Building a Modern GraphQL Integration Between Payload CMS and Next.js: Part 4

9 de diciembre de 2024 por Moritz Thomas

Developer Experience and Advanced Tooling

With our core implementation complete, let's explore how this system provides an excellent developer experience through IDE integration, development workflows, and advanced type safety features.

IDE Integration

Our implementation includes comprehensive IDE support, particularly for VSCode. This is configured through the project's package.json:

{
  "graphql": {
    "schema": "http://localhost:3001/api/graphql",
    "documents": "**/*.{graphql,js,ts,jsx,tsx}"
  }
}

To enable full GraphQL support in VSCode, two extensions are required:

  • GraphQL: Syntax Highlighting (GraphQL.vscode-graphql-syntax)

  • GraphQL: Language Feature Support (GraphQL.vscode-graphql)

These extensions provide:

  • Syntax highlighting for GraphQL files

  • Autocompletion for queries and fields

  • Real-time validation against the schema

  • Hover information for types and fields

  • Jump-to-definition support

The Complete Development Workflow

Let's walk through the typical workflow for adding a new GraphQL query to the system:

  1. Query Development in Apollo Sandbox

    • Run the development server

    • Open Apollo Sandbox through the npm run studio command

    • Write and test the query with real data

    • Verify variables and results

  2. Creating the Query File

    • Copy the tested query to a new .graphql file

    • Receive immediate feedback from VSCode plugins about schema compliance

    • Type-safe variables through GraphQL Code Generator

  3. Generating the Query Map

npm run gql:query-map

This command:

    • Processes all .graphql files

    • Generates unique query identifiers

    • Updates the query map

    • Copies the map to the CMS project

4 . Using the Query

    • Import the generated types

    • Use the fetcher with full type safety

    • Get autocompletion for query variables

    • Receive runtime validation through Zod

Performance Considerations

The system is designed for optimal performance in both development and production:

  1. Development Mode

    • Full GraphQL endpoint for easy exploration

    • Detailed logging for debugging

    • Hot reloading of queries

    • Direct schema validation

  2. Production Mode

    • Compact GET requests

    • CDN caching support

    • Minimal network overhead

    • Version-safe query handling

Advanced Type Safety

Our implementation provides multiple layers of type safety:

1. GraphQL Schema Types Generated by GraphQL Code Generator:

export type CMSUiString = {
  id: string;
  text?: string | null;
};

export type CMSLocaleInputType = "en_US" | "de_DE" /* ... */;

2. Runtime Validation Using Zod for runtime type checking:

export const ZodUiStrings = z.array(
  z.object({
    id: z.string(),
    text: z.string().nullable(),
  })
);

3. Query Variables Validation

const QuerySchema = z.object({
  variables: z.string().optional().default("{}"),
});

This multi-layered approach ensures type safety from development through production:

  • Compile-time checking through TypeScript

  • Runtime validation through Zod

  • Schema validation through GraphQL

  • IDE support through VSCode extensions

Conclusion

The complete system provides a robust, type-safe, and developer-friendly approach to GraphQL integration. Developers get the benefits of full GraphQL exploration during development while users get the performance benefits of persisted queries in production.

Key benefits include:

  • Excellent developer experience with full IDE support

  • Type safety at every level

  • Performance optimization for production

  • Comprehensive logging and debugging tools

  • Safe deployment patterns

This implementation demonstrates that it's possible to have both excellent developer experience and production performance without compromise. The system is already running successfully in production, handling translation management with minimal operational costs while providing a smooth development experience.

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© 2024 por Moritz Thomas