GraphQL Type Definitions in PHPNomad

GraphQL type definitions define an SDL fragment and a resolver map — and they stay portable across engines.

Instead of registering types inline, PHPNomad discovers them through Initializers that implement HasTypeDefinitions. This keeps your schema modular and decoupled from the execution engine, and mirrors exactly how you already register REST controllers with HasControllers.

The Basics: How registration works

• TypeDefinition: a class implementing TypeDefinition — provides getSdl() and getResolvers().
• Initializer implementing HasTypeDefinitions: returns a list of TypeDefinition class-strings to load.
• Bootstrapper configured to utilize the initializer. See Creating and Managing Initializers for more information.

The container constructs TypeDefinition instances (resolving dependencies), and the active GraphQLStrategy accumulates them to build the schema.

Minimal TypeDefinition

<?php

use PHPNomad\GraphQL\Interfaces\TypeDefinition;

final class BookTypeDefinition implements TypeDefinition
{
    public function getSdl(): string
    {
        return <<<'SDL'
        type Book { id: ID! title: String! }
        extend type Query { books: [Book!]! book(id: ID!): Book }
        SDL;
    }

    public function getResolvers(): array
    {
        return [
            'Query' => [
                'books' => BooksResolver::class,
                'book'  => BookByIdResolver::class,
            ],
        ];
    }
}

See the Type Definitions package documentation for fuller examples.

Registering Type Definitions via an Initializer

Your initializer implements HasTypeDefinitions and returns the definitions to load. The container instantiates them; the GraphQLStrategy reads getSdl() / getResolvers() to build the schema.

<?php

use PHPNomad\GraphQL\Interfaces\HasTypeDefinitions;

final class GraphQLTypesInitializer implements HasTypeDefinitions
{
    /**
     * Return the list of TypeDefinitions to register.
     *
     * @return array<class-string<TypeDefinition>>
     */
    public function getTypeDefinitions(): array
    {
        return [
            BookTypeDefinition::class,
            // AuthorTypeDefinition::class,
            // ReviewTypeDefinition::class,
        ];
    }
}