Unsubscribing WebSocket connections using filters in AWS AppSync

In AWS AppSync, you can forcibly unsubscribe and close (invalidate) a WebSocket connection from a connected client based on specific filtering logic. This is useful in authorization-related scenarios such as when you remove a user from a group.

Subscription invalidation occurs in response to a payload defined in a mutation. We recommend that you treat mutations used to invalidate subscription connections as administrative operations in your API and scope permissions accordingly by limiting their use to an admin user, group, or backend service. For example, using schema authorization directives such as @aws_auth(cognito_groups: ["Administrators"]) or @aws_iam. For more information, see Using additional authorization modes.

Invalidation filters use the same syntax and logic as enhanced subscription filters. Define these filters using the following utilities:

• extensions.invalidateSubscriptions() – Defined in the GraphQL resolver's response handler for a mutation.

• extensions.setSubscriptionInvalidationFilter() – Defined in the GraphQL resolver's response handler of the subscriptions linked to the mutation.

For more information about invalidation filtering extensions, see JavaScript resolvers overview.

Using subscription invalidation

To see how subscription invalidation works in AWS AppSync, use the following GraphQL schema:

type User {
  userId: ID!
  groupId: ID!
}
    
type Group {
  groupId: ID!
  name: String!
  members: [ID!]!
}

type GroupMessage {
  userId: ID!
  groupId: ID!
  message: String!
}

type Mutation {
    createGroupMessage(userId: ID!, groupId : ID!, message: String!): GroupMessage
    removeUserFromGroup(userId: ID!, groupId : ID!) : User @aws_iam
}

type Subscription {
    onGroupMessageCreated(userId: ID!, groupId : ID!): GroupMessage
        @aws_subscribe(mutations: ["createGroupMessage"])
}

type Query {
	none: String
}

Define an invalidation filter in the removeUserFromGroup mutation resolver code:

import { extensions } from '@aws-appsync/utils';

export function request(ctx) {
	return { payload: null };
}

export function response(ctx) {
	const { userId, groupId } = ctx.args;
	extensions.invalidateSubscriptions({
		subscriptionField: 'onGroupMessageCreated',
		payload: { userId, groupId },
	});
	return { userId, groupId };
}

When the mutation is invoked, the data defined in the payload object is used to unsubscribe the subscription defined in subscriptionField. An invalidation filter is also defined in the onGroupMessageCreated subscription's response mapping template.

If the extensions.invalidateSubscriptions() payload contains an ID that matches the IDs from the subscribed client as defined in the filter, the corresponding subscription is unsubscribed. In addition, the WebSocket connection is closed. Define the subscription resolver code for the onGroupMessageCreated subscription:

import { util, extensions } from '@aws-appsync/utils';

export function request(ctx) {
	// simplfy return null for the payload
	return { payload: null };
}

export function response(ctx) {
	const filter = { groupId: { eq: ctx.args.groupId } };
	extensions.setSubscriptionFilter(util.transform.toSubscriptionFilter(filter));

	const invalidation = { groupId: { eq: ctx.args.groupId }, userId: { eq: ctx.args.userId } };
	extensions.setSubscriptionInvalidationFilter(util.transform.toSubscriptionFilter(invalidation));

	return null;
}

Note that the subscription response handler can have both subscription filters and invalidation filters defined at the same time.

For example, assume that client A subscribes a new user with the ID user-1 to the group with the ID group-1 using the following subscription request:

onGroupMessageCreated(userId : "user-1", groupId: :"group-1"){...}

AWS AppSync runs the subscription resolver, which generates subscription and invalidation filters as defined in the preceding onGroupMessageCreated response mapping template. For client A, the subscription filters allow data to be sent only to group-1, and the invalidation filters are defined for both user-1 and group-1.

Now assume that client B subscribes a user with the ID user-2 to a group with the ID group-2 using the following subscription request:

onGroupMessageCreated(userId : "user-2", groupId: :"group-2"){...}

AWS AppSync runs the subscription resolver, which generates subscription and invalidation filters. For client B, the subscription filters allow data to be sent only to group-2, and the invalidation filters are defined for both user-2 and group-2.

Next, assume that a new group message with the ID message-1 is created using a mutation request like in the following example:

createGroupMessage(id: "message-1", groupId :
      "group-1", message: "test message"){...}

Subscribed clients matching the defined filters automatically receive the following data payload via WebSockets:

{
  "data": {
    "onGroupMessageCreated": {
      "id": "message-1",
      "groupId": "group-1",
      "message": "test message",
    }
  }
}

Client A receives the message because the filtering criteria match the defined subscription filter. However, client B doesn't receive the message, as the user is not part of group-1. Also, the request doesn't match the subscription filter defined in the subscription resolver.

Finally, assume that user-1 is removed from group-1 using the following mutation request:

removeUserFromGroup(userId: "user-1", groupId : "group-1"){...}

The mutation initiates a subscription invalidation as defined in its extensions.invalidateSubscriptions() resolver response handler code. AWS AppSync then unsubscribes client A and closes its WebSocket connection. Client B is unaffected, as the invalidation payload defined in the mutation doesn't match its user or group.

When AWS AppSync invalidates a connection, the client receives a message confirming that they are unsubscribed:

{
  "message": "Subscription complete."
}

Using context variables in subscription invalidation filters

As with enhanced subscription filters, you can use the context variable in the subscription invalidation filter extension to access certain data.

For example, it's possible to configure an email address as the invalidation payload in the mutation, then match it against the email attribute or claim from a subscribed user authorized with Amazon Cognito user pools or OpenID Connect. The invalidation filter defined in the extensions.setSubscriptionInvalidationFilter() subscription invalidator checks if the email address set by the mutation's extensions.invalidateSubscriptions() payload matches the email address retrieved from the user's JWT token in context.identity.claims.email, initiating the invalidation.