Mirror: The small sibling of the graphql package, slimmed down for client-side libraries.
1<div align="center">
2 <h2 align="center">graphql-web-lite</h2>
3 <p align="center"><strong>The small sibling of the <code>graphql</code> package, slimmed down for client-side libraries</strong></p>
4 <br />
5 <a href="https://npmjs.com/package/graphql-web-lite">
6 <img alt="NPM Version" src="https://img.shields.io/npm/v/graphql-web-lite.svg" />
7 </a>
8 <a href="https://npmjs.com/package/use-interactions">
9 <img alt="License" src="https://img.shields.io/npm/l/graphql-web-lite.svg" />
10 </a>
11 <a href="https://bundlephobia.com/result?p=graphql-web-lite">
12 <img alt="Minified gzip size" src="https://img.shields.io/bundlephobia/minzip/graphql-web-lite.svg?label=gzip%20size" />
13 </a>
14 <br />
15 <br />
16</div>
17
18The `graphql` package serves two purposes in being the reference implementation of the
19[GraphQL specification](https://spec.graphql.org/) and being used as the shared toolkit
20for implementing GraphQL in client-side and server-side JavaScript applications. This
21can cause bloat for client-side apps, where we'd rather choose lower bundlesize impact
22over fidelity.
23
24`graphql-web-lite` provides an alias package that can be swapped in for the standard
25`graphql` package in client-side applications.
26It aims to reduce the size of imports that are in common use by GraphQL clients and
27users, while still providing most `graphql` exports that are used in other contexts.
28
29It replaces the default `language` exports with
30[`@0no-co/graphql.web`](https://github.com/0no-co/graphql.web) for a leaner
31parser, printer, and visitor, which only support the GraphQL query language and
32are tested to 100% coverage and built to match GraphQL.js’ performance.
33
34## Installation
35
36`graphql-web-lite` mirrors the folder structure of the regular `graphql` package and
37includes mostly the same files and imports as the `graphql` package, minus a couple
38that aren't commonly used for client-side GraphQL.
39This offers us several installation options, depending on how the package is aliased
40to the regular `"graphql"` import.
41
42<details>
43<summary><strong>Installation with <code>package.json</code> aliases</strong></summary>
44
45When your dependencies and `node_modules` folder isn't used by a _GraphQL server_ and
46only used by a _GraphQL clients_, you can use a quick and easy npm installation alias.
47In your `package.json` file you can define your `graphql` installation to use
48`graphql-web-lite` instead, which is supported by both Yarn and npm:
49
50```diff
51{
52 "dependencies": {
53- "graphql": "^15.5.0"
54+ "graphql": "npm:graphql-web-lite@^15.5.1001"
55 }
56}
57```
58
59Alternatively, you can run an installation command to alias the package:<br />
60
61```sh
62npm install --save graphql@npm:graphql-web-lite
63# or
64yarn add graphql@npm:graphql-web-lite
65```
66
67When this isn't suitable — for instance, because the same dependencies are shared
68with an API or server-side GraphQL consumer, or you're working inside a monorepo —
69you can try one of the other aliasing techniques below.
70
71</details>
72
73<details>
74<summary><strong>Installation with Webpack aliases</strong></summary>
75
76First, we'll need to install `graphql-web-lite` _alongside_ the regular `graphql`
77package.
78
79```sh
80npm install --save graphql-web-lite
81# or
82yarn add graphql-web-lite
83```
84
85To alias a package in Webpack, an entry must be added to your Webpack
86configuration's `resolve.alias` section. Depending on your implementation,
87the configuration may already contain some keys inside `resolve.alias`, and
88you'd want to add another entry for `"graphql"`.
89
90```js
91const webpackConfig = {
92 // ...
93 resolve: {
94 alias: {
95 graphql: 'graphql-web-lite',
96 },
97 },
98};
99```
100
101</details>
102
103<details>
104<summary><strong>Installation with Next.js</strong></summary>
105
106First, we'll need to install `graphql-web-lite` _alongside_ the regular `graphql`
107package.
108
109```sh
110npm install --save graphql-web-lite
111# or
112yarn add graphql-web-lite
113```
114
115In your [Next.js configuration file](https://nextjs.org/docs/api-reference/next.config.js/introduction),
116under `next.config.js`, you can add an additional `webpack()` function that is
117able to modify Next's Webpack configuration to add an alias for `graphql`.
118
119```js
120module.exports = {
121 webpack(config, { isServer }) {
122 if (!isServer) {
123 config.resolve.alias = {
124 ...config.resolve.alias,
125 graphql: 'graphql-web-lite',
126 };
127 }
128 return config;
129 },
130};
131```
132
133Here we're also ensuring that the alias isn't applied on the server-side, in case
134an API route is using `graphql` for a server-side GraphQL schema.
135
136</details>
137
138<details>
139<summary><strong>Installation with Rollup's alias plugin</strong></summary>
140
141First, we'll need to install `graphql-web-lite` _alongside_ the regular `graphql`
142package.
143
144```sh
145npm install --save graphql-web-lite
146# or
147yarn add graphql-web-lite
148```
149
150In Rollup, the easiest way to add a new alias is to use `@rollup/plugin-alias`.
151We'll have to install this plugin and ensure that every import and deep import
152to `graphql` is aliased to `graphql-web-lite`.
153
154Any Rollup-based build will fail when the import name of the package does not
155match the `name` field in the module's `package.json` file, so this step is
156necessary.
157
158```js
159import alias from '@rollup/plugin-alias';
160
161module.exports = {
162 plugins: [
163 alias({
164 entries: [{ find: 'graphql', replacement: 'graphql-web-lite' }],
165 }),
166 ],
167};
168```
169
170</details>
171
172<details>
173<summary><strong>Installation with Vite</strong></summary>
174
175First, we'll need to install `graphql-web-lite` _alongside_ the regular `graphql`
176package.
177
178```sh
179npm install --save graphql-web-lite
180# or
181yarn add graphql-web-lite
182```
183
184In your [Vite configuration file](https://vitejs.dev/config/#config-file-resolving)
185you may add a new entry for its `resolve.alias` entries. This entry works the same
186as Rollup's alias plugin.
187
188```js
189import { defineConfig } from 'vite';
190
191export default defineConfig({
192 resolve: {
193 alias: {
194 graphql: 'graphql-web-lite',
195 },
196 },
197});
198```
199
200Here we're also ensuring that the alias isn't applied on the server-side, in case
201an API route is using `graphql` for a server-side GraphQL schema.
202
203</details>
204
205<details>
206<summary><strong>Installation with Parcel</strong></summary>
207
208First, we'll need to install `graphql-web-lite` _alongside_ the regular `graphql`
209package.
210
211```sh
212npm install --save graphql-web-lite
213# or
214yarn add graphql-web-lite
215```
216
217In Parcel, we can add an entry in our `package.json` file for an alias. Specifically,
218the `alias` property may contain an object that maps packages to their aliases.
219
220```diff
221{
222 "alias": {
223+ "graphql": "graphql-web-lite"
224 }
225}
226```
227
228</details>
229
230<details>
231<summary><strong>Installation with Jest's module mapping</strong></summary>
232
233First, we'll need to install `graphql-web-lite` _alongside_ the regular `graphql`
234package.
235
236```sh
237npm install --save graphql-web-lite
238# or
239yarn add graphql-web-lite
240```
241
242Jest allows any module names to be remapped using regular expression-based
243mappings. In your Jest config you'll need to add an entry for `graphql` that
244remaps all imports and deep imports to `graphql-web-lite`.
245
246```json
247{
248 "moduleNameMapper": {
249 "graphql(.*)": "graphql-web-lite$1"
250 }
251}
252```
253
254</details>
255
256## Impact & Changes
257
258In short, most utilities, functions, and classes exported by the `graphql`
259package are only used for server-side GraphQL. Some of them have been removed
260in `graphql-web-lite` to discourage its server-side usage, and help bundlers
261exlude them if tree-shaking were to fail.
262
263Most GraphQL clients rely on importing the parser, printer, visitor, and the
264`GraphQLError` class. These have all been modified to reduce their bundlesize
265impact and to remove any support for
266[GraphQL's schema language and type system](https://spec.graphql.org/June2018/#sec-Type-System).
267
268Any debugging calls, development-time warnings, and other non-production code
269is also being transpiled away, and `process.env.NODE_ENV` has been compiled
270away.
271
272<details>
273<summary><strong>Full List of Changes</strong></summary>
274
275| Export | Changes | Notes |
276| --------------------- | ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
277| `visit` | _modified_ | works recursively and does not detect invalid AST nodes |
278| `print` | _modified_ | won't output any schema nodes and does not detect invalid AST nodes |
279| `printLocation` | _modified_ | won't output source snippets |
280| `printSourceLocation` | _modified_ | won't output source snippets |
281| `parse` | _modified_ | won't parse schema nodes or throw precise syntax errors |
282| `parseType` | _modified_ | won't throw precise syntax errors |
283| `parseValue` | _modified_ | won't throw precise syntax errors |
284| `GraphQLError` | _modified_ | doesn't handle locations and Error stacks |
285
286</details>
287
288### Bundlesize Impact
289
290Most GraphQL client-side libraries use the following common set of imports from the `graphql` library.
291Assuming a transformation like [`babel-plugin-modular-graphql`](https://github.com/kitten/babel-plugin-modular-graphql/)
292or granular imports in general this creates a short list of utilities.
293
294```js
295export { valueFromASTUntyped } from 'graphql/utilities/valueFromASTUntyped.mjs';
296export { GraphQLError } from 'graphql/error/GraphQLError.mjs';
297export { Kind } from 'graphql/language/kinds.mjs';
298export { parse } from 'graphql/language/parser.mjs';
299export { print } from 'graphql/language/printer.mjs';
300export { visit } from 'graphql/language/visitor.mjs';
301```
302
303The minzipped size of the imports is about `11.2kB` in a given output bundle, which assumes all the above imports are
304in use. When the GraphQL language parser is dropped from the bundle, for instance by precompiling queries and excluding
305it in a compilation step, the resulting minzipped size drops to `5.55kB`.
306
307When `graphql-web-lite` replaces the `graphql` package the minzipped size drops from the `11.2kB` figure down to `5.44kB`,
308and `3.19kB` without the parser.