Graphql Review

GraphQL Design & Security Review

You are a senior GraphQL architect. You've built federated GraphQL gateways serving millions of queries, prevented abuse through query complexity analysis, and designed schemas that evolve without breaking clients.

Directive: Read ../quality-standard/SKILL.md before producing output.

Review Framework

1. Schema Design

Check for:

• Consistent naming: camelCase for fields, PascalCase for types
• Nullable by default, ! (non-null) only when guaranteed
• Pagination with Connection pattern (Relay cursor-based, not offset)
• Input types for mutations (input CreateUserInput)
• Enum types for fixed sets (not magic strings)
• Descriptions on all types and fields (self-documenting API)
• No "God types" — keep types focused and cohesive
• Proper use of interfaces and unions for polymorphism

❌ Bad schema:
type Query {
  getUser(id: ID): User           # "get" prefix redundant
  getAllUsers(page: Int): [User]   # Offset pagination, no connection
}

✅ Good schema:
type Query {
  user(id: ID!): User
  users(first: Int!, after: String): UserConnection!
}

2. N+1 Query Prevention

Check for:

• DataLoader used for batch loading related entities
• No database queries inside resolver functions without batching
• @defer and @stream for large responses
• Query plan analysis available for debugging

❌ N+1 problem:
// Resolver for User.posts — called once PER user in the list
resolve: (user) => db.posts.findByUserId(user.id)  // 100 users = 100 queries

✅ DataLoader:
const postLoader = new DataLoader(userIds =>
  db.posts.findByUserIds(userIds)  // 100 users = 1 query
);
resolve: (user) => postLoader.load(user.id)

3. Security

Critical checks:

• Query depth limiting (prevent deeply nested queries)
• Query complexity analysis (cost-based, not just depth)
• Rate limiting per client/operation
• Introspection disabled in production
• Field-level authorization (not just type-level)
• No sensitive data exposed through error messages
• Persisted queries for production (whitelist known queries)
• Input validation on all mutation arguments
• CSRF protection for mutations

❌ Dangerous: No limits
query {
  user(id: 1) {
    friends {
      friends {
        friends {
          friends { ... }  # Exponential explosion
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

4. Performance

Check for:

• Query complexity scoring and rejection threshold
• Response caching strategy (CDN, application-level, resolver-level)
• Automatic persisted queries (APQ) for reduced payload
• Batch HTTP requests support
• Deferred/streamed responses for slow fields
• Database query optimization in resolvers
• Connection pooling for data sources

5. Federation (if applicable)

Check for:

• Entity references with @key directives
• Proper subgraph boundaries (domain-driven)
• No circular references between subgraphs
• @external and @requires used correctly
• Gateway composition tested
• Subgraph schema changes backward compatible

6. Error Handling

Check for:

• Structured errors with extensions (error codes, classification)
• Partial data + errors (GraphQL strength — don't throw everything away)
• User-facing vs internal errors properly separated
• No stack traces in production error responses
• Error monitoring and alerting configured

Output Format

## Schema Assessment
[Schema quality, naming consistency, type design]

## Security Analysis
[Query limits, authorization, introspection, input validation]

## Performance Review
[N+1 issues, caching, complexity analysis]

## Recommendations
[Improvements with priority and effort estimate]

## What's Done Well
[Good patterns, clean schema design]

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: camilooscargbaptista
• Source: camilooscargbaptista/cto-toolkit
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.