Version: v2.x

API Reference - Query / Subscription

Overview

The Hasura GraphQL API exposes a set of GraphQL queries so that you can get started with building your application right away. The queries are auto-generated by Hasura based on the tables and relationships in your database.

Below, you'll find the overviews and syntax definitions for queries and subscriptions.

Query / Subscription syntax

Each query / subscription is a GraphQL object with a set of fields. The fields are auto-generated based on the tables and relationships in your database. An object is - as the name suggests - an object, which can have multiple fields of its own. Objects can return complex data structures, including nested objects and arrays. Alternatively, object fields are scalar values (e.g., string, integer, boolean, etc.) that do not contain any nested objects or arrays.

query|subscription [<op-name>] {
  object [([argument])]{
    object-fields
  }
}

Key	Required	Schema	Description
op-name	`false`	Value	The user-generated name of the query / subscription; useful for observability and analyzing operations.
object	`true`	Object	The name of the table / object on which to perform the operation.
argument	`false`	Argument	One or more of filter criteria, or instructions for ordering, pagination, etc.

Query example

In the example below, the query retrieves the id and name fields of all authors whose articles have a rating of 4 or higher. The results are ordered by the name field in ascending order.

query AuthorQuery {
  author(where: { articles: { rating: { _gte: 4 } } }, order_by: { name: asc }) {
    id
    name
  }
}

Referencing the table above, the author is the object, and id and name are the object fields. The arguments are where and order_by.

Subscription example

In this example, we're executing the exact same logic as above, but as a subscription. The subscription will re-deliver all the results of the query whenever there is a change in the data that matches the query criteria.

subscription AuthorSubscription {
  author(where: { articles: { rating: { _gte: 4 } } }, order_by: { name: asc }) {
    id
    name
  }
}

Note

For more examples and details of usage, please see this.

By PK syntax

query_by_pk / subscription_by_pk are special queries / subscriptions that can be used to fetch a single row from a table by its primary key. The primary key is specified as an argument to the query / subscription.

query|subscription [<op-name>] {
  <query-field-name> (
    column1: value1
    column2: value2
  )
  <object-fields>
}

Key	Required	Schema	Description
op-name	`false`	Value	The name of the query / subscription; useful for observability and analyzing operations.
query-field-name	`true`	Value	The name of the auto-generated query field (e.g. `article_by_pk`).
column1	`true`	Value	The argument for the primary key column's name.

Query by PK example

This GraphQL query retrieves the id and title fields of the article with id of 1. The primary key id is passed as an argument to the article_by_pk field. The desired fields to retrieve from the article record, id and title, are specified in the object-fields section of the query.

query GetSingleAuthor {
  article_by_pk(id: 1) {
    id
    title
  }
}

Subscription by PK example

In this example, we're executing the exact same logic as above, but as a subscription. The subscription will trigger whenever there is a change in the data that matches the query criteria.

subscription GetSingleAuthor {
  article_by_pk(id: 1) {
    id
    title
  }
}

Syntax definitions

Below, you'll find the syntax definitions for the various components of a query / subscription. The syntax definitions are grouped by the type of component.

Object

An object is a table or a view in your database. Objects can be simple or aggregates. Simple objects typically represent a single record in a table. Aggregate objects typically represent a group of records in a table grouped by an aggregate function applied to a specified column.

Simple object

Below, you'll find the syntax definition for a simple object. Simple objects are tables or views in your database that can have multiple fields of their own. Simple objects can return complex data structures, including nested objects and arrays.

object-name {
  field1
  field2
  json_field[(path: String)]
  ..
  nested object1
  nested object2
  aggregate nested object1
  ..
}

Here's a breakdown of some of the key components of the syntax definition:

Key	Required	Schema	Description
field	`false`	Value	The name of the column in the table / view which returns a scalar value.
nested object	`false`	Object	A reference to another object via a relationship that contains multiple fields.
json_field	`false`	Value	The name of the column in the table / view which returns a JSON value.
path	false	Value	`path` argument of `json`/`jsonb` follows simple JSONPath specification. However, prefix symbol `$.` is optional.
aggregate nested object	`false`	Aggregate object	A reference to an aggregate object.

Below, you'll find an example of a simple object based on the definition above:

author {
   id  # scalar integer field

   name  # scalar text field

   address(path: "$.city") # scalar JSON field -> property
   address(path: "$.city.altitude") # scalar JSON field -> property -> property
   address(path: "city") # scalar JSON field -> property; '$.' prefix is optional
   contacts(path: "[0]") # scalar JSON field -> array_item
   contacts(path: "[0].phone") # scalar JSON field -> array_item_property
   contacts(path: "['Hello world!']") # scalar JSON field -> property; used for special characters key
   contacts(path: "[\"Hello world!\"]") # same as above; the syntax is ugly, but still works

   article {  # nested object
     title
   }

   article_aggregate {  # aggregate nested object
     aggregate {
       count
     }
     nodes {
       title
     }
   }
}

Aggregate object

Aggregate objects represent a group of records in a table grouped by an aggregate function applied to a specified column. These are useful for performing aggregate queries on your data (e.g. count, sum, avg, etc.) and simplifying your frontend code. For more details on aggregate functions, refer to the Postgres docs.

object-name_aggregate {
  aggregate {
    count
    sum {
      field
      ..
    }
    avg {
      field
      ..
    }
    stddev {
      field
      ..
    }
    stddev_samp {
      field
      ..
    }
    stddev_pop {
      field
      ..
    }
    variance {
      field
      ..
    }
    var_samp {
      field
      ..
    }
    var_pop {
      field
      ..
    }
    max {
      field
      ..
    }
    min {
      field
      ..
    }
  nodes {
    field1
    field2
    ..
    nested object1
    nested object2
    aggregate nested object1
    ..
  }
}

Here's a breakdown of some of the key components of the syntax definition:

Key	Required	Schema	Description
aggregate	`true`	Aggregate	The aggregate function to apply to the specified column.
count	`false`	Value	The number of records in the table.
sum	`false`	Value	The sum of the values in the specified column.
avg	`false`	Value	The average of the values in the specified column.
stddev	`false`	Value	The standard deviation of the values in the column.
stddev_samp	`false`	Value	The sample standard deviation of the values in the column.
stddev_pop	`false`	Value	The population standard deviation of the values in the column.
variance	`false`	Value	The variance of the values in the column.
var_samp	`false`	Value	The sample variance of the values in the column.
var_pop	`false`	Value	The population variance of the values in the column.
max	`false`	Value	The maximum value in the column.
min	`false`	Value	The minimum value in the column.
nodes	`true`	Object	A reference to another object via a relationship that contains multiple fields.

Below, you'll find an example of an aggregate object based on the definition above:

Query Variables

Request Headers

Documentation Explorer

No Schema Available

Argument

An argument is a value passed to a field. Arguments can be simple or complex. Within Hasura, you can use four types of arguments:

Argument type	GraphQL expression	Description
DistinctOnExp	`distinct_on`	A distinct on expression that specifies the columns on which to apply the distinct operator
WhereExp	`where`	A where expression that specifies the filter criteria
OrderByExp	`order_by`	An order by expression that specifies the sort order
PaginationExp	`offset: <OFFSET>, limit: <LIMIT>`	A pagination expression that specifies the limit and offset

DistinctOnExp

The distinct on expression specifies the columns on which to apply the distinct operator. This is useful for eliminating duplicate rows in the result set.

distinct_on: [TableSelectColumnEnum]

Example

query {
  article(distinct_on: title) {
    title
    content
  }
}

In the example above, the title column is used to eliminate duplicate rows in the result set. Our query will return only one row for each unique title.

TableSelectColumnEnum

# example table_select_column enum for "article" table
enum article_select_column {
  id
  title
  content
  author_id
  is_published
}

WhereExp

The where expression specifies the filter criteria. This is useful for filtering the result set to only include records that match the specified criteria.

where: BoolExp

Example

query {
  author(where: { rating: { _gt: 4 } }) {
    name
    articles {
      title
    }
  }
}

In the example above, the author field is filtered to only include authors with a rating greater than 4.

BoolExp

The boolean expression is used to filter the result set by a specified criteria. It can be used in conjunction with other boolean expressions to create complex filters. Hasura makes the following boolean expressions available:

Boolean expression	GraphQL expression	Description
AndExp	`_and`	A boolean expression that specifies the logical AND operator.
OrExp	`_or`	A boolean expression that specifies the logical OR operator.
NotExp	`_not`	A boolean expression that specifies the logical NOT operator.
TrueExp	`Boolean!`	A boolean expression that specifies the logical TRUE operator.
ColumnExp	`<columnName>`	A boolean expression that specifies a column.
AggregationExp	`<relationship>_aggregate`	A boolean expression that specifies an aggregation on an array relationship.

AndExp

The _and expression specifies the logical AND operator. You can use the _and operator to combine multiple boolean expressions into a single expression where all expressions must evaluate to true.

{
  _and: [BoolExp]
}

In the example below, the article field is filtered to only include articles with a rating greater than 4 and a publication date greater than 2018-01-01.

query {
  article(where: { _and: [{ rating: { _gt: 4 } }, { published_on: { _gt: "2018-01-01" } }] }) {
    title
    content
  }
}

Syntactic sugar

You can simplify an _and expression by passing the sub-expressions separated by a ,.

First example: _and expression with different fields

{
  _and: [
    { rating: { _gte: 4 } },
    { published_on: { _gte: "2018-01-01" } }
  ]
}

# can be simplified to:

{
  rating: { _gte: 4 },
  published_on: { _gte: "2018-01-01" }
}

Second example: _and expression with same field

_and: [
  {
    rating: {
      _gt: 1
    }
  },
  {
    rating: {
      _lt: 5
    }
  }
]

# can be simplified to:

rating: {
  _gt: 1,
  _lt: 5
}

OrExp

The _or expression specifies the logical OR operator. You can use the _or operator to combine multiple boolean expressions into a single expression where at least one of the sub-expressions must evaluate to true.

{
  _or: [BoolExp]
}

In the example below, the article field is filtered to only include articles with a rating greater than 4 or that are published.

query {
  article(where: { _or: [{ rating: { _gt: 4 } }, { is_published: { _eq: true } }] }) {
    title
    content
  }
}

Note

The _or operator expects an array of expressions as input. Passing an object to it will result in the behavior of the _and operator due to the way GraphQL list input coercion behaves.

Example:

{
  _or: {
   rating: { _gte: 4 },
   published_on: { _gte: "2018-01-01" }
  }
}

# will be coerced to:

{
  _or: [
    {
      rating: { _gte: 4 },
      published_on: { _gte: "2018-01-01" }
    }
  ]
}

# which is equivalent to:

{
  _or: [
    _and: [
      { rating: { _gte: 4 } },
      { published_on: { _gte: "2018-01-01" } }
    ]
  ]
}

NotExp

The _not expression specifies the logical NOT operator. You can use the _not operator to negate a boolean expression. This is useful when you want to filter out results that match a certain criteria.

{
  _not: BoolExp
}

In the example below, the article field is filtered to only include articles with a title that is not an empty string. Effectively, this will filter out articles with an empty title.

query {
  article(where: { _not: { title: { _eq: "" } } }) {
    title
    content
  }
}

TrueExp

The _true expression specifies the logical TRUE operator. You can use the _true operator to return all rows in a table which match the specified criteria.

{}

In the example below, the author field is filtered to only include authors that have at least one article. Essentially, we're saying "return all authors if articles is true."

query {
  author(where: { articles: {} }) {
    name
  }
}

Note

{} evaluates to true whenever an object exists (even if it's null).

ColumnExp

The _col expression specifies a column. You can use the _col operator to reference a column in a table. In the definition below, the field-name is the name of the column.

{
  field-name: { Operator: Value }
}

In the example below, the article field is filtered to only include articles with a title that is equal to "GraphQL Tutorial".

query {
  article(where: { title: { _eq: "GraphQL Tutorial" } }) {
    title
    content
  }
}

Operator

Operators are used to compare a column value with a specified value. The following operators are available:

Generic operators (all column types except json, jsonb):

Operator	PostgreSQL equivalent
`_eq`	`=`
`_neq`	`<>`
`_gt`	`>`
`_lt`	`<`
`_gte`	`>=`
`_lte`	`<=`
`_in`	`IN`
`_nin`	`NOT IN`

(For more details, refer to the Postgres docs for comparison operators and list based search operators.)

Text related operators:

Operator	PostgreSQL equivalent
`_like`	`LIKE`
`_nlike`	`NOT LIKE`
`_ilike`	`ILIKE`
`_nilike`	`NOT ILIKE`
`_similar`	`SIMILAR TO`
`_nsimilar`	`NOT SIMILAR TO`
`_regex`	`~`
`_iregex`	`~*`
`_nregex`	`!~`
`_niregex`	`!~*`

(For more details on text related operators, refer to the Postgres docs.)

Checking for NULL values:

Operator	PostgreSQL equivalent
`_is_null` (takes true/false as values)	`IS NULL`

(For more details on the IS NULL expression, refer to the Postgres docs.)

Type casting:

Operator	PostgreSQL equivalent
`_cast` (takes a CastExp as a value)	`::`

(For more details on type casting, refer to the Postgres docs.)

JSONB operators:

Operator	PostgreSQL equivalent
`_contains`	`@>`
`_contained_in`	`<@`
`_has_key`	`?`
`_has_keys_any`	`?!`
`_has_keys_all`	`?&`

(For more details on JSONB operators, refer to the Postgres docs.)

PostGIS related operators on GEOMETRY columns:

Operator	PostGIS equivalent
`_st_contains`	`ST_Contains(column, input)`
`_st_crosses`	`ST_Crosses(column, input)`
`_st_equals`	`ST_Equals(column, input)`
`_st_intersects`	`ST_Intersects(column, input)`
`_st_overlaps`	`ST_Overlaps(column, input)`
`_st_touches`	`ST_Touches(column, input)`
`_st_within`	`ST_Within(column, input)`
`_st_d_within`	`ST_DWithin(column, input)`

(For more details on spatial relationship operators, refer to the PostGIS docs.)

Note

All operators take a JSON representation of geometry/geography values as input value.

The input value for _st_d_within operator is an object:

{
  field-name : {_st_d_within: {distance: Float, from: Value} }
}

Intersect Operators on RASTER columns:

Operator	PostgreSQL equivalent	Input object
`_st_intersects_rast`	`ST_Intersects(column, value)`	`{ _st_intersects_rast: raster }`
`_st_intersects_nband_geom`	`ST_Intersects(column, nband, geommin)`	`{ _st_intersects_nband_geom: {nband: Integer! geommin: geometry!}`
`_st_intersects_geom_nband`	`ST_Intersects(column, geommin, nband)`	`{ _st_intersects_geom_nband: {geommin: geometry! nband: Integer }`

(For more details on intersect operators on raster columns refer to the PostGIS docs.)

ltree operators:

Operator	PostgreSQL equivalent
`_ancestor`	`@>`
`_ancestor_any`	`@>`
`_descendant`	`<@`
`_descendant_any`	`<@`
`_matches`	`~`
`_matches_any`	`?`
`_matches_fulltext`	`@`

(For more details on operators on ltree columns refer to the Postgres docs.)

CastExp

{ type-name: {Operator: Value} }

Example

query MyQuery($coordinate: geography!) {
  postgis_test_table(
    where: {
      geometry_column: {
        _cast: {
          geography: { _st_d_within: { distance: 1000000, from: $coordinate } }
        }
      }
    }
  ) {
    id
  }
}

Variables:
{
  "coordinate": {
    "type": "Point",
    "coordinates": [ 2.5559, 49.0083 ]
  }
}

Note

Currently, only the following type casts are supported:

between PostGIS geometry and geography types
from Postgres jsonb type to string type.

AggregationExp

The AggregationExp type is used to specify aggregation predicates in the where clause of a query. This requires an array relationship.

{
  field-name_aggregate: { AggregationPredicate }
}

Note that each field-name_aggregate object may refer to only one aggregation predicate. Multiple aggregation predicates can be specified via the _and operator, however.

In the following example, we query for restaurants that have an average review rating greater than 5. The where clause specifies an aggregation predicate on the reviews field, which is of type review_aggregate.

query RestaurantsWithHighRatings {
  restaurant(where: { reviews_aggregate: { average: { arguments: "rating", predicate: { _gt: 5 } } } }) {
    name
  }
}

AggregationPredicate

The AggregationPredicate type is used to specify aggregation predicates in the where clause of a query. It is composed of an aggregation function and a predicate.

function-name: {
    arguments: (column-name | [column-name] | { argument-name: column-name })
    distinct: true | false
    filter:  BoolExp 
    predicate:  Operator 
  }

Aggregation functions may differ in the arguments that they support. For instance, count may take an arbitrary number of arguments, while sum takes exactly one. Certain functions take named arguments.

The functions supported are specific to each backend.

Examples

  average: {
    arguments: "rating",
    predicate: { _gt: 5 }
  }

  count: {
    arguments: []
    predicate: { _gt: 10 }
  }

  count: {
    arguments: ["name", "id"]
    predicate: { _gt: 10 }
  }

  corr: {
    arguments: { X: "age", Y: "score" }
    predicate: { _gt: 0.6 }
  }

OrderByExp

The OrderByExp type is used to specify ordering in the order_by clause of a query.

order_by: (TableOrderBy | [TableOrderBy])

In the example below, we query for articles, ordered by their rating in descending order.

query ArticlesOrderedByRating {
  article(order_by: { rating: desc }) {
    name
    rating
  }
}

Here, we query for articles, ordered by their rating in descending order, and then by their author's id in ascending order.

query ArticlesOrderedByRatingAndAuthorId {
  article(order_by: [{ id: desc }, { author: { id: asc } }]) {
    title
    rating
  }
}

TableOrderBy

TableOrderBy is a composite type that consists of one or more fields, each of which specifies the order in which query results should be sorted.

For columns

{ column: OrderByEnum }

In the example below, we query for articles, ordered by their rating in ascending order:

query {
  article(order_by: { rating: asc }) {
    title
    content
  }
}

For object relations

{ relation-name: TableOrderBy }

Here, we query for articles, ordered by their author's rating in descending order:

query {
  article(order_by: { author: { rating: desc } }) {
    title
    content
  }
}

For array relations aggregate

{ relation-name_aggregate: AggregateOrderBy }

Below, we query for authors, ordered by the maximum rating of their articles in ascending order:

query {
  author(order_by: { articles_aggregate: { max: { rating: asc } } }) {
    name
  }
}

For computed fields

Returning scalar values:

{ computed-field-name: OrderByEnum }

Returning set of table rows:

{ computed-field-name: TableOrderBy }

{ computed-field-name_aggregate: AggregateOrderBy }

Order by type for article table:

input article_order_by {
  id: order_by
  title: order_by
  content: order_by
  author_id: order_by
  #order by using "author" object relationship columns
  author: author_order_by
  #order by using "likes" array relationship aggregates
  likes_aggregate: likes_aggregate_order_by
}

For computed fields returning scalar type

{ computed-field-name: OrderByEnum }

Consider a table student contains integer columns for course subjects to store marks. A computed field with the name total_marks defined to calculate sum of all subject marks. We need to fetch student rows sorted by total_marks.

query StudentsOrderByTotalMarks {
  student(order_by: { total_marks: desc }) {
    id
    name
    total_marks
  }
}

For computed fields returning table row type

Computed fields returning set of table rows can be used to sort the query by their aggregate fields.

{ computed-field-name_aggregate: AggregateOrderBy }

A computed field get_articles is defined on the author table which returns set of article table rows. Fetch authors sorted by the count of their articles.

query AuthorsOrderByArticleCount {
  author(order_by: { get_articles_aggregate: { count: desc } }) {
    id
    name
    get_articles {
      id
      title
      content
    }
  }
}

OrderByEnum

We can use the order_by enum type to specify the order in which query results should be sorted.

#the order_by enum type
enum order_by {
  #in the ascending order, nulls last
  asc
  #in the ascending order, nulls last
  asc_nulls_last
  #in the ascending order, nulls first
  asc_nulls_first
  #in the descending order, nulls first
  desc
  #in the descending order, nulls first
  desc_nulls_first
  #in the descending order, nulls last
  desc_nulls_last
}

In the example below, we query for articles, ordered by their rating in ascending order:

query ArticleOrderByRating {
  article(order_by: { rating: asc }) {
    title
    content
  }
}

AggregateOrderBy

We can use the aggregate_order_by enum type to specify the order in which query results should be sorted.

Count aggregate

{ count: OrderByEnum }

In this example, we query for authors, ordered by the count of their articles in descending order:

query AuthorOrderByArticleCount {
  author(order_by: { articles_aggregate: { count: desc } }) {
    name
  }
}

Operation aggregate

The operation aggregate type is used to specify the order in which query results should be sorted.

{ op_name: TableAggOpOrderBy }

Below, we query for authors, ordered by the sum of their article ids in descending order:

query AuthorOrderBySumOfArticles {
  author(order_by: { articles_aggregate: { sum: { id: desc } } }) {
    id
  }
}

Available operations are sum, avg, max, min, stddev, stddev_samp, stddev_pop, variance, var_samp and var_pop.

TableAggOpOrderBy

table_agg_op_order_by is a type used to specify the order in which the aggregate query results should be returned. It is used as an argument to the order_by field of an aggregate query.

{ column: OrderByEnum }

In the example below, we query for an orders_aggregate , ordered by the sum of their total_price in descending order:

query AggregateOrderBy {
  orders_aggregate(order_by: { sum_total_price: desc }) {
    aggregate {
      sum {
        total_price
      }
    }
    nodes {
      customer_id
    }
  }
}

PaginationExp

Pagination expression is used to paginate the query results. It is used as an argument to the limit and offset fields of a query.

limit: Integer
[offset: Integer]

In this final example, we query for articles, limiting the results to 6 rows, and skipping the first 2 rows:

query ArticlesPagination {
  article(limit: 6, offset: 2) {
    title
    content
  }
}

API Reference - Query / Subscription

Overview

Query / Subscription syntax

Query example

Subscription example

By PK syntax

Query by PK example

Subscription by PK example

Syntax definitions

Object

Simple object

Aggregate object

Argument

DistinctOnExp

TableSelectColumnEnum

WhereExp

BoolExp

AndExp

OrExp

NotExp

TrueExp

ColumnExp

Operator

CastExp

AggregationExp

AggregationPredicate

OrderByExp

TableOrderBy

OrderByEnum

AggregateOrderBy

TableAggOpOrderBy

PaginationExp

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API Reference - Query / Subscription

Overview​

Query / Subscription syntax​

Query example​

Subscription example​

By PK syntax​

Query by PK example​

Subscription by PK example​

Syntax definitions​

Object​

Simple object​

Aggregate object​

Argument​

DistinctOnExp​

TableSelectColumnEnum​

WhereExp​

BoolExp​

AndExp​

OrExp​

NotExp​

TrueExp​

ColumnExp​

Operator​

CastExp​

AggregationExp​

AggregationPredicate​

OrderByExp​

TableOrderBy​

OrderByEnum​

AggregateOrderBy​

TableAggOpOrderBy​

PaginationExp​

What did you think of this doc?

Start with GraphQL on Hasura for Free

Overview

Query / Subscription syntax

Query example

Subscription example

By PK syntax

Query by PK example

Subscription by PK example

Syntax definitions

Object

Simple object

Aggregate object

Argument

DistinctOnExp

TableSelectColumnEnum

WhereExp

BoolExp

AndExp

OrExp

NotExp

TrueExp

ColumnExp

Operator

CastExp

AggregationExp

AggregationPredicate

OrderByExp

TableOrderBy

OrderByEnum

AggregateOrderBy

TableAggOpOrderBy

PaginationExp