MongoDB with GraphQL - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Build a Simple MongoDB GraphQL API

📖 Scenario: You are creating a small API for a bookstore. The data will be stored in MongoDB, and you will use GraphQL to query and manage the books.This project will guide you step-by-step to set up the data structure, configure the schema, write the main query, and complete the API setup.

🎯 Goal: Build a basic GraphQL API connected to MongoDB that allows querying a list of books with their titles and authors.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a MongoDB collection with sample book data

Define a GraphQL schema with a Book type

Write a GraphQL query to fetch all books

Complete the API setup to connect schema and resolver

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Many modern web applications use GraphQL APIs backed by MongoDB to efficiently query and manage data.

💼 Career

Understanding how to connect GraphQL with MongoDB is valuable for backend developers building flexible and scalable APIs.

1

DATA SETUP: Create MongoDB collection with sample books

Create a MongoDB collection called books with these exact documents: { title: "The Hobbit", author: "J.R.R. Tolkien" } and { title: "1984", author: "George Orwell" }.

GraphQL

// Insert the two book documents into the 'books' collection
// Your code here

Hint

Use insertMany on the books collection to add the two book documents.

2

CONFIGURATION: Define GraphQL Book type

Define a GraphQL type called Book with two fields: title and author, both of type String!.

GraphQL

type Book {
  # Define title and author fields here
  # Your code here
}

Hint

Use type Book { title: String! author: String! } to define the type.

3

CORE LOGIC: Write a GraphQL query to fetch all books

Add a Query type with a field books that returns a list of Book objects: [Book!]!.

GraphQL

type Query {
  # Add books field returning list of Book
  # Your code here
}

Hint

Define type Query { books: [Book!]! } to allow fetching all books.

4

COMPLETION: Connect resolver to fetch books from MongoDB

Write a resolver function for Query.books that returns all documents from the books MongoDB collection using db.collection('books').find().toArray().

GraphQL

const resolvers = {
  Query: {
    // Add resolver for books here
    // Your code here
  }
};

Hint

Use an async resolver function that calls db.collection('books').find().toArray() to get all books.