Next.js and GraphQL - Integrating a Powerful Data Layer

Setting up GraphQL in Next.js

To integrate GraphQL in your Next.js application, follow these steps:

• Install the necessary dependencies. We will use apollo-server-micro to create a GraphQL server within our Next.js application.

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npm install apollo-server-micro graphql

• Create a new API route file, such as graphql.js, inside the pages/api directory.

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// pages/api/graphql.js

import { ApolloServer, gql } from "apollo-server-micro";

// Define your GraphQL schema
const typeDefs = gql`
  type Query {
    hello: String
  }
`;

// Define your resolvers
const resolvers = {
  Query: {
    hello: () => "Hello, GraphQL!",
  },
};

// Create the Apollo Server
const apolloServer = new ApolloServer({
  typeDefs,
  resolvers,
});

// Apply the Apollo Server middleware
export const config = {
  api: {
    bodyParser: false,
  },
};

export default apolloServer.createHandler({ path: "/api/graphql" });

In this example, we have defined a simple GraphQL schema with a hello query resolver.

• Start your Next.js application and navigate to /api/graphql in your browser. You should see the Apollo GraphQL Playground, where you can interact with your GraphQL server.

Fetching Data with Next.js and GraphQL

To fetch data from your GraphQL server within a Next.js page, you can use libraries like @apollo/client. Here's an example:

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// pages/index.js

import { ApolloClient, InMemoryCache, gql } from "@apollo/client";

export default function Home({ data }) {
  return <div>{data.hello}</div>;
}

export async function getStaticProps() {
  const client = new ApolloClient({
    uri: "/api/graphql",
    cache: new InMemoryCache(),
  });

  const { data } = await client.query({
    query: gql`
      query {
        hello
      }
    `,
  });

  return {
    props: {
      data,
    },
  };
}

In this example, we use getStaticProps to fetch the hello data from our GraphQL server at build time.

Conclusion

Integrating GraphQL with Next.js allows you to build a powerful data layer for your applications. In this blog post, we explored how to set up a GraphQL server in Next.js using apollo-server-micro and how to fetch data from the server using @apollo/client.

With GraphQL, you can fetch data more efficiently, reduce over-fetching, and have a flexible query mechanism. Combining it with Next.js ensures a seamless development experience.