Globally Unique Object Identification ("nodeId" / "id")

We implement the GraphQL Global Object Identification Specification, so any table that has a primary key will automatically have a unique nodeId field available for queries and mutations. This is commonly used as the cache key for your client library, e.g. with Apollo Client's dataIdFromObject:

import ApolloClient from "apollo-client";
import { HttpLink } from "apollo-link-http";
import { InMemoryCache } from "apollo-cache-inmemory";

const cache = new InMemoryCache({
  dataIdFromObject: (object) => object.nodeId || null,
});

export const client = new ApolloClient({
  link: new HttpLink(),
  cache,
});

WARNING: by default, we call the Global Object Identifier nodeId to avoid clashing with the id field that's common practice in database design. If you wish to call the Global Object Identifier field id instead (as is mandated by the specification), you can do so with our --classic-ids CLI flag. In doing so, any id column will automatically be renamed to rowId.

Disabling the Global Object Identifier

You can disable the global object identifier throughout your API by skipping the require('graphile-build').NodePlugin plugin; e.g. from the CLI:

postgraphile --skip-plugins graphile-build:NodePlugin ...

Ensure that you have a good way of generating cache identifiers for your GraphQL client though!

(Note: the GraphQL Global Object Identification Specification was previously known as the Relay Global Object Identification Specification, but it's not specific to Relay.)