super-graph/README.md

# Super Graph

## Instant GraphQL API for Rails. Zero code.

Get an high-performance GraphQL API for your Rails app in seconds. Super Graph will auto learn your database structure and relationships. Built in support for Rails authentication and JWT tokens.

![Super Graph Web UI](web/public/super-graph-web-ui.png?raw=true "Super Graph Web UI for web developers")

## Back story and motivation

I have a Rails app that gets a bit of traffic. Having planned to improve the UI using React or Vue I found that my current APIs didn't have the data I needed and I was too lazy to build new endpoints. My controllers were esentially wrappers around database queries and I didn't enjoy having to figure out new REST APIs with paths, names and methods to fetch all this new data or write the active record code needed.

I always liked GraphQL and how simple it makes things for web devs. On the backend however GraphQL seemed overly complex as it still required me to write a lot of the same database query code. I wanted a GraphQL server that just worked the second you deployed it without having to write a line of code.

And so after a lot of coffee and some avocado toasts we now have Super Graph, an instant GraphQL API that is high performance and quick to deploy. One service to rule all your database querying needs.

## Features
- Support for Rails database conventions
- Belongs-To, One-To-Many and Many-To-Many table relationships
- Devise, Warden encrypted and signed session cookies
- Redis, Memcache and Cookie session stores
- Generates highly optimized Postgres SQL queries
- Customize through a simple config file
- High performance GO codebase
- Tiny docker image and low memory requirements

### GraphQL (GQL)

We currently support the `query` action which is used for fetching data. Support
for `mutation` and `subscriptions` is currently work in progress. For example the below query fetches two products that belong to the current user where the price is greater than 10

#### GQL Query

```gql
query { 
  users {
    id
    email
    picture : avatar
    password
    full_name
    products(limit: 2, where: { price: { gt: 10 } }) {
      id
      name
      description
      price
    }
  }
}
```

The above GQL query returns the JSON result below. It handles all
kinds of complexity without you writing a line of code. For example there is a while greater than `gt` and a limit clause on a child field. And the `avatar` field is renamed to `picture`. The `password` field is blocked and not returned. Finally the relationship between the `users` table and the `products` table is auto discovered and used.

#### JSON Result

```json
{
  "data": {
    "users": [
      {
        "id": 1,
        "email": "odilia@west.info",
        "picture": "https://robohash.org/simur.png?size=300x300",
        "full_name": "Edwin Orn",
        "products": [
          {
            "id": 16,
            "name": "Sierra Nevada Style Ale",
            "description": "Belgian Abbey, 92 IBU, 4.7%, 17.4°Blg",
            "price": 16.47
          },
          ...
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}
```
## Try it out

```console
$ docker-compose run web rake db:create db:migrate db:seed
$ docker-compose -f docker-compose.image.yml up
$ open http://localhost:8080
```

The above command will download the latest docker image for Super Graph and use it to run an example that includes a Postgres DB and a simple Rails ecommerce store app. 

If you want to build and run Super Graph from code then the below commands will build the web ui and launch Super Graph in developer mode with a water for code changes.

```console
$ brew install yarn
$ (cd web && yarn install && yarn build)
$ go generate ./...
$ docker-compose up
```

#### How to try with an authenticated user

In development mode you can use the `X-User-ID: 4` header to set a user id so you don't have to worries about cookies etc. This can be set using the *HTTP Headers* tab at the bottom of the web UI you'll see when you visit the above link. You can also directly run quries from the commandline like shown below.

#### Querying the GQL endpoint

```console
curl 'http://localhost:8080/api/v1/graphql' \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -H 'X-User-ID: 5' \
  --data-binary '{"query":"{ products { name price users { email }}}"}'
```

## How to GraphQL

GraphQL / GQL is a simple query syntax that is fast replacing REST APIs. GQL is great since it allows web developers to fetch the exact data that they need without depending on changes to backend code. Also if you squint hard enough it looks a little bit like JSON :)

The below query will fetch a `users` name, email and avatar image renamed as picture. If you also need the users `id` then just add it to the query.

```gql
query {
  user {
    full_name
    email
    picture : avatar
  }
}
```

Super Graph support complex quries where you can add filters, ordering, offsets and limits on the query.

#### Logical Operators

Name | Example | Explained |
--- | --- | --- |
and | price : { and : { gt: 10.5, lt: 20 } | price > 10.5 AND price < 20
or |  or : { price : { greater_than : 20 }, quantity: { gt : 0 } }  | price >= 20 OR quantity > 0
not | not: { or : { quantity : { eq: 0 }, price : { eq: 0 } } } | NOT (quantity = 0 OR price = 0)

#### Other conditions

Name | Example | Explained |
--- | --- | --- |
eq, equals | id : { eq: 100 } | id = 100 
neq, not_equals | id: { not_equals: 100 } | id != 100
gt, greater_than | id: { gt: 100 } | id > 100
lt, lesser_than | id: { gt: 100 } | id < 100
gte, greater_or_equals | id: { gte: 100 } | id >= 100
lte, lesser_or_equals | id: { lesser_or_equals: 100 } | id <= 100
in | status: { in: [ "A", "B", "C" ] } | status IN ('A', 'B', 'C)
nin, not_in | status: { in: [ "A", "B", "C" ] } | status IN ('A', 'B', 'C)
like | name: { like "phil%" } | Names starting with 'phil'
nlike, not_like | name: { nlike "v%m" } | Not names starting with 'v' and ending with 'm'
ilike | name: { ilike "%wOn" } | Names ending with 'won' case-insensitive
nilike, not_ilike | name: { nilike "%wOn" } | Not names ending with 'won' case-insensitive
similar | name: { similar: "%(b\|d)%" } | [Similar Docs](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9/functions-matching.html#FUNCTIONS-SIMILARTO-REGEXP)
nsimilar, not_similar | name: { nsimilar: "%(b\|d)%" } | [Not Similar Docs](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9/functions-matching.html#FUNCTIONS-SIMILARTO-REGEXP)
has_key | column: { has_key: 'b' } | Does JSON column contain this key
has_key_any | column: { has_key_any: [ a, b ] } | Does JSON column contain any of these keys
has_key_all | column: [ a, b ] | Does JSON column contain all of this keys
contains | column: { contains: [1, 2, 4] } | Is this array/json column a subset of value
contained_in | column: { contains: "{'a':1, 'b':2}" } | Is this array/json column a subset of these value
is_null | column: { is_null: true } | Is column value null or not

#### Aggregation

You will often find the need to fetch aggregated values from the database such as `count`, `max`, `min`, etc. This is simple to go with GraphQL just prefix the aggregation name to the field name that you want to aggregrate. The below query will group products by name and find the minimum price for each group. Notice the `min_price` field we're adding `min_` to price.

```gql
query {
  products {
    name
    min_price
  }
}
```

Name | Explained |
--- | --- |
avg | Average value
count | Count the values
max | Maximum value
min | Minimum  value
stddev | [Standard Deviation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_deviation)
stddev_pop | Population Standard Deviation
stddev_samp | Sample Standard Deviation
variance | [Variance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variance)
var_pop | Population Standard Variance
var_samp | Sample Standard variance

All kinds of quries are possible with GraphQL below is an example that uses a lot of the features available to web devs using GraphQL to get the exact data they need. Comments are also valid within queries.

```javascript
query {
  products(
    # returns only 30 items
    limit: 30,

    # starts from item 10, commented out for now
    # offset: 10,

    # orders the response items by highest price
    order_by: { price: desc },

    # no duplicate prices returned
    distinct: [ price ]
    
    # only items with an id >= 30 and < 30 are returned
    where: { id: { and: { greater_or_equals: 20, lt: 28 } } }) {
    id
    name
    price
  }
}
```

## Configuration

Config files can either be in YAML or JSON their names are derived from the `GO_ENV` variable, for example `GO_ENV=prod` will cause the `prod.yaml` config file to be used. or `GO_ENV=dev` will use the `dev.yaml`. A path to the config files can be specified using the `-path <folder>` command line argument.

```yaml
host_port: 0.0.0.0:8080
web_ui: true
debug_level: 1

# When to throw a 401 on auth failure 
# valid values: always, per_query, never
auth_fail_block: never

# Postgres related enviroment Variables
# SG_DATABASE_HOST
# SG_DATABASE_PORT
# SG_DATABASE_USER
# SG_DATABASE_PASSWORD

# Auth related enviroment Variables
# SG_AUTH_SECRET_KEY_BASE
# SG_AUTH_PUBLIC_KEY_FILE
# SG_AUTH_URL
# SG_AUTH_PASSWORD

# inflections:
#   person: people
#   sheep: sheep

auth:
  type: header
  field_name: X-User-ID

# auth:
#   type: rails
#   cookie: _app_session
#   store: cookie
#   secret_key_base: caf335bfcfdb04e50db5bb0a4d67ab9...

# auth:
#   type: rails
#   cookie: _app_session
#   store: memcache
#   host: 127.0.0.1

# auth:
#   type: rails
#   cookie: _app_session
#   store: redis
#   max_idle: 80,
#   max_active: 12000,
#   url: redis://127.0.0.1:6379
#   password: ""

# auth:
#   type: jwt
#   cookie: _app_session
#   secret: abc335bfcfdb04e50db5bb0a4d67ab9
#   public_key_file: /secrets/public_key.pem
#   public_key_type: ecdsa #rsa

database:
  type: postgres
  host: db
  port: 5432
  dbname: app_development
  user: postgres
  password: ''
  #pool_size: 10
  #max_retries: 0
  #log_level: "debug" 

  # Define variables here that you want to use in filters 
  variables:
    account_id: "select account_id from users where id = $user_id"

  # Used to add access to tables 
  filters:
    users: "{ id: { _eq: $user_id } }"
    posts: "{ account_id: { _eq: $account_id } }"

  # Fields and table names that you wish to block
  blacklist:
    - secret
    - password
    - encrypted
    - token
```

If deploying into enviroments like Kubernetes it's useful to be able to configure things like secrets and hosts though enviroment variables so we expose the following. This is escpecially useful for secrets since they are usually injected in via a secrets management framework ie. Kubernetes Secrets

#### Postgres related enviroment Variables
```console
SG_DATABASE_HOST
SG_DATABASE_PORT
SG_DATABASE_USER
SG_DATABASE_PASSWORD
```

#### Auth related enviroment Variables
```console
SG_AUTH_SECRET_KEY_BASE
SG_AUTH_PUBLIC_KEY_FILE
SG_AUTH_URL
SG_AUTH_PASSWORD
```

## Authentication

You can only have one type of authentication enabled. You can either pick Rails or JWT. Uncomment the one you use and leave the rest commented out.

#### JWT Tokens

```yaml
auth:
  type: jwt
  provider: auth0 #none
  cookie: _app_session
  secret: abc335bfcfdb04e50db5bb0a4d67ab9
  public_key_file: /secrets/public_key.pem
  public_key_type: ecdsa #rsa
```

For JWT tokens we currently support tokens from a provider like Auth0
or if you have a custom solution then we look for the `user_id` in the
`subject` claim of of the `id token`. If you pick Auth0 then we derive two variables from the token `user_id` and `user_id_provider` for to use in your filters.

We can get the JWT token either from the `authorization` header where we expect it to be a `bearer` token or if `cookie` is specified then we look there.

For verified either a `secret` or a public key (ecdsa or rsa) is required. When using public keys they have to be in a PEM format file.

## Deployment

How do I deploy the Super Graph service with my existing rails app? You have several options here. Esentially you need to ensure your app's session cookie will be passed to this service. 

#### Custom Docker Image

Create a `Dockerfile` like the one below to roll your own
custom Super Graph docker image. And to build it `docker build -t my-super-graph .`

```dockerfile
FROM dosco/super-graph:latest
WORKDIR /app
COPY *.yml ./
```

#### Deploy under a subdomain
For this to work you have to ensure that the option `:domain => :all` is added to your rails app config `Application.config.session_store` this will cause your rails app to create session cookies that can be shared with sub-domains. More info here <http://excid3.com/blog/sharing-a-devise-user-session-across-subdomains-with-rails-3/>

#### We have this NGINX loadbalancer
I'm sure you know how to configure it so that the graphql endpoint path is routed to wherever you have this service installed within your architecture.

#### On Kubernetes
If your existing rails app runs on Kubernetes then ensure you have an ingress config deployed that points the path `/api/v1/graphql` to the service that you have deployed Super Graph under.

#### We use JWT tokens like those from Auth0
In that case deploy under a subdomain and configure this service to use JWT authentication. You will need the public key file or secret key. Ensure your web app passes the JWT token with every GQL request in the Authorize header as a `bearer` token.

## Contact me

[twitter.com/dosco](https://twitter.com/dosco)

## License

[MIT](http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)

Copyright (c) 2019-present Vikram Rangnekar