Example Project from Deploy a GraphQL Server with Docker and Fly

Express GraphQL is a library for building production ready GraphQL HTTP middleware. Despite the emphasis on Express in the repo name, you can create a GraphQL HTTP server with any HTTP web framework that supports connect styled middleware. This includes Connect itself, Express and Restify.

Docker is a set of tools that use OS-level virtualization to deliver software in isolated packages called containers. Containers bundle their own software, libraries and configuration files. Fly is a platform for full stack applications and databases that need to run globally. You can run arbitrary Docker containers and host popular databases like Postgres.

Clone Repo and Navigate to Project

git clone https://github.com/ajcwebdev/a-first-look.git
cd deployment/docker-express-graphql

GraphQL Express Server

graphqlHTTP accepts a wide range of options, some of the most common include:

• schema - A GraphQLSchema instance from GraphQL.js
• rootValue - A value to pass as the rootValue to the execute() function
• graphiql - If passed true or an options object it will present GraphiQL when the GraphQL endpoint is loaded in a browser
• headerEditorEnabled - Optional boolean which enables the header editor when true

// index.js

const express = require('express')
const { graphqlHTTP } = require('express-graphql')
const { buildSchema } = require('graphql')

const schema = buildSchema(`
  type Query { hello: String }
`)

const rootValue = {
  hello: () => 'Hello from Express GraphQL!'
}

const app = express()

app.use('/graphql',
  graphqlHTTP({
    schema,
    rootValue,
    graphiql: { headerEditorEnabled: true },
  }),
)

const port = process.env.PORT || 8080

app.listen(port, () => {
  console.log(`Express GraphQL server running on http://localhost:${port}/graphql`)
})

Run Local Server and Execute Test Query

node index

express-graphql will accept requests with the parameters:

• query - A string GraphQL document to be executed
• variables - The runtime values to use for any GraphQL query variables as a JSON object
• operationName - Specifies which operation should be executed if the provided query contains multiple named operations

query HELLO_QUERY { hello }

curl 'http://localhost:8080/graphql' \
  --header 'content-type: application/json' \
  --data '{"query":"{ hello }"}'

Dockerfile

A Dockerfile is a text document that contains all the commands a user could call on the command line to assemble an image.

FROM node:14-alpine
LABEL org.opencontainers.image.source https://github.com/ajcwebdev/ajcwebdev-express-graphql-docker
WORKDIR /usr/src/app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN yarn
COPY . ./
EXPOSE 8080
CMD [ "node", "index" ]

docker build creates an automated build that executes several command-line instructions in succession.

Docker Compose

Compose is a tool for defining and running multi-container Docker applications. Your application’s services are configured with a YAML file called docker-compose.yml.

version: "3.9"
services:
  web:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "49160:8080"

Create and Start Containers with Docker Compose

docker compose up aggregates the output of each container. It builds, (re)creates, starts, and attaches to containers for a service.

docker compose up

Docker mapped the 8080 port inside of the container to the port 49160 on your machine. Open localhost:49160/graphql and send a hello query.

query HELLO_QUERY { hello }

curl 'http://localhost:49160/graphql' \
  --header 'content-type: application/json' \
  --data '{"query":"{ hello }"}'

Deploy to Fly

Install and Authenticate Fly CLI

You can download the CLI on Mac, Linux, or Windows.

brew install superfly/tap/flyctl

If you already have an account you can login with flyctl auth login.

flyctl auth login

If you are a new user you can create an account with flyctl auth signup.

flyctl auth signup

You will be prompted for credit card payment information, required for charges outside the free plan on Fly. See Pricing for more details.

Launch App on Fly

Run flyctl launch in the directory with your source code to configure your app for deployment. This will create and configure a fly app by inspecting your source code and prompting you to deploy.

fly launch --name ajcwebdev-express-graphql

This creates a fly.toml file.

app = "ajcwebdev-express-graphql"

kill_signal = "SIGINT"
kill_timeout = 5
processes = []

[env]

[experimental]
  allowed_public_ports = []
  auto_rollback = true

[[services]]
  http_checks = []
  internal_port = 8080
  processes = ["app"]
  protocol = "tcp"
  script_checks = []

  [services.concurrency]
    hard_limit = 25
    soft_limit = 20
    type = "connections"

  [[services.ports]]
    force_https = true
    handlers = ["http"]
    port = 80

  [[services.ports]]
    handlers = ["tls", "http"]
    port = 443

  [[services.tcp_checks]]
    grace_period = "1s"
    interval = "15s"
    restart_limit = 0
    timeout = "2s"

Add the following PORT number under env.

[env]
  PORT = 8080

Deploy Fly Application

flyctl deploy

Status includes application details, tasks, most recent deployment details and in which regions it is currently allocated.

flyctl status

Visit ajcwebdev-express-graphql.fly.dev/graphql to see the site and run a test query.

query HELLO_QUERY { hello }

curl 'https://ajcwebdev-express-graphql.fly.dev/graphql' \
  --header 'content-type: application/json' \
  --data '{"query":"{ hello }"}'