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GraphQL overview

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The monday.com API is built with GraphQL, a flexible query language that allows you to return as much or as little data as you need. It's important to know that GraphQL is an application layer that parses the query you send it and returns (or changes) data accordingly.

Unlike REST APIs, where multiple endpoints return different data, GraphQL always exposes one endpoint and allows you to determine the structure of the returned data. Our API uses the following endpoint: https://api.monday.com/v2.

This document will walk through the GraphQL operations and object types to help you understand the essential components of a request. We will also discuss the GraphQL visual interface that enables you to test your queries and mutations, and finally, we cover where you can access the monday.com schema. Let's get started!

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Pro tip

Check out this introduction to GraphQL to understand what all you can do with GraphQL!

Operations

There are two possible operations in GraphQL: queries and mutations.

Query

Queries perform the READ operation and do not change or alter any data. The result of each query will be formatted in the same way as the query itself. The following example retrieves the ID, title, and type of each column on board 1234567890.

Sample query

query {
  boards {
    columns {
      id
      title
      type
    }
  }
}

Sample response

{
  "columns": [
    {
      "id": "name",
      "title": "Name",
      "type": "name"
    },
    {
      "id": "subitems",
      "title": "Subitems",
      "type": "subtasks"
    },
    {
      "id": "person",
      "title": "Person",
      "type": "people"
    },
    {
      "id": "status",
      "title": "Status",
      "type": "status"
    }
  ]
}

Mutation

Mutations are special queries that perform the CUD (Create, Update, Delete) operations to modify your data. Mutations return an instance of the object you just modified, so you can query the data you changed. The following example creates a new item on board 1234567890 and returns the ID and name of the new item.

Sample mutation

mutation{
  create_item (board_id: 1234567890, item_name: "New Item"){
    id
    name
  }
}

Sample response

{
  "data": {
    "create_item": {
      "id": "9876543210",
      "name": "New Item"
    }
  },
  "account_id": 12345678
}

Multiple queries or mutations in one request

You can also send multiple queries in one request, and they will be executed one after the other. The following query returns the ID and name for boards 1234567890 and 9876543210. The mutation creates a new item and retrieves the item's ID and name on both boards 1234567890 and 9876543210.

Sample query

query {
  checkBoard1: boards (ids:1234567890) {
    id
    name
  }
  checkBoard2: boards (ids:9876543210) {
    id
    name
  }
}

Sample response

{
  "data": {
    "checkBoard1": [
      {
        "id": "1234567890",
        "name": "Test Board 1"
      }
    ],
    "checkBoard2": [
      {
        "id": "9876543210",
        "name": "Test Board 2"
      }
    ]
  },
  "account_id": 12345678
}

Sample mutation

mutation{
  createItem1: create_item (board_id: 1234567890, item_name:"Test Item 1") {
    id
    name
  }
  createItem2: create_item(board_id: 9876543210, item_name:"Test Item 2") {
    id
    name
  }
}

Sample response

{
  "data": {
    "createItem1": {
      "id": "11223344",
      "name": "Test Item 1"
    },
    "createItem2": {
      "id": "44332211",
      "name": "Test Item 2"
    }
  },
  "account_id": 12345678
}

Object Types

Object types are a collection of fields used to describe the set of possible data you can query using the API. They can also have arguments on the fields to pass parameters when querying data.

Fields

Fields specify properties or attributes of objects to help define what information to retrieve from a query. Every object in the schema contains fields that can be queried by name to retrieve specific properties of the object.

Take the boards object, for example. You can query these fields to return specific information about your board(s). The following example returns the boards' ID and name and the ID, title, and type of each column on the boards.

query {
  boards {
    id
    name
    columns {
      id
      title
      type
    }
  }
}

Arguments

You can pass arguments in a query to specify what data to return (i.e., filter the search results) and narrow down the results to only the specific ones you’re after.

Building on the boards example above, you can also use these arguments to reduce the number of results returned in your query. The following example returns the ID and name only for boards 1234567890 and 9876543210 and the ID, title, and type of each column on those boards.

query {
  boards (ids: [1234567890, 9876543210]) {
    id
    name
    columns {
      id
      title
      type
    }
  }
}

Variables

You can use variables to pass dynamic values to your arguments. They are written outside of the query string itself in the variables section and passed to the arguments.

When we start working with variables, we need to do three things:

  1. Replace the static value in the query with $variableName
  2. Declare $variableName as one of the variables accepted by the query
  3. Pass variableName: value in the separate, transport-specific (usually JSON) variables dictionary
mutation change_column_value($value: JSON!) {
  change_column_value (board_id: 157244624,item_id: 9539475, column_id: "status", value: $value) {
    id
  }
}

query variables:
{
"value": "{\"index\": 1}"
}

GraphQL Visual Interface (GraphiQL)

One of the most powerful parts of GraphQL is its visual interface, GraphiQL. It is an in-browser tool for writing, validating, and testing GraphQL queries.

Before diving in and querying the API, we highly recommend running your queries through this visual interface in our API playground to ensure that your queries are correct and the data being returned is expected.

API playground

You can access the API playground publicly or through your monday.com account. The following subsections walk through the steps required to access the playground through both methods.

Public playground

  1. Navigate to the playground.
  2. Access your API token and paste it into the modal.
  3. Start testing your queries!

Account-specific playground

  1. Click your profile picture in the top right corner.
  2. Select Developers. This will open the Developer Center in another tab.
  3. Select API playground from the left-side menu. Since you're logged into your account, you don't need to authenticate with your API token.
  4. Start testing your queries!

monday.com schema

Our GraphQL schema defines the structure of the available API data and contains all of the available queries and mutations. It is a valuable resource that you can use to verify your API responses and extract useful information from the metadata.

We expose our schema here. By default, it is in introspection JSON format for the Current API version. You can request a different version using the optional version=<API-Version> parameter with the version name.

For example: https://api.monday.com/v2/get_schema?version=2024-04

You can also retrieve the schema definition language (SDL) version using the optional format=sdl parameter.

For example: https://api.monday.com/v2/get_schema?format=sdl

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Join our developer community!

We've created a community specifically for our devs where you can search through previous topics to find solutions, ask new questions, hear about new features and updates, and learn tips and tricks from other devs. Come join in on the fun! 😎

Updated 2 months ago