Installing an API client
You only need to install the API client package if you are not using Gadget-hosted frontends.
Methods | Use cases |
---|---|
Direct script tag | High-traffic websites, CMS platforms, E-commerce sites |
React | Use an external React frontend with your preferred code editor |
Node module | Web applications with server-side rendering, non-React JS applications |
Direct script tag
Gadget generates JavaScript code directly for your web frontend for straightforward integrations into websites. This <script/>
tag method is the simplest and easiest way to get started using example-app's API.
<script src="https://example-app--development.gadget.app/api/client/web.min.js"></script><script>// create a new instance of the Gadget client at the `api` global connected to the Development environmentwindow.api = new Gadget()</script>
Once the above script tags have been included, you can access api
to start making API calls! The generated code is cached on Gadget's CDN and is safe to include directly on high-traffic web properties like a Shopify store or a WordPress blog. We recommend this method of installation for websites when possible, as the client will update without you having to make changes to your code or manually sync with Gadget.
const results = await api.query(`query GetSomeData {# start writing GraphQL queries!}`);
Make sure you use your app's production URL when deploying to production.
<script src="https://example-app.gadget.app/api/client/web.min.js"></script>
React
To use your Gadget client with React, you must install both React and the React bindings.
npm install @gadgetinc/react @gadget-client/example-app
yarn add @gadgetinc/react @gadget-client/example-app
If you are using the Gadget-hosted React frontend, these packages are already installed! You don't need to re-add them.
Creating the client for React apps
Once your @gadget-client/example-app package has been installed, create an instance of the Client
class in a shared file somewhere:
This client will be shared by all your React components, so it's best to put this code outside any particular component, or within one of your root components where it can be shared. Be sure to select the appropriate authentication mode for your use case.
import { Client } from "@gadget-client/example-app";export const api = new Client({authenticationMode: { browserSession: true },});
If you are using Next.js, or other server-side rendering environments, using browserSession authentication mode will not work, as server-side environments don't support localStorage
.
Instead, instantiate the client without specifying an authentication mode.
export const api = new Client();
This will default to using the anonymous authentication mode on the server, and the browserSession authentication mode on the client.
Providing the React client
Once your client is installed and set up, you must provide an instance of your client to your React components using the Gadget React provider. Instantiate the client using the instructions above, and then pass it to the api
prop of the provider.
1import { Provider } from "@gadgetinc/react";2import { api } from "shared/api";3const App = () => (4 <Provider api={api}>5 <YourRoutes />6 </Provider>7);
You must re-install the Gadget client if you make breaking changes to the application after installing the client. See Client regeneration for more details.
Node module
To work with the Gadget API server-side from node.js, or to include generated Gadget code in a larger product with a JavaScript bundler like Webpack or Parcel, you can install the npm
module for example-app. Installing the example-app API client works just like any other NPM package and works with any NPM-compatible package manager.
This installation method works by installing the package from Gadget's own npm
registry, where we host, version, and update your API client.
To install the example-app node package, register the Gadget NPM registry for the @gadget-client
package scope:
npm config set @gadget-client:registry https://registry.gadget.dev/npm
Then, install the example-app client package using your package manager:
npm install @gadget-client/example-app
yarn add @gadget-client/example-app
As you make changes to example-app, Gadget will publish new versions of your API client to its NPM registry. See Client Regeneration for more details on when updates are necessary.
You must register the Gadget npm
registry in all environments where you want to use this package, which would include production
systems, continuous integration environments, or build steps like Vercel or Netlify's static site builders. This can be done using the
above npm config
command, or by writing out an .npmrc
file in those environments that points to Gadget for the @gadget-client
scope.
To indicate to hosting platforms where to find the @gadget-client/example-app
package, create an .npmrc
file in the web/frontend
directory with the following content:
registry=https://registry.npmjs.org/@gadget-client:registry=https://registry.gadget.dev/npm
After installation, the client module can be required and a client instance created:
import { Client } from "@gadget-client/example-app";export const api = new Client();
The api
object is now ready for use!
const results = api.query(`query GetSomeData {# start writing GraphQL queries!}`);
Gadget also makes a tarball of the latest version of the API client available for download.
https://example-app--development.gadget.app/api/client/tarball
By default, the API Client will not have permission to access data within your application. You can use API Key authentication for server-side apps or Browser Session authentication for client-side apps to grant a client access.
Connecting to a specific environment
Gadget backend apps support two different versions of the application: a Development version for developers constructing and testing their application, and a Production version for end users. The API client can be configured to connect to either environment by passing the environment
option to the client constructor.
For example, we can always connect to the Development environment by passing the string "Development"
to the environment
option:
import { Client } from "@gadget-client/example-app";export const api = new Client({environment: "Development",});// all API calls will be made to the Development environment
You can also explicitly connect to the Production environment by passing the string "Production"
to the environment
option:
import { Client } from "@gadget-client/example-app";export const api = new Client({environment: "Production",});// all API calls will be made to the Production environment
or you can select which environment to connect to based on an environment variable
import { Client } from "@gadget-client/example-app";export const api = new Client({environment: process.env["IS_PRODUCTION"] == "true" ? "Production" : "Development",});
By default, if no environment is specified the client will set the environment based on NODE_ENV
if it is set.
Type safety
The default TypeScript types are included in the example-app client package, requiring no additional installation steps to utilize them.
The example-app client ensures comprehensive type safety for high-level JavaScript functions like find
and findMany
, providing reliable types for API requests and responses. When using the select
option to retrieve specific fields, the client maps the selected fields to the GraphQL schema, returning an object with the chosen fields and their correct types, as demonstrated in this TypeScript example fetching the id and name of a User model.
1const users = await api.user.findMany({ select: { id: true, name: true } });23console.log(users[0].id);4// will typecheck just fine as the type `string`, and log an ID string for the user56console.log(users[0].name);7// will typecheck just fine as the type of the `name` field as set in the Gadget Editor, and log the value89console.log(users[0].email);10// will _fail_ the typecheck, as the `email` key was not included in the `select` option
Client regeneration
The API client source code changes as you make changes to your Gadget backend.
Because the web clients are generated on-demand, we recommend using these clients where possible. By sourcing it directly as a <script/>
tag, your browser will fetch the most up-to-date code each time a page loads, and you'll always be working with a client guaranteed to work with the current API for the application. To preserve this fast refresh behavior, it is best to not cache the client with other infrastructure (like a proxy) or to save it to disk.
Updating the npm package
Gadget's npm registry will publish new versions of your package as changes are made to your Gadget app. You must install the new version of the API client package locally to reflect changes made in the Gadget editor. If a new model is added or removed, it will be available in the generated clients right away, but you need to update your local dependency version to fetch these changes.
To upgrade using npm, run:
npm install @gadget-client/example-app@latest-development
To upgrade using yarn, run:
yarn add @gadget-client/example-app@latest-development
If the package is being used from a Gadget frontend with a Shopify Connection set-up, it does not need to be updated as it always applies the latest version.
Updating to only the latest production version
Upgrading to the @latest-development
version of the npm package will install the latest version for the environment. To upgrade to the latest version of the production environment only, you can install the @latest-production
version. This version of the API client will only reflect changes that have been deployed to production, and will not show changes that are in but not yet deployed.
To upgrade to only the latest deployed changes using npm, run:
npm install @gadget-client/example-app@latest-production
To upgrade to only the latest deployed changes using npm, run:
yarn add @gadget-client/example-app@latest-production
Once changes are deployed, the @latest
and @latest-production
versions of the packages will match.
Best-effort functionality
If your client version is out of date, that version still makes its best effort to continue to work with new versions of the data model and GraphQL schema. If a breaking change is made the client may try to make requests that no longer work. This can always be remedied by updating any cached source code using npm
or yarn
, or by copying new files sourced from Gadget's web.js
endpoint.
The following changes will break an out-of-date example-app client and cause it to issue invalid requests:
- changing a model's
apiIdentifier
- changing an action's
apiIdentifier
- removing an action
- removing a model completely