Querying from an Application

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Once a subgraph is deployed to Subgraph Studio or to Graph Explorer, you will be given the endpoint for your GraphQL API that should look something like this:

Subgraph Studio (testing endpoint)

Queries (HTTP)
https://api.studio.thegraph.com/query/<ID>/<SUBGRAPH_NAME>/<VERSION>

Graph Explorer

Queries (HTTP)
https://gateway.thegraph.com/api/<API_KEY>/subgraphs/id/<SUBGRAPH_ID>

Using the GraphQL endpoint, you can use various GraphQL Client libraries to query the subgraph and populate your app with the data indexed by the subgraph.

Here are a couple of the more popular GraphQL clients in the ecosystem and how to use them:

The Graph is providing it own GraphQL client, graph-client that supports unique features such as:

• Cross-chain Subgraph Handling: Querying from multiple subgraphs in a single query
• Automatic Block Tracking
• Automatic Pagination
• Fully typed result

Also integrated with popular GraphQL clients such as Apollo and URQL and compatible with all environments (React, Angular, Node.js, React Native), using graph-client will give you the best experience for interacting with The Graph.

Let's look at how to fetch data from a subgraph with graphql-client.

To get started, make sure to install The Graph Client CLI in your project:

yarn add -D @graphprotocol/client-cli
# or, with NPM:
npm install --save-dev @graphprotocol/client-cli

Define your query in a .graphql file (or inlined in your .js or .ts file):

query ExampleQuery {
  # this one is coming from compound-v2
  markets(first: 7) {
    borrowRate
    cash
    collateralFactor
  }
  # this one is coming from uniswap-v2
  pair(id: "0x00004ee988665cdda9a1080d5792cecd16dc1220") {
    id
    token0 {
      id
      symbol
      name
    }
    token1 {
      id
      symbol
      name
    }
  }
}

Then, create a configuration file (called .graphclientrc.yml) and point to your GraphQL endpoints provided by The Graph, for example:

# .graphclientrc.yml
sources:
  - name: uniswapv2
    handler:
      graphql:
        endpoint: https://api.thegraph.com/subgraphs/name/uniswap/uniswap-v2
  - name: compoundv2
    handler:
      graphql:
        endpoint: https://api.thegraph.com/subgraphs/name/graphprotocol/compound-v2

documents:
  - ./src/example-query.graphql

Running the following The Graph Client CLI command will generate typed and ready to use JavaScript code:

graphclient build

Finally, update your .ts file to use the generated typed GraphQL documents:

import React, { useEffect } from 'react'
// ...
// we import types and typed-graphql document from the generated code (`..graphclient/`)
import { ExampleQueryDocument, ExampleQueryQuery, execute } from '../.graphclient'

function App() {
  const [data, setData] = React.useState<ExampleQueryQuery>()

  useEffect(() => {
    execute(ExampleQueryDocument, {}).then((result) => {
      setData(result?.data)
    })
  }, [setData])
  return (
    <div className="App">
      <header className="App-header">
        <img src={logo} className="App-logo" alt="logo" />
        <p>Graph Client Example</p>
        <fieldset>
          {data && (
            <form>
              <label>Data</label>
              <br />
              <textarea value={JSON.stringify(data, null, 2)} readOnly rows={25} />
            </form>
          )}
        </fieldset>
      </header>
    </div>
  )
}

export default App

⚠️ Important notice

graph-client is perfectly integrated with other GraphQL clients such as Apollo client, URQL, or React Query; you will find examples in the official repository.

However, if you choose to go with another client, keep in mind that you won't be able to get to use Cross-chain Subgraph Handling or Automatic Pagination, which are core features for querying The Graph.

Apollo client is the ubiquitous GraphQL client on the front-end ecosystem.

Available for React, Angular, Vue, Ember, iOS, and Android, Apollo Client, although the heaviest client, brings many features to build advanced UI on top of GraphQL:

• advanced error handling
• pagination
• data prefetching
• optimistic UI
• local state management

Let's look at how to fetch data from a subgraph with Apollo client in a web project.

First, install @apollo/client and graphql:

npm install @apollo/client graphql

Then you can query the API with the following code:

import { ApolloClient, InMemoryCache, gql } from '@apollo/client'

const APIURL = 'https://api.studio.thegraph.com/query//<SUBGRAPH_NAME>/'

const tokensQuery = `
  query {
    tokens {
      id
      tokenID
      contentURI
      metadataURI
    }
  }
`

const client = new ApolloClient({
  uri: APIURL,
  cache: new InMemoryCache(),
})

client
  .query({
    query: gql(tokensQuery),
  })
  .then((data) => console.log('Subgraph data: ', data))
  .catch((err) => {
    console.log('Error fetching data: ', err)
  })

To use variables, you can pass in a variables argument to the query:

const tokensQuery = `
  query($first: Int, $orderBy: BigInt, $orderDirection: String) {
    tokens(
      first: $first, orderBy: $orderBy, orderDirection: $orderDirection
    ) {
      id
      tokenID
      contentURI
      metadataURI
    }
  }
`

client
  .query({
    query: gql(tokensQuery),
    variables: {
      first: 10,
      orderBy: 'createdAtTimestamp',
      orderDirection: 'desc',
    },
  })
  .then((data) => console.log('Subgraph data: ', data))
  .catch((err) => {
    console.log('Error fetching data: ', err)
  })

Another option is URQL which is available within Node.js, React/Preact, Vue, and Svelte environments, with more advanced features:

• Flexible cache system
• Extensible design (easing adding new capabilities on top of it)
• Lightweight bundle (~5x lighter than Apollo Client)
• Support for file uploads and offline mode

Let's look at how to fetch data from a subgraph with URQL in a web project.

First, install urql and graphql:

npm install urql graphql

Then you can query the API with the following code:

import { createClient } from 'urql'

const APIURL = 'https://api.thegraph.com/subgraphs/name/username/subgraphname'

const tokensQuery = `
  query {
    tokens {
      id
      tokenID
      contentURI
      metadataURI
    }
  }
`

const client = createClient({
  url: APIURL,
})

const data = await client.query(tokensQuery).toPromise()