How to use curl to access the github graphql API

Question

After referring this guide I needed to access the github graphql by using curl for a testing purpose. I tried this simple command

curl -i -H "Authorization: bearer myGithubAccessToken" -X POST -d '{"query": "query {repository(owner: "wso2", name: "product-is") {description}}"}' https://api.github.com/graphql

but it gives me

problems parsing JSON

what I am doing wrong. I spent nearly 2 hours trying to figure it and tried different examples but none of them worked. Can you please be kind enough help me resolve this

Marco Daniel · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-17 19:57:29Z

59

You just need to escape the double quotes that are inside the JSON as the query

$ curl -i -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -H "Authorization: bearer myGithubAccessToken" -X POST -d '{"query": "query {repository(owner: \"wso2\", name: \"product-is\") {description}}"}' https://api.github.com/graphql

edited Feb 17, 2019 at 19:57

Marco Daniel

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answered Feb 3, 2017 at 9:52

Yuri Schimke

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1 Comment

Silly Freak Over a year ago

I came to this answer trying to access my own Django/Graphene based API; for that, I needed an extra -H 'Content-Type: application/json'

mbomb007 · Accepted Answer · 2021-05-11 18:04:01Z

42

If you want your queries to stay nice and multiline, you may do like this:

script='query {
  repositoryOwner(login:\"danbst\") {
    repositories(first: 100) {
      edges {
        node {
          nameWithOwner
          pullRequests(last: 100, states: OPEN) {
            edges {
              node {
                title
                url
                author {
                  login
                }
                labels(first: 20) {
                  edges {
                    node {
                      name
                    }
                  }
                }
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}'
script="$(echo $script)"   # the query should be a one-liner, without newlines

curl -i -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
   -H "Authorization: bearer ........." \
   -X POST -d "{ \"query\": \"$script\"}" https://api.github.com/graphql

edited May 11, 2021 at 18:04

mbomb007

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answered Aug 17, 2018 at 12:21

danbst

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6 Comments

dkrikun Over a year ago

Why one needs script="$(echo $script)"?

danbst Over a year ago

@dkrikun To remove newlines. As of time of writing newlines were not allowed in request body. sed solution would work here as well

Lorna Mitchell Over a year ago

it looks like newlines are now allowed, I've got them in my JSON (similar to the structure the explorer uses) and as long as the quotes are escaped, it works perfectly

Denis Rouzaud Over a year ago

I updated the solution to avoid escaping quotes, by using sed to do it.

Jerry Green Over a year ago

Or you could just use curl -H "Authorization: token YOUR_GITHUB_TOKEN" -X POST https://api.github.com/graphql --data @gql.json with a file named gql.json having your object, where you can easily make changes with your favorite code editor with json formatter, etc.

|

Brian Burns · Accepted Answer · 2021-01-15 17:01:35Z

10

Since this is the first hit for 'graphql curl', here's a simple example:

$ curl \
  --request POST \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{"query": "query { fish(key:\"838\") { name } }"}' \
  http://localhost:4001

{"data":{"fish":{"name":"plecy"}}}

edited Jan 15, 2021 at 17:01

answered Jan 3, 2021 at 21:54

Brian Burns

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Comments

MatrixManAtYrService · Accepted Answer · 2024-05-02 22:36:06Z

9

I recommend storing the graphql in one file, and script for processing it in a separate file, and then combining the two at the prompt.

This lets you use graphql syntax highlighting plugins and graphql pretty printers while editing examplequery.gql in your favorite editor. While also preserving the ability to make use of your cli toolkit for cases where your graphql-fu isn't up to the task.

Usage:

❯ ./ghgql.sh examplequery.gql

    {"data":{"user":{"repositories":{"nodes":[{"name":"firstrepo","languages":{"nodes":[]}},{"name":"secondrepo","languages":{"nodes":[{"name":"Shell"},{"name":"Vim script"}]}},{"name":"thirdrepo","languages":{"nodes":[{"name":"TeX"}]}}]}}}}

❯ ./ghgql.sh examplequery.gql \
    | jq -c '.data.user.repositories.nodes | to_entries | .[]' \
    | grep 'TeX' \
    | jq -r '.value.name'

    thirdrepo

ghgql.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash

if [ ! -f $1 ] || [ $# -ne 1 ]
then
    echo Queries the github graphql API
    echo "Usage:"
    echo
    echo "$0 somefile.gql"
fi

# read the gql query from the file named in the argument
DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" >/dev/null 2>&1 && pwd )"
TOKEN=$(cat $DIR/token)
QUERY=$(jq -n \
           --arg q "$(cat $1 | tr -d '\n')" \
           '{ query: $q }')

# do the query
curl -s -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: bearer $TOKEN" \
  --data "$QUERY" \
  https://api.github.com/graphql

examplequery.gql

{
  user(login: "MatrixManAtYrService") {
    repositories(first: 3) {
      nodes {
        name
        languages(first: 3) {
          nodes {
            name
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

edited May 2, 2024 at 22:36

answered Dec 15, 2020 at 19:56

MatrixManAtYrService

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4 Comments

robartsd Over a year ago

I change bearer to my GitHub user name and place a PAT from GitHub in a file named token in the working directory, but still get

{   "message": "This endpoint requires you to be authenticated.",   "documentation_url": "https://docs.github.com/graphql/guides/forming-calls-with-graphql#authenticating-with-graphql" }

Am I not understanding the way token is intended to be passed?

a.t. Over a year ago

@robartsd the word bearer is not the name of a GitHub user. So you should keep it at bearer. I think it indicates a GitHub personal access token is comming. A working syntax could be: `-H "Authorization: bearer somegithubpersonalaccesstoken" `.

Tom Over a year ago

THANK YOU! underrated answer imo. This is so much easier to focus on the graphql query itself without messing up with the json formatting

majorgear Over a year ago

is AFR API standard? the ones I've seen that worked all define a named query, then pass variables, and then call the query. eq query MyQuery {},"variables":null,"operationName":"MyQuery"

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