golang-graphql

Persona: You are a Go GraphQL engineer. You design schemas deliberately, batch database access to prevent N+1, and treat query complexity limits as non-optional in production.

Modes:

• Build mode — generating new schemas, resolvers, or server setup: follow the skill's sequential instructions; launch a background agent to grep for existing resolver patterns and naming conventions before generating new code.
• Review mode — auditing a GraphQL codebase or PR: use a sub-agent to scan for N+1 resolver patterns, missing complexity caps, global DataLoaders, and introspection enabled in production, in parallel with reading the business logic.

Community default. A company skill that explicitly supersedes samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-graphql skill takes precedence.

Go GraphQL Best Practices

Both major libraries are schema-first: write SDL (.graphql files), bind Go resolvers. Choose based on project size and team preferences.

This skill is not exhaustive — refer to each library's official documentation and code examples for current API signatures:

• For Go package docs, symbols, versions, importers, and known vulnerabilities, → See samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-pkg-go-dev skill (godig), preferred over Context7 for Go package facts.
• To navigate this library's usage in your own code (definitions, call sites, diagnostics), → See samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-gopls skill (gopls).
• Context7 remains a fallback for docs not indexed on pkg.go.dev.

Library Choice

Pick gqlgen when: Apollo Federation is required, schema is large (100+ types), or the team wants generated stubs and zero reflection overhead.

Pick graph-gophers when: schema is small/medium, the build pipeline should stay simple, or a dynamic schema is needed.

For deep-dive on each library, see gqlgen reference and graphql-go reference.

Schema Design

# ✓ Good — explicit nullability; ID scalar for opaque identifiers
type User {
  id: ID!
  email: String! # non-null: the server can always return this
  bio: String # nullable: may be unset
  posts(first: Int = 10, after: String): PostConnection!
}

# ✗ Bad — Int ID leaks implementation details, breaks client caching
type Post {
  id: Int!
}

Nullability rule: mark a field ! only when the server can always return a value. A resolver error on a non-null field nulls the parent object, causing cascade failures; nullable fields only null the field itself.

Pagination: use Relay cursor connections (Connection/Edge/PageInfo) for list fields. Avoid offset pagination on large datasets — cursors are stable under concurrent writes.

Mutations: wrap results in an envelope type so clients receive business errors alongside partial results without polluting the GraphQL errors array:

type CreateUserPayload {
  user: User
  errors: [UserError!]!
}

Resolver Patterns

Keep resolvers thin — they translate GraphQL inputs to domain calls and domain responses to GraphQL outputs.

// ✓ Good — resolver delegates to service layer
func (r *mutationResolver) CreateUser(ctx context.Context, input model.CreateUserInput) (*model.CreateUserPayload, error) {
    user, err := r.userService.Create(ctx, input.Email, input.Name)
    if err != nil {
        return nil, formatError(err)
    }
    return &model.CreateUserPayload{User: toGQLUser(user)}, nil
}

// ✗ Bad — SQL in resolver, no separation of concerns
func (r *queryResolver) User(ctx context.Context, id string) (*model.User, error) {
    row := r.db.QueryRowContext(ctx, "SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = $1", id)
    // ...
}

Use per-type resolver structs (userResolver, postResolver) rather than one monolithic resolver for all fields.

N+1 Prevention (DataLoaders)

Each User.posts resolver fires a SQL query per user without batching — O(n) DB calls for n users. DataLoaders solve this by coalescing per-field loads into a single batch query.

Critical rule: DataLoaders MUST be created per-request in HTTP middleware, never globally. A global DataLoader caches across requests — stale data, potential cross-user data leakage.

// ✓ Good — per-request DataLoader in middleware
func DataLoaderMiddleware(db *sql.DB, next http.Handler) http.Handler {
    return http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
        loaders := &Loaders{
            PostsByUserID: newPostsByUserIDLoader(r.Context(), db),
        }
        ctx := context.WithValue(r.Context(), loadersKey, loaders)
        next.ServeHTTP(w, r.WithContext(ctx))
    })
}

// ✗ Bad — global DataLoader shared across all requests
var globalLoader = newPostsByUserIDLoader(context.Background(), db)

In gqlgen, mark batched fields with resolver: true in gqlgen.yml to force a dedicated resolver method. See gqlgen reference for full DataLoader wiring.

Authentication and Authorization

Two-layer model:

1. HTTP middleware — extract and validate tokens, stash identity in context.Context.
2. Schema directives (gqlgen) or resolver checks (graphql-go) — enforce per-field authorization.

// HTTP middleware layer (both libraries)
func AuthMiddleware(next http.Handler) http.Handler {
    return http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
        token := r.Header.Get("Authorization")
        user, err := validateToken(token)
        if err != nil {
            http.Error(w, "Unauthorized", http.StatusUnauthorized)
            return
        }
        ctx := context.WithValue(r.Context(), userKey, user)
        next.ServeHTTP(w, r.WithContext(ctx))
    })
}

In gqlgen, use @hasRole schema directives for field-level authorization — authorization policy lives in the schema, not scattered across resolvers. See gqlgen reference.

Error Handling

Never return raw internal errors — they leak SQL messages, stack traces, or service internals to clients.

// gqlgen — custom ErrorPresenter strips internal details
srv.SetErrorPresenter(func(ctx context.Context, err error) *gqlerror.Error {
    var gqlErr *gqlerror.Error
    if errors.As(err, &gqlErr) {
        return gqlErr // already formatted
    }
    // log internal err here
    return gqlerror.Errorf("internal error") // safe client message
})

// Add extension codes for client-side error handling
return nil, &gqlerror.Error{
    Message: "user not found",
    Extensions: map[string]any{"code": "NOT_FOUND"},
}

For graph-gophers, implement the ResolverError interface to attach Extensions(). See graphql-go reference.

Use graphql.AddError(ctx, err) in gqlgen for non-fatal field errors where the resolver can still return partial data.

For error wrapping patterns, see the samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-error-handling skill.

Subscriptions

Subscriptions use long-lived WebSocket connections. The critical discipline: always respect context cancellation — a leaked goroutine per disconnected client exhausts resources silently.

// ✓ Good — closes channel when client disconnects
func (r *subscriptionResolver) MessageAdded(ctx context.Context, room string) (<-chan *model.Message, error) {
    ch := make(chan *model.Message, 1)
    sub := r.pubsub.Subscribe(room) // subscribe once before the goroutine
    go func() {
        defer close(ch) // always close; signals iteration to stop
        for {
            select {
            case <-ctx.Done():
                return // client disconnected
            case msg := <-sub:
                select {
                case ch <- msg:
                case <-ctx.Done():
                    return
                }
            }
        }
    }()
    return ch, nil
}

// ✗ Bad — goroutine leaks forever when client disconnects
func (r *subscriptionResolver) MessageAdded(ctx context.Context, room string) (<-chan *model.Message, error) {
    ch := make(chan *model.Message, 1)
    go func() {
        for msg := range r.pubsub.Subscribe(room) {
            ch <- msg // blocks forever after client gone
        }
    }()
    return ch, nil
}

Performance and Safety

Production GraphQL servers require explicit limits. Without them, a single deeply nested query exhausts CPU and memory.

// gqlgen — wire these into every production handler
srv := handler.NewDefaultServer(es)
srv.Use(extension.FixedComplexityLimit(200)) // max cost per query

// Gate introspection — only in non-production environments
if os.Getenv("ENV") != "production" {
    srv.Use(extension.Introspection{})
}

For graph-gophers: graphql.MaxDepth(10) and graphql.MaxParallelism(10) options at ParseSchema time.

Query allow-listing: in production, consider persisted queries (gqlgen APQ extension) to reject arbitrary query strings.

Common Mistakes

Deep Dives

• [gqlgen reference](./references/gqlgen.md) — codegen workflow, gqlgen.yml, DataLoaders, Federation v2, directives
• [graphql-go reference](./references/graphql-go.md) — reflection resolver model, type mapping, tracing
• [Testing](./references/testing.md) — gqlgen client harness, gqltesting, httptest patterns

Cross-References

• → See samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-context skill for context propagation in resolvers and subscriptions
• → See samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-error-handling skill for error wrapping and sentinel patterns
• → See samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-testing skill for table-driven and integration test patterns
• → See samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-observability skill for tracing and metrics in resolvers
• → See samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-security skill for input validation and injection prevention
• → See samber/cc-skills-golang@golang-database skill for N+1 query patterns and DataLoader database batching

References

• gqlgen
• graph-gophers/graphql-go
• Relay cursor connections spec

If you encounter a bug or unexpected behavior in gqlgen, open an issue at <https://github.com/99designs/gqlgen/issues>.

If you encounter a bug or unexpected behavior in graph-gophers/graphql-go, open an issue at <https://github.com/graph-gophers/graphql-go/issues>.