Step 1: Launch a schema

In this example, you will create a Todo API that allows users to create Todo items for daily chore reminders like Finish task or Pick up groceries. This API will demonstrate how to use GraphQL operations where the state persists in a DynamoDB table.

Conceptually, there are three major steps to creating your first GraphQL API. You must define the schema (types and fields), attach your data source(s) to your field(s), then write the resolver that handles the business logic. However, the console experience changes the order of this. We will begin by defining how we want our data source to interact with our schema, then define the schema and resolver later.

To create your GraphQL API

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the AppSync console.

2. In the Dashboard, choose Create API.

3. While GraphQL APIs is selected, choose Design from scratch. Then, choose Next.

4. For API name, change the prepopulated name to Todo API, then choose Next.

   Note

   There are also other options present here, but we won't be using them for this example.

5. In the Specify GraphQL resources section, do the following:

   1. Choose Create type backed by a DynamoDB table now.

      Note

      This means we are going to create a new DynamoDB table to attach as a data source.

   2. In the Model Name field, enter Todo.

      Note

      Our first requirement is to define our schema. This Model Name will be the type name, so what you're really doing is creating a type called Todo that will exist in the schema:

      type Todo {}

   3. Under Fields, do the following:

      1. Create a field named id, with the type ID, and required set to Yes.

         Note

         These are the fields that will exist within the scope of your Todo type. Your field name here will be called id with a type of ID!:

         type Todo {
         	id: ID!
         }

         AWS AppSync supports multiple scalar values for different use cases.

      2. Using Add new field, create four additional fields with the Name values set to name, when, where, and description. Their Type values will be String, and the Array and Required values will both be set to No. It will look like this:

         

         Note

         The full type and its fields will look like this:

         type Todo {
         	id: ID!
         	name: String
         	when: String
         	where: String
         	description: String
         }

         Because we're creating a schema using this predefined model, it will also be populated with several boilerplate mutations based on the type such as create, delete, and update to help you populate your data source easily.

   4. Under configure model table, enter a table name, such as TodoAPITable. Set the Primary Key to id.

      Note

      We're essentially creating a new DynamoDB table called TodoAPITable that will be attached to the API as our primary data source. Our primary key is set to the required id field that we defined before this. Note that this new table is blank and doesn't contain anything except for the partition key.

   5. Choose Next.

6. Review your changes and choose Create API. Wait a moment to let the AWS AppSync service finish creating your API.

You have successfully created a GraphQL API with its schema and DynamoDB data source. To summarize the steps above, we chose to create a completely new GraphQL API. We defined the name of the API, then added our schema definition by adding our first type. We defined the type and its fields, then chose to attach a data source to one of the fields by creating a new DynamoDB table with no data in it.