEWS, external: true)
127 reviews: [Review] @join__field(graph: REVIEWS)
128}This file is all that the router needs to communicate with our subgraphs!
3. Run the router in development mode with the default configuration
Now from your project root, run the following:
1./router --dev --supergraph supergraph-schema.graphqlThe console output should look like the following:
12022-06-29T22:23:24.266542Z INFO apollo_router::executable: Apollo Router v0.9.5 // (c) Apollo Graph, Inc. // Licensed as ELv2 (https://go.apollo.dev/elv2)
22022-06-29T22:23:24.488286Z INFO apollo_router::router: starting Apollo Router
32022-06-29T22:23:25.774334Z INFO apollo_router::axum_http_server_factory: GraphQL endpoint exposed at http://127.0.0.1:4000/ 🚀That's it! Running the router with the --dev flag enables a development mode that exposes Apollo Sandbox so you can run queries against the router.
--dev flag in a non-development environment. It relaxes certain default configuration options to provide an improved local development experience (e.g., it exposes subgraph error messages to clients).Learn more about dev mode defaults. Visit http://127.0.0.1:4000 to open Apollo Sandbox, inspect your entire supergraph, and run your first queries!
Next steps
Now that you know how to run the router with a supergraph schema, you can: