> (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.
npx skills add https://github.com/apollographql/skills --skill apollo-server
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.
npm install @apollo/server graphql
For Express integration:
npm install @apollo/server @as-integrations/express5 express graphql cors
const typeDefs = `#graphql
type Book {
title: String
author: String
}
type Query {
books: [Book]
}
`;
const resolvers = {
Query: {
books: () => [
{ title: "The Great Gatsby", author: "F. Scott Fitzgerald" },
{ title: "1984", author: "George Orwell" },
],
},
};
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");
Int - 32-bit integerFloat - Double-precision floating-pointString - UTF-8 stringBoolean - true/falseID - Unique identifier (serialized as String)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!
}
enum Status {
DRAFT
PUBLISHED
ARCHIVED
}
interface Node {
id: ID!
}
type Article implements Node {
id: ID!
title: String!
}
Resolvers follow the signature: (parent, args, contextValue, info)
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 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(),
},
}),
});
Detailed documentation for specific topics:
@defer and @stream for large responsesGraphQLError from graphql package for errorsstartStandaloneServer for prototyping onlyMaster smart contract security best practices to prevent common vulnerabilities and implement secure Solidity patterns. Use when writing smart contracts, auditing existing contracts, or implementing security measures for blockchain applications.
Use deepsec (an AI-powered vulnerability scanner) — running scans, configuring projects, writing matchers, and authoring plugins. Activates when the user asks how to scan, configure, or extend deepsec in a project that has deepsec installed.
Use when about to record, claim, rate the severity of, or report any security finding — before marking anything [CONFIRMED] or writing it into the report
Build and configure a GraphQL API backed by Neo4j using @neo4j/graphql v7 (current) or v5 (LTS). Covers Neo4jGraphQL constructor, getSchema(), assertIndexesAndConstraints(), type definitions with @node, @relationship (IN/OUT/UNDIRECTED), @cypher for custom resolvers, @authorization/@authentication for JWT/JWKS security, auto-generated queries/mutations, OGM programmatic access, subscriptions via CDC, and Apollo Federation. Use when writing typeDefs, securing fields, or wiring Neo4j to Apollo Server. Does NOT handle raw Cypher outside resolvers — use neo4j-cypher-skill. Does NOT cover Spring Data Neo4j entity mapping — use neo4j-spring-data-skill.
Master smart contract security best practices to prevent common vulnerabilities and implement secure Solidity patterns. Use when writing smart contracts, auditing existing contracts, or implementin...
> (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.
Guide users through a structured workflow for co-authoring documentation. Use when user wants to write documentation, proposals, technical specs, decision docs, or similar structured content. This workflow helps users efficiently transfer context, refine content through iteration, and verify the doc works for readers. Trigger when user mentions writing docs, creating proposals, drafting specs, or similar documentation tasks.
Automatically creates user-facing changelogs from git commits by analyzing commit history, categorizing changes, and transforming technical commits into clear, customer-friendly release notes. Turns hours of manual changelog writing into minutes of automated generation.
Take apollographql/apollo-server from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal
use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.
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.
The instructions reference npm.
Without those the skill loads but fails at the first command.