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Apollo Server Agent Skill

> (1) setting up a new Apollo Server project, (2) writing resolvers or defining GraphQL schemas, (3) implementing authentication or authorization, (4) creating plugins or custom data sources, (5) troubleshooting Apollo Server errors or performance issues.

17k tokens
context cost
the whole folder, loaded on every use
7
files
instructions only
0
copies elsewhere
how many repositories repackaged it
101
stars on the repo
on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository
npx skills add https://github.com/apollographql/skills --skill apollo-server

What comes with it

58 803 bytes besides the instruction
references/context-and-auth.md
references/data-sources.md
references/error-handling.md
references/plugins.md
references/resolvers.md
references/troubleshooting.md

What it tells the agent to use

found in the instruction text
Bash runs shell commands — read the instruction before connecting

The instruction itself

18 sections, as written by the author

Apollo Server 5.x Guide

Apollo Server is an open-source GraphQL server that works with any GraphQL schema. Apollo Server 5 is framework-agnostic and runs standalone or integrates with Express, Fastify, and serverless environments.

Quick Start

Step 1: Install

npm install @apollo/server graphql

For Express integration:

npm install @apollo/server @as-integrations/express5 express graphql cors

Step 2: Define Schema

const typeDefs = `#graphql
  type Book {
    title: String
    author: String
  }

  type Query {
    books: [Book]
  }
`;

Step 3: Write Resolvers

const resolvers = {
  Query: {
    books: () => [
      { title: "The Great Gatsby", author: "F. Scott Fitzgerald" },
      { title: "1984", author: "George Orwell" },
    ],
  },
};

Step 4: Start Server

Standalone (Recommended for prototyping):

The standalone server is great for prototyping, but for production services, we recommend integrating Apollo Server with a more fully-featured web framework such as Express, Koa, or Fastify. Swapping from the standalone server to a web framework later is straightforward.

import { ApolloServer } from "@apollo/server";
import { startStandaloneServer } from "@apollo/server/standalone";

const server = new ApolloServer({ typeDefs, resolvers });

const { url } = await startStandaloneServer(server, {
  listen: { port: 4000 },
});

console.log(`Server ready at ${url}`);

Express:

import { ApolloServer } from "@apollo/server";
import { expressMiddleware } from "@as-integrations/express5";
import { ApolloServerPluginDrainHttpServer } from "@apollo/server/plugin/drainHttpServer";
import express from "express";
import http from "http";
import cors from "cors";

const app = express();
const httpServer = http.createServer(app);

const server = new ApolloServer({
  typeDefs,
  resolvers,
  plugins: [ApolloServerPluginDrainHttpServer({ httpServer })],
});

await server.start();

app.use(
  "/graphql",
  cors(),
  express.json(),
  expressMiddleware(server, {
    context: async ({ req }) => ({ token: req.headers.authorization }),
  }),
);

await new Promise<void>((resolve) => httpServer.listen({ port: 4000 }, resolve));
console.log("Server ready at http://localhost:4000/graphql");

Schema Definition

Scalar Types

  • Int - 32-bit integer
  • Float - Double-precision floating-point
  • String - UTF-8 string
  • Boolean - true/false
  • ID - Unique identifier (serialized as String)

Type Definitions

type User {
  id: ID!
  name: String!
  email: String
  posts: [Post!]!
}

type Post {
  id: ID!
  title: String!
  content: String
  author: User!
}

input CreatePostInput {
  title: String!
  content: String
}

type Query {
  user(id: ID!): User
  users: [User!]!
}

type Mutation {
  createPost(input: CreatePostInput!): Post!
}

Enums and Interfaces

enum Status {
  DRAFT
  PUBLISHED
  ARCHIVED
}

interface Node {
  id: ID!
}

type Article implements Node {
  id: ID!
  title: String!
}

Resolvers Overview

Resolvers follow the signature: (parent, args, contextValue, info)

  • parent: Result from parent resolver (root resolvers receive undefined)
  • args: Arguments passed to the field
  • contextValue: Shared context object (auth, dataSources, etc.)
  • info: Field-specific info and schema details (rarely used)
const resolvers = {
  Query: {
    user: async (_, { id }, { dataSources }) => {
      return dataSources.usersAPI.getUser(id);
    },
  },
  User: {
    posts: async (parent, _, { dataSources }) => {
      return dataSources.postsAPI.getPostsByAuthor(parent.id);
    },
  },
  Mutation: {
    createPost: async (_, { input }, { dataSources, user }) => {
      if (!user) throw new GraphQLError("Not authenticated");
      return dataSources.postsAPI.create({ ...input, authorId: user.id });
    },
  },
};

Context Setup

Context is created per-request and passed to all resolvers.

interface MyContext {
  token?: string;
  user?: User;
  dataSources: {
    usersAPI: UsersDataSource;
    postsAPI: PostsDataSource;
  };
}

const server = new ApolloServer<MyContext>({
  typeDefs,
  resolvers,
});

// Standalone
const { url } = await startStandaloneServer(server, {
  context: async ({ req }) => ({
    token: req.headers.authorization || "",
    user: await getUser(req.headers.authorization || ""),
    dataSources: {
      usersAPI: new UsersDataSource(),
      postsAPI: new PostsDataSource(),
    },
  }),
});

// Express middleware
expressMiddleware(server, {
  context: async ({ req, res }) => ({
    token: req.headers.authorization,
    user: await getUser(req.headers.authorization),
    dataSources: {
      usersAPI: new UsersDataSource(),
      postsAPI: new PostsDataSource(),
    },
  }),
});

Reference Files

Detailed documentation for specific topics:

  • Resolvers - Resolver patterns and best practices
  • Context and Auth - Authentication and authorization
  • Plugins - Server and request lifecycle hooks
  • Data Sources - RESTDataSource and DataLoader
  • Error Handling - GraphQLError and error formatting
  • Troubleshooting - Common issues and solutions

Key Rules

Schema Design

  • Use ! (non-null) for fields that always have values
  • Prefer input types for mutations over inline arguments
  • Use interfaces for polymorphic types
  • Keep schema descriptions for documentation

Resolver Best Practices

  • Keep resolvers thin - delegate to services/data sources
  • Always handle errors explicitly
  • Use DataLoader for batching related queries
  • Return partial data when possible (GraphQL's strength)

Performance

  • Use @defer and @stream for large responses
  • Implement DataLoader to solve N+1 queries
  • Consider persisted queries for production
  • Use caching headers and CDN where appropriate

Ground Rules

  • ALWAYS use Apollo Server 5.x patterns (not v4 or earlier)
  • ALWAYS type your context with TypeScript generics
  • ALWAYS use GraphQLError from graphql package for errors
  • NEVER expose stack traces in production errors
  • PREFER startStandaloneServer for prototyping only
  • USE an integration with a server framework like Express, Koa, Fastify, Next, etc. for production apps
  • IMPLEMENT authentication in context, authorization in resolvers

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How to use it

Copy the folder

Take apollographql/apollo-server from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

Check the name does not clash

The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.

Install what it needs

The instructions reference npm. Without those the skill loads but fails at the first command.