Apollo Cache

InMemoryCache

apollo-cache-inmemory is the default cache implementation for Apollo Client 2.0. InMemoryCache is a normalized data store that supports all of Apollo Client 1.0’s features without the dependency on Redux.

In some instances, you may need to manipulate the cache directly, such as updating the store after a mutation. We’ll cover some common use cases here.

Installation

npm i apollo-cache-inmemory

After installing the package, you’ll want to initialize the cache constructor. Then, you can pass in your newly created cache to ApolloClient.

import { InMemoryCache } from 'apollo-cache-inmemory';
import { Apollo } from 'apollo-angular';
import { HttpLink } from 'apollo-angular-link-http';
 
@NgModule({ ... })
class AppModule {
  constructor(
    apollo: Apollo,
    httpLink: HttpLink
  ) {
    const cache = new InMemoryCache();
 
    apollo.create({
      link: httpLink.create(),
      cache
    });
  }
}

Configuration

The InMemoryCache constructor takes an optional config object with properties to customize your cache:

• addTypename: A boolean to determine whether to add __typename to the document (default: true)
• dataIdFromObject: A function that takes a data object and returns a unique identifier to be used when normalizing the data in the store. Learn more about how to customize dataIdFromObject in the Normalization section.
• fragmentMatcher: By default, the InMemoryCache uses a heuristic fragment matcher. If you are using fragments on unions and interfaces, you will need to use an IntrospectionFragmentMatcher. For more information, please read [our guide to setting up fragment matching for unions & interfaces].
• cacheRedirects (previously known as cacheResolvers or customResolvers): A map of custom ways to resolve data from other parts of the cache.

Normalization

The InMemoryCache normalizes your data before saving it to the store by splitting the result into individual objects, creating a unique identifier for each object, and storing those objects in a flattened data structure. By default, InMemoryCache will attempt to use the commonly found primary keys of id and _id for the unique identifier if they exist along with __typename on an object.

If id and _id are not specified, or if __typename is not specified, InMemoryCache will fall back to the path to the object in the query, such as ROOT_QUERY.allPeople.0 for the first record returned on the allPeople root query.

This “getter” behavior for unique identifiers can be configured manually via the dataIdFromObject option passed to the InMemoryCache constructor, so you can pick which field is used if some of your data follows unorthodox primary key conventions.

For example, if you wanted to key off of the key field for all of your data, you could configure dataIdFromObject like so:

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

This also allows you to use different unique identifiers for different data types by keying off of the __typename property attached to every object typed by GraphQL. For example:

const cache = new InMemoryCache({
  dataIdFromObject: object => {
    switch (object.__typename) {
      case 'foo':
        return object.key; // use `key` as the primary key
      case 'bar':
        return object.blah; // use `blah` as the primary key
      default:
        return object.id || object._id; // fall back to `id` and `_id` for all other types
    }
  },
});

Direct Cache Access

To interact directly with your cache, you can use the Apollo Client class methods readQuery, readFragment, writeQuery, and writeFragment. These methods are available to us via the DataProxy interface. An instance of ApolloClient can be accessed by getClient() method of Apollo Service.

Any code demonstration in the following sections will assume that we have already initialized an instance of ApolloClient and that we have imported the gql tag from graphql-tag.

readQuery

The readQuery method is very similar to the [query method on ApolloClient][] except that readQuery will never make a request to your GraphQL server. The query method, on the other hand, may send a request to your server if the appropriate data is not in your cache whereas readQuery will throw an error if the data is not in your cache. readQuery will always read from the cache. You can use readQuery by giving it a GraphQL query like so:

@Component({ ... })
class AppComponent {
  constructor(apollo: Apollo) {
    const { todo } = apollo.getClient().readQuery({
      query: gql`
        query ReadTodo {
          todo(id: 5) {
            id
            text
            completed
          }
        }
      `,
    });
  }
}

If all of the data needed to fulfill this read is in Apollo Client’s normalized data cache then a data object will be returned in the shape of the query you wanted to read. If not all of the data needed to fulfill this read is in Apollo Client’s cache then an error will be thrown instead, so make sure to only read data that you know you have!

You can also pass variables into readQuery.

@Component({ ... })
class AppComponent {
  constructor(apollo: Apollo) {
    const { todo } = apollo.getClient().readQuery({
      query: gql`
        query ReadTodo($id: Int!) {
          todo(id: $id) {
            id
            text
            completed
          }
        }
      `,
      variables: {
        id: 5,
      },
    });
  }
}

readFragment

This method allows you great flexibility around the data in your cache. Whereas readQuery only allowed you to read data from your root query type, readFragment allows you to read data from any node you have queried. This is incredibly powerful. You use this method as follows:

@Component({ ... })
class AppComponent {
  constructor(apollo: Apollo) {
    const todo = apollo.getClient().readFragment({
      id: ..., // `id` is any id that could be returned by `dataIdFromObject`.
      fragment: gql`
        fragment myTodo on Todo {
          id
          text
          completed
        }
      `,
    });
  }
}

The first argument is the id of the data you want to read from the cache. That id must be a value that was returned by the dataIdFromObject function you defined when initializing ApolloClient. So for example if you initialized ApolloClient like so:

@NgModule({ ... })
class AppModule {
  constructor(apollo: Apollo) {
    apollo.create({
      ..., // other options
      dataIdFromObject: object => object.id,
    });
  }
}

…and you requested a todo before with an id of 5, then you can read that todo out of your cache with the following:

@Component({ ... })
class AppComponent {
  constructor(apollo: Apollo) {
    const todo = apollo.getClient().readFragment({
      id: '5',
      fragment: gql`
        fragment myTodo on Todo {
          id
          text
          completed
        }
      `,
    });
  }
}

If a todo with that id does not exist in the cache you will get null back. If a todo of that id does exist in the cache, but that todo does not have the text field then an error will be thrown.

The beauty of readFragment is that the todo could have come from anywhere! The todo could have been selected as a singleton ({ todo(id: 5) { ... } }), the todo could have come from a list of todos ({ todos { ... } }), or the todo could have come from a mutation (mutation { createTodo { ... } }). As long as at some point your GraphQL server gave you a todo with the provided id and fields id, text, and completed you can read it from the cache at any part of your code.

writeQueryandwriteFragment

Not only can you read arbitrary data from the Apollo Client cache, but you can also write any data that you would like to the cache. The methods you use to do this are writeQuery and writeFragment. They will allow you to change data in your local cache, but it is important to remember that they will not change any data on your server. If you reload your environment then changes made with writeQuery and writeFragment will disappear.

These methods have the same signature as their readQuery and readFragment counterparts except they also require an additional data variable. So for example, if you wanted to update the completed flag locally for your todo with id '5' you could execute the following:

@Component({ ... })
class AppComponent {
  constructor(apollo: Apollo) {
    apollo.getClient().writeFragment({
      id: '5',
      fragment: gql`
        fragment myTodo on Todo {
          completed
        }
      `,
      data: {
        completed: true,
      },
    });
  }
}

Any subscriber to the Apollo Client store will instantly see this update and render new UI accordingly.

Or if you wanted to add a new todo to a list fetched from the server, you could use readQuery and writeQuery together.

const query = gql`
  query MyTodoAppQuery {
    todos {
      id
      text
      completed
    }
  }
`;
 
@Component({ ... })
class AppComponent {
  constructor(apollo: Apollo) {
    const data = apollo.getClient().readQuery({ query });
 
    const myNewTodo = {
      id: '6',
      text: 'Start using Apollo Client.',
      completed: false,
    };
 
    apollo.getClient().writeQuery({
      query,
      data: {
        todos: [...data.todos, myNewTodo],
      },
    });
  }
}

Recipes

Here are some common situations where you would need to access the cache directly. If you’re manipulating the cache in an interesting way and would like your example to be featured, please send in a pull request!

Server side rendering

If you would like to learn more about server side rendering, please check out more in depth guide here.