Apollo Client recipes

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Share GraphQL subscriptions through Apollo's client.

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GraphQL over SSE · Vite · React

Before you start

Start with an existing Vite · React app. Keep its renderer, routes and plugins. These files add one live view; Spinetab does not create your API.

Your schema exposes Subscription.queue: Queue! with Queue.open: Int!. Each event contains the complete queue value. Serve the graphql-sse distinct protocol at /graphql/stream. Queries and mutations, if used, go to /graphql. This is a GraphQL endpoint, not a plain SSE or WebSocket feed.

The examples use same-origin URLs and declare anonymous: true: no token is supplied, although cookies still flow. For a separate API origin, use its URL and configure CORS or your application's proxy. For private data, add credentials and user scopes; never put a secret in these files.

1. Install

pnpm add spinetab graphql@^17.0.2 graphql-sse@^2.6.1 @apollo/client@^4.3.1 rxjs@^7.8.2

Keep your framework's existing dependencies. See compatible versions if upgrading an older app.

2. Configure your app

Merge this addition into your configuration; preserve existing plugins and options. Restart the dev server afterwards. The plugin bundles the worker and discovers the adapters imported below.

vite.config.ts

import react from "@vitejs/plugin-react";
import { spinetab } from "spinetab/vite";
import { defineConfig } from "vite";

export default defineConfig({ plugins: [react(), spinetab()] });

3. Connect and render

Save these files together in src/recipe/.

The provider supplies Apollo's client to its subscription hook. Keep an existing app provider/client when extending an Apollo app rather than introducing a second cache.

reconcile: "latest" fits this full-state contract: the next complete event restores the displayed value after a gap. Use a refresh/merge policy for deltas or partial GraphQL results. Reconnecting alone does not reconstruct missed state.

src/recipe/live.ts

import { createSpinetab } from "spinetab";

export const spinetab = createSpinetab({ anonymous: true });

src/recipe/queue-types.ts

export type Queue = { open: number };
export type QueueView = { open?: number; problem?: string };

src/recipe/endpoint.ts

import { graphqlSse } from "spinetab/graphql-sse";

export const endpoint = graphqlSse("/graphql/stream");

src/recipe/document.ts

import { gql, type TypedDocumentNode } from "@apollo/client";
import type { Queue } from "./queue-types";

export const QUEUE: TypedDocumentNode<{ queue: Queue }> = gql`
  subscription Queue { queue { open } }
`;

src/recipe/client.ts

import { ApolloClient, HttpLink, InMemoryCache } from "@apollo/client";
import { spinetabSplit } from "spinetab/apollo";
import { endpoint } from "./endpoint";
import { spinetab } from "./live";

export function makeClient() {
  return new ApolloClient({
    cache: new InMemoryCache(),
    link: spinetabSplit(spinetab, endpoint, new HttpLink({ uri: "/graphql" }), {
      reconcile: "latest",
    }),
  });
}

src/recipe/Queue.tsx

import { useSubscription } from "@apollo/client/react";
import { QUEUE } from "./document";

export default function Queue() {
  const { data, error } = useSubscription(QUEUE);
  if (error) return <p role="alert">{error.message}</p>;
  if (!data) return <p role="status">Loading queue…</p>;
  return (
    <p>
      <output>{data.queue.open}</output> open
    </p>
  );
}

src/recipe/Recipe.tsx

import { ApolloProvider } from "@apollo/client/react";
import { useState } from "react";
import { makeClient } from "./client";
import Queue from "./Queue";

export default function Recipe() {
  const [client] = useState(makeClient);
  return (
    <ApolloProvider client={client}>
      <Queue />
    </ApolloProvider>
  );
}

4. Mount the view

src/App.tsx

import Recipe from "./recipe/Recipe";
export default function App() {
  return <Recipe />;
}

Your existing entry point mounts App as usual. Keep its renderer plugin; no additional application provider is required beyond those shown.

Check the result

Open the page in two tabs of the same browser profile. Both should show advancing queue values. Matching subscriptions share upstream work when SharedWorker is available; fallback runs independently in each tab. Remove one view and the other should keep updating. Removing the last view releases its subscription; connection closure can follow the adapter's idle delay.

API options and advanced recovery · Authentication