Add GraphQL Edge Caching to DatoCMS

DatoCMS is a headless Content Management System (CMS) for digital marketers, content editors, and developers.

DatoCMS provides a GraphQL API that can be used to fetch content and assets from your project. Together with Grafbase you can benefit from the following:

1. Speed — Get even faster responses and lessen server load with Grafbase Edge Caching.
2. Flexibility — Combine data from multiple APIs effortlessly using Grafbase Edge Gateway.
3. Savings — Stay within your API limits and save money.
4. Insights — Monitor your data in real-time with Grafbase Analytics.

In this guide, we will focus on improving the performance of the GraphQL API by implementing Grafbase's GraphQL Edge Caching on top of the DatoCMS GraphQL API.

Begin by executing the following command inside a new or existing project's directory:

npx grafbase init --template graphql-datocms

Next, open the file grafbase.config.ts and make any adjustments.

By default, Grafbase will:

• Add DatoCMS as a data source
• Cache all queries for 60 seconds
• Enable public access to the Grafbase Edge Gateway
• Forward Authorization header to DatoCMS

import { config, connector, graph } from '@grafbase/sdk'

const datocms = connector.GraphQL('DatoCMS', {
  url: 'https://graphql.datocms.com',
  headers: headers => {
    headers.set('Authorization', { forward: 'Authorization' })
  },
})

// Disabling namespace may cause conflicts with other connectors
g.datasource(datocms, { namespace: false })

export default config({
  graph: g,
  cache: {
    rules: [
      {
        types: ['Query'],
        maxAge: 60,
      },
    ],
  },
  auth: {
    rules: rules => {
      rules.public()
    },
  },
})

If you'd prefer not to pass the Authorization header with requests from the client, you can also set the values to use an environment variable stored by Grafbase:

const datocms = connector.GraphQL('DatoCMS', {
  url: 'https://graphql.datocms.com',
  headers: headers => {
    headers.set('Authorization', g.env('DATOCMS_API_TOKEN'))
  },
})

If you don't use header forwarding, make sure to add your DATOCMS_API_TOKEN value to the file grafbase/.env:

# Only if you set the Token and Version header with a static value
# DATOCMS_API_TOKEN=

Finally, run the Grafbase development server by using the command below:

npx grafbase dev

You now have a GraphQL API running locally that acts as a proxy to DatoCMS! 🎉

You can execute any GraphQL query or mutation you normally would with DatoCMS using the new endpoint (locally): http://127.0.0.1:4000/graphql.

You can and should use the Grafbase CLI when building locally (or in a branch) to proxy your DatoCMS project but you will need to deploy to Grafbase to take advantage of GraphQL Edge Caching.

Follow these steps to deploy to production:

• Signup for a Grafbase account
• Create a new project
• Connect and deploy your application where the grafbase was added
• Make sure to add your DATOCMS_API_TOKEN when deploying, unless you made it optional
• Update your host (Netlify, Vercel, Fly, etc.) with the new GraphQL API endpoint that Grafbase supplied for your new project.

That's it!

Grafbase is programmed to autonomously deploy a fresh gateway each time it identifies a change to grafbase.config.ts. Consequently, if you need to adjust any cache settings, including parameters like maxAge, staleWhileRevalidate, and mutationInvalidation, you're free to do so.

Grafbase will handle the rest of the process seamlessly. We'll explore extending the DatoCMS API with custom fields in another post.