Laravel 9 GraphQL API CRUD Tutorial Example

3 min readFeb 23, 2023

GraphQL is a query language for APIs and a runtime for fulfilling those queries with your existing data.

GraphQL provides a complete and understandable description of the data in your API, gives clients the power to ask for exactly what they need and nothing more, makes it easier to evolve APIs over time, and enables powerful developer tools.

Installment

Once you have created a new Laravel application, you need to install nuwave/lighthouse using Composer:

composer require nuwave/lighthouse

Publish the default schema

Lighthouse includes a default schema to get you going right away. Publish it using the following artisan command:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=lighthouse-schema

Install GraphQL DevTools

To make use of the amazing tooling around GraphQL, we recommend installing GraphiQL .

composer require mll-lab/laravel-graphiql

After installation, visit /graphiql to try it.

Configuration

Lighthouse comes with sensible configuration defaults and works right out of the box. Should you feel the need to change your configuration, you need to publish the configuration file first.

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=lighthouse-config

The configuration file will be placed in config/lighthouse.php.

Schema

A schema defines the capabilities of a GraphQL server. Much like a database schema, it describes the structure and the types your API can return.

Types

Types are the primary building blocks of a GraphQL schema. They define the capabilities of your API and the kind of data you can get from it.

Query

Every GraphQL schema must have a Query type which contains the queries your API offers. Think of queries as REST resources which can take arguments and return a fixed result

Mutation

In contrast to the Query type, the fields of the Mutation type are allowed to change data on the server.

Open your graphql/schema.graphql and add the following :

type Query{
  "collection of user"
  users: [User!]!  @paginate
  "user find by id"
  user(id: ID @eq ): User @find



}

 type Mutation {
  "insert user ,validation rule in email and password"
  createUser(name:String!,email:String! @rules(apply: ["email", "unique:users"]) ,password:String! @rules(apply: ["min:8"])): User @create
"update user"
  updateUser(id: ID!, name: String): User @update
  "delete user"
  deleteUser(id: ID!): User @delete
  "insert or update the data in upsert"
  upsertUser(id:ID!,name:String,email:String,password:String): User! @upsert


}



type User{
  id: ID,
  name: String,
  email: String,
 
 
}